Forest Management in Bangladesh: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

Natural forest in Bangladesh is on the decline for various anthropogenic reasons. Maintaining forest health is essential to generate forest products and ecosystem services. Sustainable forest management is necessary to maintain forest health. Systematic forest management in Bangladesh initiated during the British period. During those days, the forest management was primarily focused to maximize profit, which continued during Pakistan and even Bangladesh period. Vast tracks of the forest were declared reserve during the British period. People had no access to the reserve forest. No one could even enter in the forest without permission of the Forest Department. The forest products generated revenue for the government. Declaration of reserve forests; denied people from access to the forests. Historically, the focus of the forest management was sustainable yield. Clear felling and artificial regeneration approach were practiced in many cases to plant valuable timber species instead of indigenous tree species to maximize the revenue. This practice continued till the 1980s in Bangladesh. During the last couple of decades, the population of Bangladesh has been increasing rapidly. Subsequently, demand for the forest produces increased manifold to meet consumption need and to meet the livelihoods of the increasing population. Since community didn’t have access to the forest legally, they didn’t have the sense of ownership for the forests. Community rather grabs whatever they can, to meet their needs. Overexploitation and unwise forest management approach and practice degraded and denuded forests in Bangladesh. Concern for forest protection and conservation has been growing globally during the last couple of decades. Consequently, there has been a shift in the forest management paradigm in many countries including Bangladesh. Accordingly, Bangladesh forest policy has been re-casted, the law amended and a new law has been enacted. In the growing complexities of the forest management, however, competency of the legal and policy regime requires further improvement. The capacity of forest management institutions didn’t increase at the desired level; as such implementation of the prevailing policy and enforcement of the law fell short of desired expectation. The result is deteriorating forest health in terms of extent, quality and biodiversity.In the context, the specific objectives of this research are to: i ) critically analyze the underlying causes of forest degradation and deforestation ii ) examine the existing approaches and practices in managing forest resources iii )understand and outline the legal and policy regime of the forestry sector, and iv)generate knowledge on sustainable forest management practices to redress the forest degradation and enhance the forestry sector governance in Bangladesh To realize the objectives, this research investigates: i ) The forest management approach and practice, ii ) Legal and policy regime, iii ) Capacity of the forest management institutions, iv) Community participation in forest management, v ) Governance and vi ) Forest health in terms of extent, quality andbiodiversity. This research also looked into, i ) drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, ii ) people’s dependence and the interaction of the community with the forest, iii ) probes the historical forest management and the legacy, iv) evaluates forest management in a National Park (Protected Area ) as a case. Qualitative and quantitative approaches have been used to collect data and information. Insights were gathered from the experiences of the community, forestry sector professionals, practitioners, and policymakers. The desk review revealed the forest extent and quality; legal and policy regimes over time; and capacity of the forest management institutions in Bangladesh. Success in the forest management in the regional countries has been studied. The shift in forest management paradigm is clearly mentioned in the relevant policy and guiding documents of many countries including Bangladesh. There are 30 villages near the Lawachara forest, which is the case forest for this research. Focus Group Discussion (FGD ) has been conducted with the Lawachara Co- ManagementCommittee and in 11 randomly selected villages out of these 30 villages. A total of 600 randomly selected households from these 30 villages have been surveyed for quantitative data collection. The FGD and the household survey, participant’s observation and literature review provided insight of the forest management in the case forest. Forest health, participation, capacity of the forest management institutions, legal and policy regime, governance and sustainable forest management for Bangladesh have been critically analyzed using collected data, information, and knowledge. Findings of the study reveal that colonial regime left behind the legacy of the economic efficiency focused forest management. Forest policy and legal regime of Bangladesh is a continuation of what was enacted and practiced during British and Pakistan period. Research findings show that the natural forest extents are on the decline and forest quality are degraded. Wildlife availability is decreasing because of habitat loss, forest degradation, and poaching. Native tree species are decreasing. Major reasons for forest degradation are poor management, over-exploitation of fuelwood, illegal tree felling, poaching, and grazing to some extent. Major causes of deforestation are the extension of settlements, increase in small holding agriculture; use of forest land for development infrastructures, industries; government allocation of forest land for other uses; and lack of good governance. The government allocated forest land for military installations, economic zones, roads and highways, railways, rubber plantations andothers. Underlying causes for forest land conversion and forest degradation are the scarcity of land and opportunity cost of the forest land compared to other emerging land use; huge demand for forest produce, high dependence of poor people living near the forests on the forest resources for consumption and to meet their livelihoods. Social, economic and ecological conditions have changed substantially around the world and in Bangladesh during the last couple of decades. The forest management paradigms are shifting globally, regionally and in Bangladesh. New forest policy is necessary to accommodate and address contemporary issues and to support shifting forest management paradigms. Implementation of new forest policy will require amendment of forest laws. In addition, a new law enactment will be necessary. For example, forest land tenure system needs to be streamlined and Forest Land Protection Act needs to be enacted. The Forest Department is the custodian of forest land in Bangladesh. The organogram of the department must be reformed taking emerged approaches and paradigms into consideration. Forestry education institutions must be capacitated to ensure sustained supply of forestry educated skilled professionals. The capacity of the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute needs to be increased to support the generation of much-needed knowledge for the forest management. Effective community participation in the forest management needs to be ensured for CoManagementin the Protected Areas, Social Forestry in other reserve forests and Community Forestry

in the CHT. Capacity building of the Co-ManagementOrganizations, the Social Forestry Committees and orientation of the Forest Department professionals in this regard will be necessary. The practice of good governance in the forestry sector is of crucial importance for sustainable forest resources management. Effective participation of the stakeholders, coordination, transparency, accountability and capacity, all these basic principles of good governance must be in practice religiously to stop forest land conversion, illegal tree felling, and poaching and thereby maintain the forest extent, quality, and biodiversity. Monitoring and evaluation must be an integral part of the forest management. Modern technology must be used to ensure real-time monitoring of the forest extent, canopy cover, tree density and forest carbon. Evaluation and feedback process to the management process must be streamlined. The ecological value of the forests need to be incorporated in the national accounting system to justify adequate fund flow into the forest sector to ensure development and maintain forest health. Climate resiliency for forests could be factored in the national developmentpersuasion. Payment for Environmental Service (PES ) and conservation financing could be provisioned in the national budgeting system. There is the success in sustainably managing forests in the regional countries, particularly neighboring countries which could be examined critically and can be tried in the Bangladesh forest management considering the local context.