“If we can measure the forest, we will also be able to manage it” said Dr Kamal Uddin Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest, and also the Chief Guest during his speech on 9 February 2016 at the event launching the USAID-funded FAO project contributing to ‘Strengthening National Forest Inventory and Satellite Land Monitoring in Support of REDD+ in Bangladesh’.

“Through this project, a robust forest monitoring system will be implemented for the Forest Department - supporting forest policy and critical decision making processes, and supporting actions for climate change adaptation and mitigation in forestry. I am grateful for the USAID fund, and I extend my sincere thanks to FAO and SilvaCarbon for the technical support in assisting institutional capacity development process. I believe this is a step towards the better world for us, as well as for our future generation.’ added Secretary, MoEF.

A key note speech highlighting key aspects of the project was given by Matieu Henry, Chief Technical Adviser of the project.

In his remarks Karl Wurster, Deputy Director, Economic Growth Office, USAID said ‘USA has a long history in investing in the forest management of Bangladesh. The fact that despite the population pressure and other environmental factors, Bangladesh still has a significant portion of forest left - is actually a significant achievement of the Forest Department, ministry and other related agencies. This project, in particular, is unique in design. This project is a multi-faceted tool to use in every day’s forest management that will assist providing a platform for better decision making not only for the government, but also for the implementing partners, donors and other stakeholders.’

Farhad Ghaussy, Director, Economic Growth Office, USAID mentioned that with the help of USAID, 700,000 hector of forest is now going under joint community government protection for helping to slow deforestation process. Mr Ghaussy asserted that protecting forest means protecting people - some of the most vulnerable groups living in countries such as Bangladesh.

Stressing on sustainability, Mike Robson, FAO Representative in Bangladesh emphasized the importance of modernizing the methods used by the Forest Department, and developing capacity within the department so that future forest monitoring activities would require less or no external support.

With an USAID fund of USD 6.5 million, this FAO project started in 2015 and will mainly contribute to (1) reinforce the general conditions for the national forest inventory, (2), reinforce the national forest monitoring strategy, (3) the implementation of the National Forest Monitoring and Assessment, and (4) estimate the value of forest ecosystem goods and services.