Cox’s Bazar Correspondent :USAID’s Climate-Resilient Ecosystems and Livelihoods (CREL) Project organised a Dialogue on ‘Sustainable Financing of Co-management in Bangladesh’ on Wednesday at a city hotel in Cox’s Bazar hosted by Winrock International, NACOM, CODEC, CNRS and BCAS supported by USAID Bangladesh and Bangladesh Forest Department in observation of the Co-Management Day 2016, says a press release. Secretary for the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Dr. Kamal Uddin Ahmed inaugurated the event as the Chief Guest while Chief Conservator of Forests Md. Yunus Ali chaired the occasion. Among others, representatives of administration, forest department, development partners, non-government organizations, co-management organizations and private sector participated in this dialogue. Shared governance enabled by co-management is a proven model to improve governance of natural resources and biodiversity and therefore increases flexibility to climate change through an improved planning and livelihood diversification. This was noted by speakers and participants at dialogue which is held every year since 2008 honoring a local hero, a community forest patroller Rafiqul Alam for his extraordinary sacrifice on this day at the hands of illegal loggers. Dr. Kamal Uddin Ahmed in his inauguration speech noted that co-management is a praiseworthy initiative that made people more aware of forest conservation. Co-management approach in Bangladesh has received recognition from our neighboring countries.Chair of the dialogue Md. Yunus Ali explained the context and significance of co-management day and paid tributes for the heroic sacrifice made to safeguard the natural resource and environment. Co-management organizations now stand at a total of 27 joint collaborative councils and are spread across the country with involvement of approximately 1.5 lakh households. He said’ “We have launched people oriented eco-friendly programs like social forestation to ensure sustainability of development work. We want to conserve our forest resource and alleviate poverty with people’s proactive participation in it. Future generations will grow crippled if we miss the mark of a healthy eco-system in country, he added. Farhad Ghaussy, Director of Economic Growth Office at USAID Bangladesh made the closing remarks and some truly inspiring experiences were shared by the community conservation leaders present at the auspicious congregation. Co-management is the partnership between Government and Community in conservation of forests and protected areas of Bangladesh. This dialogue calls for action of the government, development partners, private sectors and stakeholders of different levels to ensure sustainable financing for the co-management organizations in Bangladesh.The event had four segments facilitated by Dr. Azharul Majumder, USAID, Dr. John A. Dorr, Chief of Party, CREL, Kevin Kamp, Deputy Chief of Party, CREL, Ishtaq Uddin Ahmad, Country Representative, IUCN Bangladesh, Dr. Rob Mollah, Chairman, NACOM, Munir Helal, Director, CODEC and Dr. Mokhlesur Rahman, ED, CNRS. There was a colorful exposition and similar installations looking at co-management processes, products and impacts to foster a variety of partnership opportunities between community conservationists and other groups.
