[🇧🇩] Save the Rivers/Forests/Hills-----Save the Environment

[Saif]

Sundarbans reopens Sunday after three-month closure

The Sundarbans are set to reopen for foresters and tourists from Sunday after a three-month closure. Following a long break, forester families living near the Sundarbans in Khulna are getting ready to resume fishing and crab hunting. Mihir Kumar Doe, conservator of forests for the Khulna region,

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Sundarbans reopens Sunday after three-month closure
Published :
Aug 29, 2024 23:12
Updated :
Aug 29, 2024 23:12

The Sundarbans are set to reopen for foresters and tourists from Sunday after a three-month closure.

Following a long break, forester families living near the Sundarbans in Khulna are getting ready to resume fishing and crab hunting.

Mihir Kumar Doe, conservator of forests for the Khulna region, said as many as 12,000 boats and trawlers have been issued board licence certificates, or BLCs, for resource extraction in the Sundarbans. Each year, between 100,000 and 150,000 fishermen, golpata collectors, and beekeepers use these boats to harvest resources from the forest, bdnews24.com reports.

He says that the Sundarbans are not only a reservoir of biodiversity but also rich in fishery resources. From June to August, which is the breeding season, most fish in the Sundarbans’ rivers and canals lay their eggs. To safeguard this process, Bangladesh Forest Department, or BFD, has imposed a three-month ban on fishermen and tourists entering the forest.

Mihir also said: "Fishermen and tourists will receive entry passes to the Sundarbans starting Sept 1.

“Instructions have also been issued to the designated forest stations in this regard.”

According to the permit's validity, the camp officers of the forest guards will maintain a list of fishermen staying in the Sundarbans. The forest guards will patrol each canal and inspect the approved fishermen's boats following the list.

However, ordinary fishermen and golpata collectors complain that crime in the Sundarbans increases significantly during the prohibition period. Some unscrupulous local fishermen’s gangs, operating in the area adjacent to the Sundarbans, enter the forest through secret arrangements with certain forest department officials and engage in illegal fishing and crab hunting by using poison in a short amount of time.

Inside the forest, trees are burned and used to make dried fish. The demand and price for these dried shrimp are high in both domestic and international markets.

These fish and crabs are sold openly in markets around the Sundarbans. This situation has impacted legitimate fishermen, who have called for the identification and prosecution of the criminals involved.

In this regard, Mihir said, "The forest guards work to suppress all types of crimes related to the Sundarbans during the prohibited season. However, there are a few isolated incidents."

The forest official also said that if any allegations of negligence or connivance with criminals are proven against forest guards in the performance of their duties, appropriate action will be taken.

According to the BFD, the watershed area of the Sundarbans in Bangladesh, which covers 6,017 sq km, is 1,874.1 sq km. This accounts for 31.15 per cent of the entire Sundarbans area. The Sundarbans contains around 450 canals, including 13 major rivers.

This tidally flooded forest reservoir is home to 210 species of whitefish, including Bhetki, Rupchanda, Datina, Chitra, Pangash, Loitta, Poa, Topse, Lakkha, Koi, Magur, Kain, and Hilsa.

There are also 24 different species of shrimp including Galda, Bagda, Chaka, Chali, and Chami.

14 species of crabs, including the world-famous softshell crab, breed here.

People from around the world are drawn to the Sundarbans, renowned for its extraordinary natural beauty and located near the Bay of Bengal. Over 250,000 tourists visit its seven ecotourism centres each year.

216,000 tourists visited the Sundarbans in the fiscal year 2022-23, generating a revenue of Tk 39.4 million for the Sundarbans division, the BFD reports.

In the fiscal year 2021-22, 75,560 domestic tourists and 864 foreign tourists visited the Sundarbans. During that period, the Sundarbans division earned Tk 8.894 million from tourism.

Khulna tour operators have said the tourism season in the Sundarbans begins in October and runs until March. Business owners in this sector eagerly anticipate these six months of business. However, last season, the Sundarbans-centric tourism industry suffered a collapse due to the country’s unstable political situation.​

 

[Saif]

Why should Bangladesh have Sundarbans biosphere reserve?

