AS a media reports on Monday said the government lack of initiative and even enough interest to conserve existing forestland is causing rapid loss of forestland in the country making wildlife vulnerable in the first place. Powerful people and vested interest groups operating under the protection of the government are felling trees and destroying forest to advance their business interest. The country is facing big danger as valuable forestland is declining rapidly.
In the outgoing year, destruction of natural and reserved forests was on the peak while the government’s reforestation projects miserably failed. All this resulted in further loss of wildlife habitats making their life unsafe. Report said the gross deforestation between 2006 and 2014 was 0.75 percent, the highest since 1930. The highest loss occurred in Chittagong hill forests and in the Madhupur Range’s Sal forest. As the reserved forests were not demarcated the reserved forests protection goals could not be achieved.
We see the government is not having enough interest in extension work of forest amidst rapid urbanization, habitation and commercial agriculture that resulted in losing habitat for wildlife. Environmentalists have attached greater priority to homestead forestation of Gamari, Mehaguni, Jarul, Jaam and other native species to meet the growing demand for wood and other forest resources.
Plantation of fast-harvesting exotic species that threaten natural forests should not be entertained. Data showed that Tk 185 crore was invested on reforestation and social forestry in Chittagong, Jessore, Kushtia, Rajshahi, Sylhet and in the coastal belt in 2009-14. Fast-harvesting Acasia, Agor, Rubber and Bamboo were predominantly planted in these areas during the period along with many other species.
Though the country had aforestation projects at many places, its primary forest coverage decreased from 3.68 million acres in 1990 to 3.53 million acres in 2015. World Bank funded project for ‘Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Wildlife Protection’ virtually flopped due to failure to implement the major components of the Tk 256 crore project. The buildings for housing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centres built in Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet under the project now stare at passersby as hollow monuments. The same fate afflicts the building for housing a Wildlife Centre at Gazipur as well as a Forensic Lab and a Wildlife Crime Control Unit in the capital. The project automatically wound up due to the government failure to regularize the jobs of trained personnel as contract with the World Bank required.
In 2017, the Department of Forest classified over 68 lakhs acres of forest as reserved forests increasing the area from over 44 lakhs acres. Until last year the area did not expand as announced. The government even did not adopt the rules for the implementation of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2012. Any future conservation initiative would require attaching greater priority to involvement of local communities for sustainability. But the government’s lack of interest is not acceptable. It must act quickly to preserve the valuable forestland for public interest.
