Friday, December 6, 2024

Madhupur forest merely exists

85pc of natural greenery gone in 40 years; govt’s wrong policies blamed
Adoption of wrong policies by the government and corruption by foresters have nearly eaten away the entire Madhupur forest, reducing the unique habitat of flora and fauna down to 8,000 acres from 45,000 acres.
A large variety of wildlife including Royal Bengal Tiger, Asicatic black bear, pea fowls, Samvar and deer used to roam in the Madhupur forest just a few decades ago.
But now the forest has been degenerated and reshaped with commercially planted pineapples and bananas and woods of alien species. Though it once abounded with medicinal plants and tubers, it now hardly produces these species of vegetation anymore.
A comparison of satellite images of 1962 and 2003 clearly shows 85 percent greenery of Madhupur has disappeared in last 40 years. Now noise of vehicles and bombings and shootings of the armed forces overwhelm the chirping of birds.
“The Madhupur forest is valuable in ecological aspects as it’s the country’s last remaining patches of natural forest. If we cannot conserve this, we’ll lose a unique biodiversity system forever,” said Dr Tawhidul Islam, one of the eminent forest experts in the country.
Following up the Department of Forest activities, it was learned that the government has never taken up any serious projects to conserve or revive the degraded natural forest. Rather forest officials promoted projects which helped them make quick bucks and destroyed the forest.
The forest department has been implementing donor-funded tree plantation projects in the forestland in different names since 1984. These projects actually encouraged the officials to strip off natural trees and plant alien species including acacia, eucalyptus, goran, gamari and rubber.
The government kept a blind eye when local people also commercially started pineapple and banana orchards in the forest. The government also paid no heed as wooden furniture shops, sawmills, pesticides and hormone shops and brick kilns mushroomed on the encroached forestland.
During this entire process, the state grossly violated the rights of the indigenous people who are traditionally living in the forest for long.
The government owes millions of dollars of soft loans to the Asian Development Bank for projects related to the Madhupur forest, the country’s valuable biodiversity resource, which is gradually becoming a waste land.
BANGLADESH FOREST SCENARIO AND MADHUPUR
The official forest coverage of Bangladesh is around 17 percent against 25 percent, the general standard that a country should maintain.
Realising the alarming situation of low forest coverage, the government has set a goal to increase the forest coverage to 25 percent by 2015.
But in reality the coverage has gone down to 7.29 percent (1.08 million hectares) according to an unpublished joint study by Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation (SPARSO) and the Department of Forest in 2007.
Besides, the 7.29 percent coverage includes the forest of Chittagong Hill Tracts, sal forest, mangrove forest, bamboo or mixed forest and rubber plantation.
The Forestry Sector Master Plan, 1993, under which the government started tree plantation programme, says the annual deforestation rate in Bangladesh is 3 percent.
The Madhupur Sal Forest is a unique example how the government let the foresters steal trees, clear the forest to grow wood plants and let people grab forestland violating the rights of the forest inhabitants.
STUDY ON A VANISHING FOREST
Dr Tawhidul Islam of Jahangirnagar University studied the Madhupur forest during his doctoral thesis in Durham University, UK in 2002-2006 under Commonwealth Scholarship and witnessed sad episodes of deforestation.
Dr Islam analysed a series of satellite images taken in between 1963 to 2003 and detected how the government officials cleared the forest and let others do it.
He mentions in the summary of his thesis that remote sensing techniques have shown quality degradation of the forest, signs of areas cleared for air force firing range and social forestry, conversion of forestland into rubber plantation, evidence of engulfing forests with settlement expansion, and indications of the influence of infrastructure.
His study reveals that more than 85 percent of the Madhupur forest has been cleared in last 40 years. Whatever remains, in most of the areas the age of sal forest is not more than 10 to 15 years.
Within the defined study area in Madhupur the forest coverage reduced from 3,826 hectares in 1962 to 3,573 hectares in 1977, 1,801 hectares in 1997, and only 594 hectares in 2003.
“It is evidenced that the forest department cleared out natural forests to make room for this social forestry programmes, that eventually cause deforestation. In addition, the government plan to convert land use patterns to other land use types impacted on the forest,” Dr Islam cites in the summary of his thesis.
Talking with different experts and local people it is known that although severely depleted, the remaining patches of the sal forest still hold a good number of unique birds, reptiles, insects, plants and animals that are found only in a deciduous forest like this.
VIOLATION OF LAWS AND CONVENTIONS
Bangladesh is a signatory to the Convention of Biological Diversity what makes the country responsible to take initiatives to conserve its natural resources.
But the government violated the convention by planting wood trees replacing the natural species.
According to the government statistics, right now 1,000 acres of the Madhupur forestland is being used as firing range, although article 23 (3) (ii) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1973 prohibits “firing any gun or doing any other act which may interfere with the breeding of any wild animals”.
Besides plantation of exotic and commercial species like eucalyptus, acacia, banana, pineapple and so on in the National Park area of the Madhupur forest, ignoring the rights of the indigenous people is clear violation of the provisions of the Forest Act, 1927.