Bangladesh does not have any of the 748 biosphere reserves spread all over the world.

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Why should Bangladesh have Sundarbans biosphere reserve?

Increasing donor interest in the Sundarbans could be capitalised by channelling further finance, to help declare and manage the Sundarbans biosphere reserve. PHOTO: REUTERS

When we discuss biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh, the Sundarbans Reserved Forest always receives special attention. Although the Sundarbans Biodiversity Conservation Project, supported by the Asian Development Bank, failed by getting suspended abruptly in 2003, other funders, such as USAID, GIZ/Germany, European Commission, FCDO/UK, World Bank, and UNDP, have always prioritised this ecosystem, especially since 2011. This coincided with the tension between the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and UNESCO's World Heritage Committee (WHC) over the Rampal Power Plant, starting in 2014. The regular recommendations from the WHC prompted the GoB to undertake several initiatives, captured in the country's State of Conservation Report of 2022 (whc.unesco.org). Two notable developments are the preparation of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of Southwest Region of Bangladesh for Conserving the Outstanding Universal Value of the Sundarbans (2021) led by the CEGIS, and the Methodological Framework for Ecological Monitoring of the Sundarbans (2023) by Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) and IUCN.

In November 2023, Bangladesh achieved a significant milestone in conservation diplomacy. In the General Conference of UNESCO, Bangladesh was elected a member of the International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB-ICC) for four years receiving the highest vote in Group 4. The MAB is an intergovernmental scientific programme of UNESCO. Operating since 1971, it brings together the natural and social sciences to protect ecosystems and promote sustainable development. The MAB-ICC is the main governing body of the MAB.

Biosphere reserve is a core concept promoted by the MAB, where a region is designated as a biosphere reserve to undertake a combination of environmental, social, economic and cultural actions, linking with scientific evidence. A biosphere reserve has three zones: core zone—for strict protection, buffer zone—for sound ecological practices, and transition zone—for sustainable human activities. Details on biosphere reserves can be found in UNESCO's Technical Guidelines for Biosphere Reserves (2022).

Interestingly, although Bangladesh is governing the MAB, it does not have any of the 748 biosphere reserves spread all over the world. The recent developments in this regard demand an answer to the question: Should Bangladesh explore the possibility to declare Sundarbans as its first biosphere reserve?

Before answering this question, we need to be clear: why we need so many designations for a single ecosystem—reserved forest, wildlife sanctuaries, world heritage site, Ramsar site, and now biosphere reserve. All such inscriptions have value. Nationally, the whole Sundarbans has been a reserved forest for the last 149 years, and due to its rich biodiversity, 53 percent of it is wildlife sanctuaries under the country's Wildlife Act 2012. But, given its global significance as a natural heritage, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, and for its global importance as a water-bird habitat, it was declared a Ramsar site in 1999 under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

There are a few reasons why we should now explore the possibility of the Sundarbans to become a biosphere reserve: i) Bangladesh is now part of a strong global biodiversity network as a member of the MAB-ICC. This should allow Bangladesh to seek support and guidance from fellow members to prepare its proposal on the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve; ii) through the SEA, Bangladesh now has good understanding of the whole south-west region. This will act as a basis for demarcating three biosphere reserve zones as noted above; ii) increasing donor interest in the Sundarbans could be capitalised by channelling further finance, which will be needed to declare and manage the Sundarbans biosphere reserve; iv) the Protected Area Management Rules 2017 has provisions to declare core and buffer zones, landscapes, and corridors (Clause 21) to allow different activities within and around a protected area, which could be aligned with biosphere reserves' guidelines to find and apply complementarity; v) an ecological monitoring framework for the Sundarbans is now available, which will create a strong basis to undertake scientific research in the envisaged Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve.

The environment ministry now needs to do three things. First, the ministry should establish a national committee on Man and the Biosphere. To do this, it needs to revisit the national committee established in 2004. The composition of this committee should reflect Bangladesh's changed aspirations as a member of the MAB-ICC and the recent developments in the conservation sector. Second, the ministry needs to work with the forest department to formulate a project to prepare an application for Bangladesh Sundarbans to be designated as a biosphere reserve. UNESCO's technical guidelines will be a great help in this. The target should be to submit the proposal to the MAB Secretariat over the next one year. In that way, the Sundarbans could be designated as a biosphere reserve in October 2025 in Hangzhou, China during the 5th World Congress on Biosphere Reserve. Third, the ministry should urgently map scientific institutions of Bangladesh and abroad to support the above proposal development. This mapping would also help to undertake research within the biosphere reserve once the declaration is made.

