Analysis shows that Bangladesh's goals for constructing a balanced environment contributing to national social and economic goals, while preserving and improving environment conditions, involve:
· Establishing standards and strengthening national conservation practices.
· Ensuring that forest management sustains, if not improves, existing resources.
· Productivity per unit of time or area requires major improvement.
· Equitable access to benefits coming from the forests go to appropriate, local, disadvantaged groups.
· Improved environment management capability.
Conservation Standards - Conservation strategy has to focus on bringing the present protected area under accepted standards and management before considering expanding the area. To do this requires:
· Rationalized boundaries and management plans for existing protected areas.
· Modifying relevant legislation to support the new goals and strategy.
· Develop and implement endangered species action plans.
· Creating and empowering an effective body responsible and accountable for protecting wildlife, preserving biological variety and managing protected areas.
The next line of action needed is to build up national conservation facilities in the form of botanical gardens, herbaria and zoos. Once these are in place, the creation of new protected areas, including national parks and game sanctuaries and new types as well, e.g. historical, cultural and recreational sites, can begin.
Sustained Resources Management - Bangladesh is a party to the UNCED environment management accord recently agreed. Meeting the principles defined in that document means:
· Altering existing silviculture systems and practices to eliminate destructive impacts from harvesting and planting activities.
· Rewriting and updating forest management plans to include effective measures to protect watersheds, soil and wildlife.
· Beginning effective research on species regeneration requirements and regular continuous monitoring of forest conditions.
· Implementing the convention on biodiversity.
As a matter of policy, the International Tropical Timber Organization's guidelines for sustained management of natural tropical forests are appropriate and need adopting and implementing.
Increasing Productivity - Unless productivity is dramatically improved, Bangladesh has little chance whatsoever of retaining its natural forest areas. The correct way to achieve this, involves several processes:
· Increase forest productivity on existing and new plantations on unforested land.
· Multiple use management and production requires zoning core and buffer areas for different levels and types of utilization and user benefits in areas subjected to heavy and varied use.
· Increase productivity by planting open and sparsely covered areas with multipurpose and non wood product species, e.g. fodder, legumes and nitrogen-fixing species.
· Keep coastal areas and charlands in mangroves, creating plantation on accreting areas, rather than allowing conversion to agriculture.
· Prohibit low-technology shrimp farming from further expansion on forest lands.
Equity Factors Forestry activities are inseparable from local people's basic needs. People must benefit more from development and in a more equitable fashion, requiring: · Significant re-ordering of priorities primarily through institutional change and a strong focus on effective local public involvement in resource planning decision, activities and management. · Rationalizing forest reserve areas, particularly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. · Developing programmes which support or positively impact tribal cultures. · Integrate forestry programmes with other rural development activities rather than maintaining separate identities. · Introduce community-based resource management programmes primarily controlled by and benefiting the resident population. · Plan to actively involve positive, effective NGO groups in local development. |
Environmental Management - Strengthening local capabilities to more effectively manage and plan resource development requires:
· Environment impact assessment training for both Forest and Environment Department staff.
· Forming a coastal management development authority to manage coastal development in a coordinated and controlled fashion.
· Upgrading the Forest Department's resource information management system with a geographic information system to assist monitoring and evaluating forestry activities and environmental impacts.
· Coordinating and implementing forestry development with evolving national conservation and coastal environmental management strategies plans and action plans.
