Kazi Farhana Islam :
The deforestation in Bangladesh is more than the amount of deforestation that is taking place every year. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about 1.4 percent of the world’s forests were deforested during 2000-2015. In Bangladesh it is 2.6 percent. In the country, 2,600 hectares of forest is deforested annually. The protected forest is not being protected from this deforestation. The spread and density of the “Sundarbans”, the most protected forest in the world, has decreased. According to a study by the NGO Development Exploration,
In the last two decades (2000-2020) the amount of vegetation in the Sundarbans has declined drastically. The density of forest has also decreased by 7 The amount of vacant and fallow land is increasing due to deforestation. The Sundarbans is down by half. The forest cover in Bangladesh part is 16000 sq km but according to the 2016 census, the total forest spread in Bangladesh part is 648 sq km.
Now, we all have to work together to save the forest. You have to refrain from cutting down trees indiscriminately. Deforestation should be brought under the law by abusing political or economic power. Development and commercial activities in protected forests should be stopped. Proper use of forest law must be ensured.
(Kazi Farhana Islam is student, Department of Islamic Studies, Jagannath University).