The interim government of Bangladesh is now actively reforming our institutional, legal and policy regimes. Along with reform, we need to rejuvenate the country's conservation actions and introduce new approaches in biodiversity space. Having the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve could be a landmark of our ongoing journey to protect our nature while attaining sustainable development.

Dr Haseeb Md Irfanullah is independent consultant working on environment, climate change, and research system and visiting research fellow at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).​

 

[Saif]

Factoring climate change in economic planning

"Despite some uncertainty around its magnitude, climate change clearly dampens output levels in Asia and the Pacific through channels such as loss of physical capital, people's health conditions and productivity." The Asia-Pacific Quarterly Economic Update, prepared and published by the United Nat

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Factoring climate change in economic planning
Asjadul Kibria
Published :
Aug 31, 2024 23:18
Updated :
Aug 31, 2024 23:18

"Despite some uncertainty around its magnitude, climate change clearly dampens output levels in Asia and the Pacific through channels such as loss of physical capital, people's health conditions and productivity."

The Asia-Pacific Quarterly Economic Update, prepared and published by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), made the statement in the highlights of the publication released in the third week of last month. As the report provided a brief note on climate change and economic output, the above-mentioned text summarises the note.

The ESCAP paper mentioned that Asia and the Pacific are facing various manifestations of climate change, such as higher surface temperatures, delayed monsoons, droughts, and intense flooding. The current devastating flood in Bangladesh is an example in this connection. It also added that climate change affects economic outcomes through diverse channels in this region, which is the most disaster-prone region in the world.

The natural disasters have affected millions of people's physical capital or health conditions in the region. For instance, increased water scarcity and heat reduce agricultural productivity and aggravate food insecurity. Heat also reduces labour productivity and increases the spread of diseases such as dengue. The broader effect of climate change is reflected in climate-induced migration and conflict disrupting economic activities in different countries. Various climate mitigation and adaptation policies also have economic implications, it further pointed out. So, what is the economic cost of climate change in the region?

ESCAP paper provided the cost estimate in various scenarios. For example, the average annual losses in gross domestic product (GDP) due to climate hazards could amount to $980 billion per year in a 2°C warming scenario in Asia and the Pacific. Also, under a high carbon emissions scenario, climate change could lead to a GDP loss of 24 per cent in developing Asia by 2100.

Though the estimates do not claim that these will happen ultimately, there is no doubt that there is no way to avoid the negative impact of climate change. "There is broad agreement that the output impact is negative, that there is a high chance of negative surprises (e.g. more extreme weather events than anticipated), and that poorer countries are more vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change," said the quarterly report of the ESCAP. It also cautioned that the lack of consensus on the precise output impacts of climate change 'should not deter governments from actively pursuing national climate goals.'

The ESCAP's brief note on climate change and economic output is relevant for Bangladesh when the eastern part of the country is submerged heavily due to flash floods. Many in the country squarely blamed India for releasing water from the Dumbur dam over Gumti River in neighbouring Tripura state with no warning. India, however, denied that the dam release was deliberate and said excessive rain was a factor - although it conceded that a power outage and communications breakdown meant they failed to issue the usual warning to neighbours downstream. Though India can't avoid its responsibility for not providing warnings in time, the weak forecast system in the local Met Offices is also somewhat responsible.

One also needs to remember that three-fourths of Bangladesh is floodplain, and managing the water flow of any transboundary river is challenging. It is true that Bangladesh and India share 54 common transboundary rivers, but Bangladesh is in a more difficult position for being a lower riparian country. India is an upper riparian country that essentially controls the river flows and is not always cooperative in sharing the water. The joint-river commission is also not adequately functional, and India's indifference to Bangladesh's legitimate demand for balanced management of these rivers is well known. It does not mean that India is responsible for the current flood or any other flood, for that matter, in Bangladesh. The misinformation and disinformation on the social media alleging an 'Indian conspiracy' to 'punish Bangladesh' by opening a dam are nothing but irresponsible comments and not helpful in addressing the problem.

