The issue of the St. Martin lease is a rumor : Press Wing
The press wing of the Interim Government’s Chief Adviser dismissed as rumors that St. Martin is being leased to other countries, spreading on social media. At the same time, they said that the government has no such plan.
A Facebook user named ‘Sushant Das Gupta’ shared a photo of ‘Land Forces Talks between Bangladesh Army and US Army Pacific’ in his post about St. Martin Island and asked, ‘Deal right?’ ‘St. Martin Gana?’
In this regard, the ‘CA Press Wing Facts’ of the interim government said that there is no plan to lease St. Martin to any country.
CA Press Wing Facts also reported that land forces talks between the Bangladesh Army and the US Army Pacific have been going on for several years. Its seventh edition was held last year (2023) from August 14 to 16 at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, USA. Any posts linking St. Martin with these talks are mere rumours. The interim government has stated several times that it has no plans to lease St. Martin to any foreign country for any purpose.
Meanwhile, the CA Press Wing has also explained the post made by another Facebook user named Morshed Mahbubul about St. Martin Island.
The person named Morshed Mahbubul claims in his post, ‘The current situation of St. Martin Island: 1. Stop fishing in the sea; 2. Tourists stop coming completely; 3. Three months off hospital operations; 4. Complete shutdown of power supply.
In this regard, the press wing of the chief advisor said that due to uncontrolled tourism, the only coral island of the country, St. Martin, is facing at least 20 types of dangers. This has been said in a study recently published in a science journal called ‘Environmental Advance’.
Meanwhile, due to tourism in St. Martin there are many dangers including high temperature as well as increase in salinity, deforestation, pollution, rise in sea level, destruction of turtle habitat, use of plastic, shortage of fresh water, sea erosion due to tides. For months another new threat has appeared on the island. There has been an outbreak of highly harmful whiteflies. These flies are destroying the island’s vegetation. 300 coconut trees are said to have died in the past few months due to whiteflies.
Experts blame unplanned tourism for St. Martin’s current situation. They say the crisis is intensifying due to unregulated behavior of seasonal tourists and environmentally destructive entertainment. In the past era, the government took three measures to control tourism to protect the island. The Department of Environment launched a project to protect the island of St. Martin. But the government withdrew from that position under the pressure of tourism traders.
According to international and national studies, 41 percent of the coral reefs of the country’s only coral island have been destroyed. If this devastation is not stopped, by 2045 all the coral on this island will be destroyed, and the island will sink.
After the interim government took office, backlash began over the initiative to regulate tourism on the island of St. Martin. Various campaigns continued there, including the creation of a US base.
Last October 22, at a meeting of the advisory board of the Inter-government, it was decided to limit the travel and stay of tourists in St. Martin for four months. Meanwhile, tourists can go in November but cannot stay overnight. And you can go and stay overnight in December and January. But at that time not more than two thousand tourists can go. And tourists cannot go there in February.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, said, “We want to save the island. It is the wealth of the country. If tourists behave responsibly, the wealth of the country will be saved.
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Credit: Dainikamadersomoy
