0244-C1
Md. Mozaharul Islam 1
The interaction of environmental, social, economic, and political forces in Bangladesh, bearing 834 population per square kilometre and having 17.49% forestland compelled Foresters to launch a social forestry programme since 1980s in the marginal land and degraded forest land involving local people. The build up resources in social forestry programme meet up material and economic needs of local people, ameliorate environment and maintain bio-diversity through creating forest ecosystem, the properties of which are under the principles of forest uses and providing life supporting factors at a minimum.
The programme got sustainable momentum through establishing a Tree Farming Fund out of sale proceeds to manage the resources for ages in perpetuity.
Forests itself is a living entity. Forests is related with biodiversity, climate change, protecting rare and endangered species and ecosystems, ecotourism, water quality, protecting the interests of indigenous people, sustainable management, economic development, and ensuring community stability. Forests provide goods and services to humankind in many ways. In practice, it raises almost as many questions as it can answers.
Realising the fact that forests is the source of life, and learning from nature, humankind takes efforts to protect forests and to build up forest resources in the non forested areas. Bangladesh have started to build up forest resources in the non-forested and depleted forest areas in addition to conventional forest management. Intention of this paper is to explicit how these created resources affect lives.
Bangladesh is a part of the Indo-Malayan Realm and the Sub-Continent of Asia with an area of 147570 square kilometres bearing 834 population per square kilometre. The country has 2.53 million ha of forestland, which covers 17.49% of the total landmass. Forest Department manages 1.53 million ha of forestland (approximately 10.54 % of the total land area of the country).
Demand of the age (high population density, agriculture, industrialisation and development activities) exerted a tremendous pressure on the forests and forestland. The consequence is that forest resources depleted and thousands of ha of forestland has been occupied illegally. West and north-west part of the country is almost devoid of forests and forestland. Scattered Sal forests are the remnants in the central and central-north part but under moratorium of felling. Agricultural residues and cow dung is burned as fuel causing depletion of productivity of the soil. The situation compelled the foresters and government to take alternative initiatives in the forestry panorama.
Forest Department undertook forest extension programme beyond the government land during early 1960s through raising and distributing tree seedlings among the people without any price. But the programme could not create much awareness to build up forest resources privately.
With the financial assistance from Asian Development Bank (ADB), Forest Department undertook social forestry programme in the West and Northwest region during early 1980s through active participation of local people. Due to scarcity of land, marginal fallow land (sides of roads, embankments, railway) were selected for planting trees. Local people (participants) were involved for care and maintenance of the crop, with the conditions that participants would get a share of the crop after financial rotation is over. This programme got a great success and marked as milestone in the myth of forestry in Bangladesh.
Successful completion of the programme attracted ADB to commence another programme covering more area including depleted and illegally occupied Sal (Shorea robusta) forest area in the central and central-north region during 1987. In addition to marginal fallow land, 16000 ha of depleted Sal forestland and 3000 ha of illegally occupied forestland were brought under reforestation involving local people as participants.
Bangladesh experienced a devastating cyclone in the coastal region in 1991. ADB came forward to finance for establishing a green shelterbelt along the coastal region during 1995 through local participation. The older plantations were brought under felling operation followed by reforestation since 2000.
The principles or most common uses of build up resources whose properties cover such a wide range as to provide useful examples of the principles involved in almost all other uses. One of the difficulties in describing such a range of uses and properties is that it requires references to technical terms from an array of disciplines.
There were no forest resources in the areas (public land), described earlier except in the central and central-north region in sporadic form on which moratorium for felling is imposed. Table 1 show year wise output (saw log, fuel wood and poles) of central and central-north region, and Table 2 show from west and Northwest region.
Table 1 and 2 show that in the years before 2000-2001 output is very low. In fact there were no planned felling. As described earlier, the resources are created on the marginal land; some of the trees were removed due to expansion, development and maintenance of roads, embanks and railway tracts. Regular felling started since 2000-2001. Production increases and contributes added value to the total figure.
| Table 1: Year wise production from central and central-north region. |
| Fiscal year | Saw log (cu m) |
Fuel wood (cu m) |
Poles (nos.) |
1996-1997 |
563 |
549 |
3499 |
1997-1998 |
15354 |
2389 |
3784 |
1998-1999 |
1095 |
1129 |
7037 |
1999-2000 |
1633 |
1640 |
13674 |
2000-2001 |
17651 |
21519 |
340818 |
2001-2002 |
33203 |
41580 |
506434 |
In addition to the major products, many other products are derived extensively from plantation forests with minimum of disturbance and hence interference to the natural process. The products include edible fungi, leaves, roots, fruits or exudates; and pharmaceuticals, oils, fats, waxes and resins. There is evidence that edibles and pharmaceuticals can play an important role in supporting local communities and that their value for this purpose may well exceed that derived from harvesting wood. Detailed study for quantification of the additional products was not done.
| Table 2: Year wise production from west and north-west region. |
Fiscal year |
Saw log (cu m) |
Fuel wood (cu m) |
Poles (nos.) |
1996-1997 |
401 |
234 |
2660 |
1997-1998 |
-- |
401 |
-- |
1998-1999 |
640 |
253 |
842 |
1999-2000 |
902 |
611 |
1546 |
2000-2001 |
5638 |
4645 |
9569 |
2001-2002 |
16693 |
10183 |
3424 |
Forests may contribute to improving the environment in several ways; the capacity of forests to reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis being the best known, to generate food necessary for their growth. It is estimated that 50 per cent of the dry weight of a tree is carbon (Asumadu, 2002). As the tree crop in a plantation grow, the total amount of carbon stored on the land increases significantly with time until the tree reach maturity and some sort of natural equilibrium is maintained.