In fact, flood management requires both domestic capacity and international cooperation. Bangladesh and India need to work mutually, especially when the negative impact of climate change is widening. Both countries need to continue their efforts in data collection and data sharing on a regular basis. Otherwise, it will be difficult to manage floods and contain losses and damage.

The current flood in Bangladesh is a big blow to the already troubled economy mismanaged by the authoritarian Hasina regime during the last one and a half decades. Preliminary estimation showed that the country's fisheries and livestock sectors incurred an estimated loss of over Tk 20 billion due to current floods. The actual loss will be greater, and the overall economic damage is yet to be estimated. The 2022 floods in Pakistan caused damage equivalent to 4.8 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) as it was one of the most devastating ones in the world that year. Hopefully, Bangladesh will not suffer to that extent, and the damage will be much less compared to Pakistan.

Economic output is widely linked with climate change today, and there is no way to avoid the impact of natural disasters originating from climate vulnerability on the economy. One way to reduce the negative impact is to shield vulnerable people with climate risk insurance to some extent. Another way is to manage natural disasters like floods and cyclones better. Above all, the current flood reminds us that Bangladesh must redesign its climate policy and realign its economic policy.​

 

[Saif]

UNDP and French delegations meet Environment Advisor Rizwana Hasan

A high-level delegation from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), led by Resident Representative Stefan Liller, met with Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, and Water Resources Advisor, at the secretariat on Sunday. The discussions covered a range of criti

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

UNDP and French delegations meet Environment Advisor Rizwana Hasan
UNB
Published :
Sep 01, 2024 20:42
Updated :
Sep 01, 2024 20:42

A high-level delegation from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), led by Resident Representative Stefan Liller, met with Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, and Water Resources Advisor, at the secretariat on Sunday.

The discussions covered a range of critical environmental and climate change issues facing Bangladesh.

The topics included enhancing collaboration between the Government of Bangladesh and UNDP on sustainable environmental management, climate resilience, climate change adaptation, ecosystem-based management in Ecologically Critical Areas (ECAs), community-based management in haor regions, sustainable energy, low-carbon urban development, climate-resilient livelihoods, sustainable land management to combat climate change vulnerability, and the reduction of hazardous chemicals.

During the meeting, advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan highlighted the importance of continued partnership and innovative solutions to address the environmental challenges in Bangladesh.

She stressed the need to explore new opportunities for collaboration and strengthen ongoing initiatives aimed at protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development in the country.

Resident Representative Liller reaffirmed UNDP’s commitment to supporting Bangladesh in achieving its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in combating climate change and preserving natural resources.

Earlier, a French delegation led by the French Ambassador to Bangladesh, Marie Masdupuy, also met with Syeda Rizwana Hasan and discussed various issues including forest protection, transboundary air pollution, river pollution, ecosystem preservation, industrial pollution, and the protection of hill ecosystems, including the Sundarbans, Sal forests, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).

The meeting also addressed the urgent enforcement of a polythene shopping bag ban, climate action collaboration, National Adaptation Plan (NAP) implementation, coastal afforestation, and the Adaptation Pact.​

 

[Saif]

‘Won’t tolerate river pollution’

Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan has issued a stern warning against the pollution of rivers by businesses.

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‘Won’t tolerate river pollution’

Syeda Rizwana Hasan. File photo

Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan discussed with The Daily Star's Pinaki Roy how the interim government is going to stop businesses from polluting the rivers of Bangladesh.

Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan has issued a stern warning against the pollution of rivers by businesses.

"This generation who waged the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement never saw any pollution-free rivers in Bangladesh. I want to show it to them," Rizwana said

In an interview with The Daily Star, Rizwana, also in charge of the water resources ministry, said the interim government is preparing a list of rivers that have been heavily polluted by industrial waste.

"We will not tolerate pollution of any river by any business to increase profits," she remarked. The adviser also mentioned that rivers belong to people.

