The Forest Resources Assessment Programme
Forests are crucial for the well-being of humanity. They provide foundations for life on earth through ecological functions, by regulating the climate and water resources, and by serving as habitats for plants and animals. Forests also furnish a wide range of essential goods such as wood, food, fodder and medicines, in addition to opportunities for recreation, spiritual renewal and other services.
Today, forests are under pressure from expanding human populations, which frequently leads to the conversion or degradation of forests into unsustainable forms of land use. When forests are lost or severely degraded, their capacity to function as regulators of the environment is also lost, increasing flood and erosion hazards, reducing soil fertility, and contributing to the loss of plant and animal life. As a result, the sustainable provision of goods and services from forests is jeopardized.
FAO, at the request of the member nations and the world community, regularly monitors the world's forests through the Forest Resources Assessment Programme. The next report, the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA 2000), will review the forest situation by the end of the millennium. FRA 2000 will include country-level information based on existing forest inventory data, regional investigations of land-cover change processes, and a number of global studies focusing on the interaction between people and forests. The FRA 2000 report will be made public and distributed on the world wide web in the year 2000.
The Forest Resources Assessment Programme is organized under the Forest Resources Division (FOR) at FAO headquarters in Rome. Contact persons are:
Robert Davis FRA Programme Coordinator [email protected]
Peter Holmgren FRA Project Director [email protected]
or use the e-mail address: [email protected]
DISCLAIMER
The Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) Working Paper Series is designed to reflect the activities and progress of the FRA Programme of FAO. Working Papers are not authoritative information sources - they do not reflect the official position of FAO and should not be used for official purposes. Please refer to the FAO forestry website (www.fao.org/fo) for access to official information.
The FRA Working Paper Series provides an important forum for the rapid release of preliminary FRA 2000 findings needed for validation and to facilitate the final development of an official quality-controlled FRA 2000 information set. Should users find any errors in the documents or have comments for improving their quality they should contact either Robert Davis or Peter Holmgren at [email protected].
Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION
2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8
3 BANGLADESH 10
3.1 General 10
3.2 Geology 10
3.3 Soil 10
3.4 Topography 11
3.5 River System 11
3.6 Ecological Zones 12
3.7 Institutions of Governance 13
3.8 Summary 13
4 FOREST RESOURCES 14
4.1 General 14
4.2 Landuse 14
4.3 Forests 15
4.3.1 Hill Forests 15
4.3.2 Plain Sal Forest Types 17
4.3.3 Littoral Mangrove Forest Types 18
4.4 Forest Land and Cover 20
4.5 Change in Forest Cover 21
4.6 Forest Growing Stock 22
4.7 Annual Yield 26
4.8 Biomass Production 27
4.9 Biological diversity 27
4.10 Conservation of Biodiversity 27
4.11 Protected Areas 28
4.12 Landuse within PAs 33
4.13 Management of PAs 34
4.14 Summary 34
5 FACTORS AFFECTING FOREST RESOURCES 35
5.1 General 35
5.2 Human Population 35
5.3 Agriculture 36
5.4 Livestock 37
5.5 Human Development 37
5.6 Economic Development 38
5.7 Inter and Intra - Sectoral growth 39
5.8 Economic Linkage with Other Sectors 41
5.9 Market Interference 42
5.10 Summary 43
6 USE OF FOREST RESOURCES 44
6.1 General 44
6.2 Fuelwood 45
6.3 Poles 46
6.4 Pulpwood 47
6.5 Timber 48
6.6 Other Solid Wood Products 49
6.7 All Wood Products 49
6.8 Bamboo 50
6.9 Non forestry use of forest land 51
6.10 Import 51
6.11 Summary 51
7 FOREST PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT 52
7.1 General 52
7.2 Main Problems for Sustenance 52
7.3 National Forest Policy 52
7.4 Forest Planning 53
7.5 Forestry and Five Year Plans 54
7.6 Forest Management Plans 55
7.7 Public Management of Forest Industrial Activities 57
7.8 Management of Forestry Research 58
7.9 Forest Organization 58
7.10 Summary 59
8 FOREST REGULATION 60
8.1 General 60
8.2 State Acquisition and Tenancy (SAT) Act, 1950 60
8.3 The Acquisition of Wasteland Act, 1950 61