While planting trees is important to increase carbon storage, conserving soil is essential to reduce soil organic carbon emission through (1) not exposing carbon locked within soil aggregates, and (2) not mineralising soil carbon by oxidation and microbial processes. Thus, build up forests in the region playing significant role in the global carbon sequestration and amelioration of environment.
Strip plantations provide shade along the road and cool down the temperature through transpiration process of the trees, which ameliorate local environment.
Long-standing assertions that forest increase rainfall. There are localised effects, such as those due to the additional height of the forest and the roughness of the canopy that may increase the effective precipitation from fog or cloud drip (Whitmore,1990). The moisture-bearing monsoon from the Indian Ocean maintains the rain in Bangladesh. The build up forests in the northern zone of Bangladesh contributes additional moisture to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, and is carried towards the Himalayas and falls again as orographic rain in the northern zone. It is very difficult to conclude that build up forests influenced local climatic change within such small 20 years range, but figure 1 show a trend of increased rainfall in the Northern zone. It is, however, assumed that orographic pattern of rainfall and additional moisture added to the atmosphere has a positive effect in increased trend of rainfall in the northern zone of Bangladesh.
Figure 1. Rainfall in the northern region (BBS).
Public marginal land (sides of road, embankment, railway) in the concern area were completely barren before the commencement of plantation. Planted trees with regulated spacing provide partial shade (also light), litter and humus that create habitat for other life form such as fungi, microbes, shrubs, other undergrowth, insects, amphibians, birds and even mammals. Biotic components of the forest ecosystem (although it is different from natural forests in species composition and complexity) appeared and started their interaction with abiotic components in the build up forests.
Many wild animals, such as Irrawaddy Squirrel, Jackal, Jungle Cat, Rhesus Macaque, Monitor Lizard etc. were disappeared from the forests of central and central-north zone due to depletion of forest resources and illegal occupation of forestland. Participated reforestation, with the passes of time, rejuvenate the habitat (shelter and food) of wild animals in the region. Now a days most of the disappeared wild life are found to appear in the reforested area. Further more, these build up forests have made corridors for wild life movement from and to native old growth.
Social forestry programme created opportunities for employment from its commencement. Thousands of labourers were involved in nursery and plantation raising activities and also for their maintenance (thinning, pruning, etc.). Another avenue of employment was opened from logging, transportation and marketing of the resources. A new episode of economic activities is now recycling surrounding this sort of plantation programme in the regions.
It has been stated earlier that local people were involved in the plantation programme for protection and looking after the crops as participants. A share from the sale proceed of the crop was distributed to the participants as per agreement. Till 2001-2002 Tk 167.79 million (US$ 1= Tk 58 approx.) were distributed among 11702 participants.
This amount of money brought the poor participants to stand them in an honourable position in the society. Participants are trying to lead their lives with at least minimum modern amenities. Children are being sent to schools.
At a minimum, life-supporting factors are breathable air, drinking water and nutritious food, along with the conditions that avoid extremes in pressure, temperature and radiation. Besides these minimum factors housing (shelter), pharmaceuticals, clothing and education are very important factors for human life.
Generated resources in the concern region, stated in this paper, provide most of the material needs, and contribute added value to ameliorate environment. The resources meet up local needs for food (not total), pharmaceuticals, construction and cooking food, and make favourable forest ecosystem supporting other life forms, as well as provide oxygen to the global atmosphere and trap carbon for conditions that avoid extremes in pressure, temperature and radiation. The resources also influence the economy for clothing and education.
Although the productivity shown is low, build up resource from the marginal land and depleted forest area provide quantitative and qualitative support to life whose properties are under the principles of forest uses. Government made policy to manage this resource sustainably through establishing a Tree Farming Fund out of sale proceeds.
The drive, for social forestry programme in the public land, demonstrated and inspired local people to plant trees in their private land whose quantity could not highlight in this paper due to lack of proper study (or available statistics).
Asumadu, K. 2002, Carbon Trading: A new Opportunity For tropical Timber Producing
Countriec, ITTO Newsletter (http://www.itto.org.jp/newsletter/v8n4/02.html).
BBS. 1999, Statistical year book of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Government of
The People's Republic of Bangladesh. Dhaka.
Whitmore, T. C. 1990, An introduction to tropical rain forests. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
1 Address: Office of the Chief Conservator of Forests
Bon Bhoban, 101 Mohakhali, Gulshan Road
Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh.
Tele: + 880 2 8810275
E-mail: [email protected]