Bangladesh has many rivers, and the government must protect them all. But it is also true that this government would not be able to work for all at the same time, said Rizwana, known for her work as an environmental activist.

"We have to set examples and so, we're thinking if we can free one river in each of the eight divisions from pollution and encroachment.

"Whoever works on the issue in future can follow the model. But it doesn't mean we're neglecting other rivers," she said.

The adviser mentioned that the High Court had earlier ordered the authorities concerned to evict 66,000 grabbers.

"We're asking eight divisional commissioners to submit their plans on freeing all those rivers from encroachment."

Asked how the government is going to clean the Buriganga, one of the most polluted rivers in the world, she said, "It's very challenging to make this river pollution-free. I said it earlier as well. It will take a long time to make the river water free from chromium. But we can start the process."

Apart from the Buriganga, many rivers like the Labandaha in Gazipur, the Sutang in Habiganj, and the Hari-dhoya in Narsingdi, are polluted by industrial waste.

To free these rivers from pollution, Rizwana said, they will identify the factories responsible for it and engage locals to protect the rivers.

"I think this is going to be easier for us because there are young generations in all districts who can engage in the process."

If the government officially authorises the organisations that work voluntarily to save rivers, they will feel empowered and show interest in working on the issue, said the adviser.

So, involving the local community in protecting rivers, like giving responsibility to a group to monitor two kilometres of a certain river, and engaging students in this process will be part of the plan to save rivers, said Rizwana.

She also instructed the Department of Environment to conduct drives against the factories responsible for pollution.

Rizwana said owners of many industries make excuses for not operating effluent treatment plants (ETPs) even if they have ETPs. Sometimes, they run the ETPs the whole day but release polluted water into rivers at night.

"We need some suggestions on how to monitor and stop these ill attempts. I don't think it is impossible to detect and stop them," the adviser said and suggested using separate meters for biological ETPs to detect pollution.

For example, she said it cannot be confirmed without tests whether the Hari-dhoya River in Narsingdi is being polluted as industries are far from the riverbanks.

If the government can provide a meter, it will be possible to find out easily if the ETPs are functional in a particular period.

Rizwana encouraged good businesspersons to lead the next generation by example in refraining from releasing industrial waste into rivers. "We will welcome them in our initiative."

She said her ministry would sit with the industries ministry to discuss the issue of the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) not functioning properly at Savar Tannery Industrial Estate.

The adviser said she has been vocal from the very beginning that the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation is not the proper authority to monitor the CETP.

"We have to form an expert committee who will work to make the CETP functional," she said, emphasising cooperation between the two ministries.

About blackwater pollution of the rivers, Rizwana said the DoE made a list in 2017 that shows most of the rivers were polluted by sewage. "We cannot stop blackwater pollution within a very short period this government would get. Maybe we'll be able to prepare a plan."

Asked about the priorities and challenges of her work, the environment adviser said this government, unlike an elected administration, would get a short time to address many big environmental issues.

Another big challenge will be to turn the environmental administration to a people-oriented one. "It never took people's views before taking any development project."​

 

[Saif]

Hope for our rivers

Environment adviser’s words must be turned into action

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Hope for our rivers
Environment adviser’s words must be turned into action

We are heartened by the resolute stance of Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the interim government's environment adviser, to take action against businesses that continue to pollute our rivers. The adviser has realistically stated that, given the limited time available, the interim government will begin by clearing one river in each division of the country. She has particularly emphasised holding polluting businesses accountable, especially those that are not operating their effluent treatment plants (ETPs) despite having them.

We think that involving the community, especially the local youth, in this process can make a significant difference. Authorising organisations already working on river conservation will ensure greater stakeholder participation, which is an effective strategy. Installing metres to monitor whether ETPs are operational would encourage businesses to be more diligent in their environmental responsibilities.

In the past, despite the High Court giving clear directives to the government to evict river encroachers, precious little has been done to free them. It is not just rivers but other water bodies such as canals around the cities that have either been grabbed or polluted by indiscriminate household garbage and industrial waste. This daily has published endless reports, editorials and opinion pieces on river grabbing and river pollution, but to no avail.