Courtesy of The Daily Star

Related News

Khaleda Zia visits US embassy to complete visa process

News Desk : dhakamirror.com BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia went to the US Embassy in the capital on Wednesday afternoon to give her fingerprints for completing her visa application process. Upon her arrival at the embassy, its officials, including acting ambassador welcomed the BNP chairperson. Khaleda was accompanied by her personal physicians, BNP Standing Committee member ... Read more

Sajek, Khagrachari now open to visitors after being closed for over a month

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The tourism restriction imposed in Sajek valley of Rangamati and Khagrachhari for over a month was lifted today allowing visitors after 45 days. Rangamati Deputy Commissioner Mosharraf Hossain Khan announced the lifting of travel bans at the popular Sajek Union in Baghaichhari Upazila. Similarly, the Khagrachari Deputy Commissioner has also lifted ... Read more

Tourist access to suspend in St Martins in February

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The government has decided that tourist access to Saint Martin’s Island will be suspended in February to protect the island’s fragile ecology and ensure environmental preservation. Tourists will be allowed to visit the island from November to January, with overnight stays prohibited in November. In December and January, tourists can stay ... Read more

Public univs to accommodate 37pc GPA 5 achievers

Shahin Akhter Around 63 per cent of examinees securing a Grade Point Average of 5 in this year’s Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalent examinations will not be able to get admitted to the public universities across the country due to lack of seats. Though the private universities in the country have sufficient seats to accommodate ... Read more

297 killed by lightning in eight months

News Desk : dhakamirror.com At least 297 people have been killed and 73 injured in incidents of lightning strikes across the country between February and September this year, according to Save the Society and Thunderstorm Awareness Forum (SSTAF). In the eight months, lightning strikes killed 152 people while they were doing agricultural works, SSTAF said ... Read more

Flood death toll climbs to 59, over 5.4 million affected

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Fifty-nine people, including 41 men, six women and 12 children, died in the devastating flood as deaths of five more people were reported on Saturday. So far, 14 deaths have been reported in Cumilla, six in Chattogram, 23 in Feni, nine in Noakhali, three in Cox’s Bazar, and one each in ... Read more

Flood death toll reaches 13, 4.5m affected in 11 districts

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Around 13 people have been killed and 4.5 million affected by floods in 11 districts of Bangladesh, the disaster management and relief ministry said Friday, reports AFP. Thousands of people awaiting emergency rescue remained beyond electricity and mobile network coverage as a flash flood unleashed by heavy rains and an onrush ... Read more

Bangladesh ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia freed

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has been officially released. Former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was released on Tuesday, a day after Sheikh Hasina’s resignation as PM and fleeing the country amid an unprecedented student-led mass uprising against her authoritarian regime. The decision was revealed ... Read more

Eid-ul-Azha on June 17

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The holy Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated in Bangladesh on June 17 (Monday) as the crescent moon of the Zilhaj month was sighted in Bangladesh’s sky on Friday evening (7 June). The National Moon Sighting Committee came up with the decision after reviewing information about the sighting of the moon at a ... Read more