8.4 Brick Burning (Control) (Amendment) Act, 1992 61
8.5 Other Relevant Laws 61
8.6 Forest Act (Amendment), 1989 62
8.7 The Bangladesh Private Forest Act (PFA), 1959 63
8.8 The Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation) (Amendment) Act, 1974 64
8.9 The Protection and Conservation of Fish (Amendment) Act, 1984 64
8.10 Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 64
8.11 Forest Related International Conventions 64
8.12 Other Institutions Dealing With Forest Resources 66
8.13 Summary 66
APPENDIX 67
REFERENCES 90
Paper drafted by: Kailash Govil , Regional Project Coordinator GCP/RAS/162/JPN
Editorial production: Patrizia Pugliese, FRA ProgrammeList of Figures
Chapter 2
Changes on the Forest land during last decade
Chapter 3
Fig. 1 Coverage of three soil types Fig. 2 Rainfall pattern in Bangladesh
Chapter 4
Fig. 10 Decline in Coastal Afforestation Division
Fig. 11 Composition of village forests
Fig. 12 Change in growing stock of bamboo
Fig. 13 Change in growing stock of trees
Fig. 14 Composition (Area) of PAs
Fig. 15 Landuse in PAs
Chapter 5
Fig. 16 Population growth in Bangladesh
Fig. 17 Per capita agriculture crop production index
Fig. 18 Composition of livestock
Fig. 19 Share of different sectors in GDP in 1998
Fig. 20 Growth rates of contribution to GDP
Fig. 21 Growth rates - Crops, Fishery, Livestock and Forestry
Fig. 22 Contribution of different forest products to GDP
Fig. 23 Share in employment supported by forest resources
Chapter 6
Fig. 24 Production of timber and fuelwood
Fig. 25 Share in use of fuelwood
Fig. 26 Requirement and production of fuelwood
Fig. 27 Requirement and production of poles
Fig. 28 Requirements of paper products
Fig. 29 Requirement and production of pulpwood
Fig. 30 Requirement and production of sawlogs
Fig. 31 Total requirement and production of wood
Chapter 7
Fig. 32 Current Structure of forest department
Chapter 4
Table 1. National level Landuse
Table 2. Derived Landuse
Table 3. Public forest area with forest department
Table 4. Public forest land by legal categories
Table 5. Forest landuse at national level
Table 6. Forest Landuse at forest unit level
Table 7. Landuse changes in legal public forest land
Table 8. Inventory results of forest areas
Table 9. Inventory results of plantation areas
Table 10. Growing stock of village forests
Table 11. Change in bamboo resources in village forests
Table 12. Change in tree resources in village forests
Table 13. Biodiversity in PA's network
Table 14. Protected areas in Bangladesh
Table 15. Biodiversity in Teknaf Game Reserve
Table 17. Area of different habitat types in Himchari National Park
Table 18. Biodiversity in Himchari National Park
Table 19. Area of different habitat types in Bhawal National Park
Table 20. Biodiversity in Bhawal National Park
Table 21. Biodiversity in Madhupur National Park
Table 22. Biodiversity in Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary
Table 23. Area of different habitat types in Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary
Table 24. Biodiversity in Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary
Table 25. Area of different habitat types in Char Kukri Mukri Wildlife Sanctuary
Table 26. Biodiversity in Char Kukri Mukri Wildlife Sanctuary
Table 27. Area of different forest types in three wildlife sanctuaries of Sundarbans
Table 29. Landuse in PAs
Table 30. Growth trends of livestock population
Table 31. Number of livestock by size of farm
Table 32. Employment in major sectors of economy
Table 33. Change in share in employment over time
Table 34. Share of agriculture and other sectors in GDP
Table 35. Growth rates of contribution to GDP
Table 36. Forestry contribution to GDP by different districts
Table 37. Contribution by different forest products to GDP
Table 38. Share of agriculture and its sub-sectors in national GDP
Table 39. Contribution of forest based industries to GDP
Table 40. Employment in forestry sector
Chapter 6
Table 41. Physical output from forest areas
Table 42. Requirement of primary forest products
Table 43. Share in fuelwood consumption
Table 44. Estimated production of primary forest products
Table 45. Requirement of paper products
Table 46. Installed pulp and paper capacity and production
Table 47. Sawmill production and employment
Table 48. Principal primary and secondary wood using industries
Table 49. Forest landuse in Bangladesh
Chapter 7
Table 50. Spatial distribution of forest areas