What is worse is that, despite lists of river grabbers and polluters being complied, the former government has not taken action. In many cases, the culprits have been government bodies that have encroached upon river land and built structures, while others have also exploited their connections to the political elite for the same end. For instance, the Buriganga has been rendered nearly lifeless due to relentless pollution from industrial waste, plastic waste, medical waste and sewage.

Although tanneries of Hazaribagh have been transferred to Savar in a bid to reduce pollution in the Buriganga, many continue to pollute another river, the Dhaleswari, by dumping untreated industrial wastewater. This is because the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) is not functioning properly, and nothing has been done so far to address this issue. The interim government, therefore, has a challenging task ahead with limited time. Empowering the National River Conservation Commission, which has been weakened due to political interference, could be a first step. Additionally, it must also ensure that ETPs in all polluting industries are properly installed and being operated.

We sincerely hope that the interim government will be committed to freeing as many rivers as possible and establish a model that subsequent governments can follow.​

 

[Saif]

Wider reform key to ending plastic menace

We appreciate the environment adviser’s directive to ban the use of polythene and polypropylene bags in all superstores across Bangladesh

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Wider reform key to ending plastic menace
Expand the scope of plastic ban, ensure enforcement

VISUAL: STAR

We appreciate the environment adviser's directive to ban the use of polythene and polypropylene bags in all superstores across Bangladesh. This, we hope, will be the first of many long-needed measures to rein in plastic pollution in the country. At present, chain superstores offer free bags, made from polypropylene, for customers to pack their groceries, although thin polythene and plastic bags were banned in 2002. According to the latest directive, instead of these bags, superstores will have to make jute or cloth bags available for purchase starting from October 1.

Although the order targets a small portion of commercial plastic usage in the country, smaller steps taken in phases might actually be more effective than issuing blanket bans that lose steam over time, as previously seen. The key here is enforcement, so the administration must ensure compliance from market managers and customers. It also must ensure that low-cost alternatives are easily accessible to wean customers off their dependence on plastics. Previous attempts to encourage jute bag usage have largely failed for supply shortages and lack of proper marketing. That said, the government should also consider schemes to promote research on and commercial production of eco-friendly alternatives like Sonali bags.

At the same time, campaigns can be launched to create awareness about the health and environmental hazards of plastics, encouraging customers and entrepreneurs to adopt the 3Rs—reduce, reuse and recycle—of waste management. Another area that requires awareness is proper disposal of plastics. Plastic litter is not only impacting our ecosystem, polluting waterbodies, or harming aquatic lives; it is also clogging sewers, drains, and canals and thus contributing to waterlogging in urban areas. While we understand that completely phasing out plastics may not be possible, reducing its usage and ensuring proper disposal are certainly doable.

In the long run, we hope that the environment adviser, having long fought for environmental causes herself, will be able to bring some much-needed reforms in the sector. Once the plastic ban in superstores takes effect, the authorities should gradually expand the scope of the ban by targeting various related industries including restaurants and packaging as well as all governmental and non-governmental institutions. They should also clamp down on polythene production and restrict the import of plastic products.​

 

[Saif]

Preserving our future by saving our forests

Most of the forest and relevant laws in practice are from the British regime, and devoid of any consideration of the people.

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Preserving our future by saving our forests

If forests and wildlife habitats are to exist, necessary legal power needs to be given to stop encroachment and protect them. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

With the recent fall of an authoritarian regime and an interim government in place, the expectations and demands of people in Bangladesh are skyrocketing, and there is a desire to take full advantage of new opportunities and possibilities. In a similar vein, conservationists and natural resource management professionals expect the management of forests and other resources to be more effective now, protecting the long-term interests of the country and its population.

Previous regimes were more concerned about success stories in all sectors, with fabricated success carefully covering unattended challenges. Political interference was widespread in institutional decision-making, leading to wastage of public resources, ignorance of expert opinions, and forsaking of participation and stakeholder consultation. Against this backdrop, the Forest Department and other related agencies gradually drifted far from their due course.

The interim government may weigh on several issues that I believe are crucial for transforming the public forest management system into a more transparent and accountable one.

