Madhupur forest merely exists

85pc of natural greenery gone in 40 years; govt's wrong policies blamed

Pinaki Roy

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.

Source: Link

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Commercial tourism puts St Martin's Island at risk

Shahidul Islam Chowdhury

The government agencies shut their eyes to unabated construction works on St Martin's Island to prop up the commercial tourism, which experts see as a threat to coral reefs.
   The government seemed to have finished its duty by declaring the country's lone coral island an ecologically critical area back in 1999, with no follow-up actions to preserve its unique biodiversity.
   The island is losing its scenic beauty fast amid invasion of commercial tourism that has led to a proliferation of hotels, resorts and shops, and has been stripping the island of its natural cover to satisfy the increasing human greed.
   The government must stop all unauthorised construction works, unabated extraction of marine resources and pollution of the natural habitat of wildlife on and around the island at the earliest, conservationists suggested.
   'The St Martin's Islands is about to lose its existence although there are laws and rules to protect it from human greed.' professor Ainun Nishat, country representative of the IUCN-The World Conservation Union, told New Age Sunday. 'There are government agencies and laws. But the laws are hardly enforced.'
   Thirty-six privately-owned hotels and resorts have already been built on the small quiet island and four others are under construction, according to sources at the island.
   None of the builders bothered to take environmental clearance from the department concerned.
   'Rich people of Dhaka have bought almost a half of the island. Their men are running the hotels and other businesses here,' said Ziaur Rahman, an islander who owns a tea stall near the makeshift jetty. He described how land price there soared only in few years.
   Another youth developed his career as a local 'tourist guide' as his ancestral land was sold and a resort, Jalpari, was built there. Like him, many people are employed as caretakers of the private resorts built on their land.
   Private companies are also advertising to sell dozens of duplex cottages and resorts on the islands.
   The number of travellers has been on the rise as three spacious private ships, each with the capacity of more than 500 persons, ferry people between the island and Teknaf during peak season, apart from scores of mechanised boats.
   The small town receives on an average 2,500 visitors everyday between November and February.
   Permanent migration of people including Rohingyas from Myanmar has raised the population of the island from about 5,700 in 2001 to nearly 9,000 in 2006.
   'Everything has a capacity to bear certain amount of load, be it physical and ecological,' professor Nishat said. 'A small ecologically vulnerable island like St. Martin's cannot cater for several thousand tourists everyday.'
   He warned the island is likely to become unliveable for human being by next five to seven years for shortage of sweet water.
   'The underground water table is continuously dropping in the island made of just sand and hard rock. The aquifer cannot meet the need of ever increasing tourists and permanent population. Increased salinity would intrude into the soil of the island if over-extraction of sweet water from the deep aquifer is continued,' Nishat said.
   He said the growth of coral has almost stopped as pollution went unabated affecting the reefs in many ways including the dumping of oil spills from several thousands engine boats, and sewage and wastes from houses and tourist resorts.
   Giving an example how biodiversity is under threat, he said, 'We are internationally pledged bound to conserve the sea turtles. But they face disturbance in nesting and laying eggs these days from outdoor lights of the hotels and noise and fire camping by the tourists.'
   Nishat said, 'I'm not against tourism, but I am against commercial tourism. We must go for ecotourism.'
   'We will have nothing to see and sell if the island is ruined,' he warned.
   Syeda Rezwana Hasan, executive director of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, called for recovery of land in the island from human interference and its proper maintenance.
   'The construction works must be stopped as fragile eco-system of the island cannot sustain commercial tourism,' she told New Age Sunday.
   Ecotourism can be promoted only keeping the carrying capacity of the island in consideration, she said.
   Considering its rich natural biodiversity, the government in a gazette notification declared the island an ecologically critical area on April 19, 1999.
   When asked if they got clearance to advertise for construction of duplex cottages on the island, Zafar Iqbal Chowdhury, chairman of Pubali Group and managing director of Tokyo Resort City, admitted that they did not seek clearance from the DOE before making the announcement.
   'We will obtain the certificate before staring construction of the project,' he said.
   The DOE recently served a notice to Pubali Group for violation of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995.
   According to the act, the court can impose maximum 10 years imprisonment or fine 10 lakh taka or both for non-compliance of a direction issued by the DOE.
   Both IUCN and BELA officials said the Department of Environment (DoE), the local authorities and the tourists are jointly responsible to protect the island.
   Asked whether the DoE had issued 'Environmental Clearance Certificates' for constructions of hotel, resorts and restaurants on the island, M Mahbubur Rahman, project manager of DOE, said they did not give permission for a single construction.
   He said local union council chairman allowed the people to carry construction materials to the island.
   The DoE official claimed that notices were served time and again to stop construction. 'But none complied with them.'
   To a question whether DOE sued anybody for unauthorised construction ignoring the law, he replied in the negative.
   'We are to go step by step,' he said.
   Moulana M Firoz, chairman of local union council, realised that he had committed mistake by giving permission to carry construction materials to the island.
   Zafar Ahmed Khan, who recently joined the DoE as its director general, told New Age that they would file cases, if necessary, to stop damage of the island. 'The issue was discussed at the conference of the deputy commissioners. The DCs will be given certain authorities, including filing of cases on behalf of the DOE, to enforce the law. We will also engage the upazila nirbahi officers too.'
   He stressed that sale of private lands on the St. Martin's Island need to be stopped.
   The dumbbell-shaped island, locally known as Narikel Jinjira, is located on the southern-most tip of Bangladesh, and separated by an 8 kilometre channel of Bay of Bengal from the mainland.
   It has about 153 varieties of fauna, 157 varieties of mangrove, 66 kinds of coral, 187 types of bivalves, 240 types of marine fish and other marine lives.

