Fort Bullen deserves safety, not exploitation
The latest allocation of Fort Bullen in Barra to a Turkish firm is each alarming and disheartening. Fort Bullen, constructed to implement the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, is greater than only a historic monument; it’s a image of resilience and a significant piece of Gambia’s cultural identification.
Watching it fall into the fingers of business pursuits with out sufficient public discourse is a troubling reflection of our nationwide priorities.
This historic fort holds immense potential past its symbolic worth. As a well-preserved heritage website, it may entice tourism, generate much-needed income, and deal with our alarming youth unemployment.
Moreover, it’s a wealthy useful resource for students, college students, and historians, serving as an academic bridge between the previous and the current. Instead of preserving and maximising its worth, we’re witnessing its degradation, threatening not simply our historical past but in addition future financial and cultural alternatives.
This incident is a component of a bigger, worrying development in The Gambia, the rampant disregard for our surroundings and heritage. Reserved forests and guarded lands, that are important for biodiversity and local weather resilience, are being cleared at an alarming fee.
These areas are important in mitigating the results of local weather change, but they’re sacrificed for unsustainable improvement tasks that deliver little long-term profit to the nation.
Destroying our restricted forests and heritage websites solely exacerbates these challenges, leaving the nation extra weak to future crises.
The authorities should develop insurance policies that defend and protect our pure and cultural property, making certain they continue to be sources of satisfaction, information, and financial alternative for generations to return.
The continued neglect of the environment and heritage isn’t just a nationwide shame, it’s a betrayal of future generations. If this development persists, The Gambia will lose its identification, its historical past, and its skill to supply for its individuals. The time to behave is now.
Adama Makasuba,
Concerned Gambian.
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