Dhaka, July 26 -- Environmental rights groups and experts came down heavily on the state parties, including the government, and UNESCO for their role in endangering the largest mangrove forest Sundarbans.

The National Committee for Saving the Sundarbans (NCSS) asserted that the 2021 decisions of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee failed to protect the Outstanding Universal Value of the Sundarbans World Heritage site.

It alleged that the world heritage committee also failed to protect the mangrove forest from the threats of on-going industrial and infrastructure projects, and endorsed a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for south-western Bangladesh that lacks scientific integrity and transparency.

They made the allegation at vir...