Source: newagebd

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Ecosystem damage costs trillions a year

Agence France-Presse . Bonn

Environmental damage and species loss costs between 1.35 and 3.1 trillion euros ($2.1-4.8) every year, according to a report released Thursday at a major UN conference on biodiversity.
The study, commissioned by the European Union and the German government, is the biggest assessment ever made of the economic impact of ecological damage, and supporters compared it to the famous ?Stern Report? on the cost of climate change.
It was issued at a meeting of the UN Convention on Biodiversity, a 12-day meeting in Bonn of 6,000 representatives from 191 nations due to wind up on Friday.
The report, entitled ?The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity,? attaches a monetary value to species and to environmental assets that usually are not considered in cash terms.
It looks, for instance, at the dollar value of clean water, healthy soil, protection from floods and soil erosion, natural medicines and natural sinks that store greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.
?Though our wellbeing is totally dependent on these ?ecosystem services?, they are predominantly public goods with no markets and no prices,? the report notes.
Principal author Pavan Sukhdev, who heads Deutsche Bank?s global markets business in India, described this lack as ?trying to navigate uncharted and turbulent waters with an old and defective economic compass.?
Sukhdev warned that some ecosystems were probably already damaged beyond repair, and predicted other systems would be badly wounded unless protective measures were urgently taken.
He said that by 2050, under a ?business-as-usual? scenario, these catastrophes loom 11 per cent of natural areas remaining in 2000 could be lost due to conversion to agriculture, development, and climate change; 40 per cent of land currently under low-impact agriculture could become intensively farmed, accelerate biodiversity losses; and 60 per cent of coral reefs could be lost, directly affecting the livelihood of a billion people.
As with climate change, the consequences of this damage will fall mainly on the world?s poorest and most vulnerable denizens, according to the report.
The true value of biodiversity and ecosystem services must be incorporated into policy decisions, the study said.
Environmental groups at the meeting in Bonn welcomed the report. ?This is a long overdue recognition of biodiversity as a key development issue,? said Gordon Shepard, director of international policy for World Wildlife Fund International.
The report puts a spotlight ?on the economic value of biodiversity both to our global economy and for the millions of people directly dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods,? he said.
Joan Ruddock, the British Minister for Wildlife, said the report ?is vital to the effort to stem the loss of species and habitats,? and announced that Britain would help fund a fuller study.
About 150 species of flora and fauna go extinct every day, a rate that is 100 to 1000 times higher than a natural dying out of species, according to scientists.
The inspiration for the new report is the landmark 2006 assessment by British economist Sir Nicholas Stern that sparked awareness about the economic cost of global warming.

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Newage

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