One such issue is data tampering and the misrepresentation of facts. It has been customary, over the past decade, to present exaggerated scenarios in terms of achievement. For instance, the data regarding national forest cover, which was shown to be around 12.6 percent, while it is in reality around 8.6 percent. These has immense bearing on our national forest coverage targets, and the targets against the relevant SDGs, policy, plans, and strategies, as the distorted data places us on an impractical trajectory.

Therefore, the scholarly demand is to correct the course through updating Bangladesh's actual forest cover data, and reconsider various national targets accordingly.

Most of the forest and relevant laws in practice are from the British regime, and devoid of any consideration of the people. Moreover, parts of the reserved forests are declared as Protected Areas to fulfil international obligations, which further limits accessibility and the rights of the people. It has never been a practice of the Forest Department to arrange public consultation while declaring public forests as Protected Areas. At present, 52 percent of the Sundarbans forest (including the waterways) has been declared as Protected Areas with harsher usage regulations. This often makes the lives of forest-dependent locals miserable, and ultimately results in exacerbated illegal practices.

The rights of local communities should be ensured by revising the boundaries of declared Protected Areas and subsequent declarations. Alongside the Protected Areas management plan, a mandatory management requirement for each Protected Area should be prepared for real action to fill the missing gaps.

Another area of concern is the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), an underutilised hidden gem for forest restoration and carbon conservation. Despite the widespread deforestation (522,158 ha) and forest degradation (146,210 ha) in the CHT region, efforts are not being taken to restore it at scale because of the conflicting land management responsibilities of the various departments. Some part of the CHT forest land is managed by the Forest Department, termed as reserved forests, while most of it is under the management of the deputy commissioners representing the land ministry, often termed as unclassified state forests. The latter has no mandate to prevent forest degradation or restoration; therefore, the lands are undergoing further degradation due to massive expansion of agriculture and horticultural crops. The Forest Department, on the other hand, has no functional ties or programmes under the administrative structures created in light of the 1997 CHT Accord.

However, appropriate community-based forest conservation programmes could increase forest cover by eliminating conflicting land uses and create further opportunities to foster employment in the hills, generate timber and non-timber products, secure livelihoods and thus reduce landslide, soil erosion and siltation, improve watersheds, regulate local climate, and achieve both national REDD+ and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets. Furthermore, it is possible to earn a considerable amount of foreign currencies from the voluntary or regulatory carbon markets through emission reduction by carbon conservation in the forests.

Unfortunately in the forestry sector, we see exclusionary, vested interest-led and often politically biased, inefficient and even unnecessarily planned and implemented development programmes. Some salient examples include the installation of non-profitable and useless ropeway in the name of Sheikh Russel Aviary and Ecopark in Rangunia, the establishment of a safari park at Lathitila forest and numerous ecoparks. Some of these initiatives have caused irreparable harm to forests and wildlife and enabled embezzlement and wastage of public money.

To ensure resourceful forest conservation activities, the Forest Department has drafted a forest policy and a forestry master plan using huge debt investment; it has been awaiting approval for eight years. These forest policy and forestry master plan should be discussed, approved and implemented immediately before these become obsolete.

Even more concerningly, the Forest Department does not have the capacity to prevent encroachment. Even though enormous lands—104,000 hectares—have already been encroached, the field-level staff are still putting their life at risk to prevent encroachment and hill-cutting, resulting in physical assaults and even death of forest personnel in the recent past.

Shockingly, the Government and Local Authority Lands and Buildings (Recovery of Possession) Ordinance, 1970 currently in use did not retain the legal power of divisional forest officers for eviction, which was in the earlier ordinance. After sending the list to the deputy commissioners, the Forest Department must wait for the eviction orders and the appointment of magistrates. By the time all approvals are obtained, the forest is already encroached upon and destroyed. Actions for evictions, if ever, are taken from the office of the deputy commissioner. However, these are often purely populist, bowing down to the wishes of political leadership.

If forests and wildlife habitats are to exist, necessary legal power needs to be given to stop encroachment and protect them. The misuse of forests cannot go on any further. People should stand up for forests, for only then will forests survive—and so will people.

Rakibul Hasan Mukul is deputy chief conservator of forests at the Forest Department (lien), executive director at Arannayk Foundation, and organising secretary at the Institution of Foresters Bangladesh (IFB).​