Cyclone Remal: 40 dead animals found, 17 rescued hurt in Sundarbans

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The forest department officials on Tuesday said that so far they found 39 dead deer and a pig in the Sundarbans after the severe cyclone Remal that hit the forest on Sunday. Primarily they have estimated infrastructural damage of Tk 6.27 crore in the forest while the total damage, including animals ... Read more

Cyclone Remal claims at least 14 lives, affects nearly 37.58 lakh people in 19 districts

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Following its devastating impact into Bangladesh on Sunday night, Cyclone Remal has affected over 37.58 lakh people in 19 districts and taken at least 14 lives. While the cyclone has weakened into a deep depression, hundreds of villages in the southern parts of the country remain submerged. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department ... Read more

Alert issued as Cyclone Remal develops

News Desk : dhakamirror.com A weather alert has been issued by the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) as a low-pressure system in the southwest and west central Bay of Bengal gains strength, potentially developing into Cyclone Remal by Saturday. The system, currently moving northeastward, is expected to transform into a depression by early Friday. By Saturday, ... Read more

Cyclone ‘Remal’ likely to hit Bangladesh coasts on 26 May: Meteorologist

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Cyclone Remal is likely to make landfall between 6:00am and 12:00pm on 26 May in Bangladesh, affecting coastal areas from the Barguna in Barishal Division to Cox’s Bazar in the Chattogram Division, a meteorologist said today (21 May). The front of the cyclone may begin to enter coastal areas after 6:00am, ... Read more

5 consecutive days holiday for Eid-ul-Adha

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Government employees are scheduled to get five consecutive days off on Eid-ul-Azha. This includes two days of weekly holidays (Friday and Saturday) followed by another three days for Eid, according to government holiday list. Eid-ul-Azha is likely to be celebrated on June 17 this year.

Heavy rains, storms forecast for entire week

Schools open today after heatwave closures News Desk : dhakamirror.com The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) forecasts heavy rainfall with thunderstorms across the country this week, starting on Tuesday and lasting through Saturday. As per the analysis of mathematical model of rainfall index, Bangladesh is likely to witness heavy to very heavy rainfall with thunderstorms starting ... Read more

Waiting for the rain

Tawsia Tajmim As the sun blazes relentlessly, desperate craving rises for rain, for nothing soothes Mother Nature quite like its cool embrace. After a brutal month-long heatwave, residents of Chattogram, Sylhet, and Dhaka finally caught a break with some rain on 2 May. However, the downpour was not strong enough to completely wash away the ... Read more

Hajj registration extended till Jan 18

News Desk : dhakamirror.com The government, in a notice issued yesterday, extended the Hajj registration deadline for 2024 until January 18. It said aspiring Hajis would have to primarily deposit Tk 2.05 lakh, while the rest should be paid by February 29 for final registration. One has to pay Tk 5,78,840 under the general package, ... Read more

Dense fog disrupts communications across Bangladesh

News Desk : dhakamirror.com Cold and dense fog continued to disrupt life with road, air and waterways communication remaining suspended in the early hours of Tuesday as Bangladesh braces for this winter’s first cold wave likely to set in today. Authorities also confirmed until Tuesday the death of 14 people in cold-related diseases and road ... Read more

27,000 GPA 5 achievers not to get seat in public universities

Shahin Akhter Over 27,000 GPA 5 achievers in this year’s HSC and equivalent examinations cannot be admitted to the public universities due to fewer seats. A total of 92,595 examinees secured GPA 5 out of total 10,67,852 passed in the Higher Secondary Certificate examinations this year. But there are around 65,400 seats at the public ... Read more

Magnitude 5.5 earthquake jolts Dhaka, other parts of Bangladesh

News Desk : dhakamirror.com A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck Bangladesh this morning, the United States Geological Survey said, with no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake jolted different parts of the country including Dhaka around in Ramganj of Cumilla at 9:35am, reports The Daily Star quoting Meteorologist Rubayet Kabir of Bangladesh Meteorological Department. The quake ... Read more