Report of the Field Survey on the Sustainable Forest Management in Bangladesh
Particpants:
MASUDA Misa, professor
Fakir Muhammad Munawar Hossain, JDS 2010 Fellow
Master’s Program in Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences,
University of Tsukuba
Itinerary:August 3 (Wed)

Leave Narita, arrive at Dhaka (Masuda)

August 4 (Thu)

Visit Forest Department, Ministry of Environment and Forest
Leave Narita, arrive at Dhaka (Hossain)

August 5 (Fri)Visit JICE Dhaka Office

August 6 (Sat)

Visit Bhawal National Park and Madhpur National Park

August 7 (Sun)

Visit Integrated Protected Area Co-management (IPAC) and Forest Department

August 8 (Mon)

Visit Forest Department

August 9 (Tue)Leave Dhaka, arrive at Cox’s Bazar, visit Cox’s Bazar South Forest Division office

August 10 (Wed)

Visit a community in Teknaf

August 11 (Thu)

Visit Fasiakhali Wildlife Sanctuary and a project site of IPAC

August 12 (Fri)Leave Cox’s Bazar, arrive at Dhaka (Masuda); continue data collection at Cox’sBazar (Hossain).

Findings:
1. Forests and forest administration in Bangladesh
0200 km

Forest cover area in Bangladesh looks to remain
stable, 882 thousand ha in 1990, 884 in 2000, and871 in 2005.

However, there are no forests

categorized to primary forests.

Modified naturalforest area is decreasing, while tree plantations areincreasing to offset the decrease (FAO, 2006).
Dense forests are mostly found in Sundarban
mangrove forest area and in Chittagong Hill Tracts(Fig. 1).
Forestadministration

systeminBangladesh still shares common features with theone in india, which was established during the 19thFig. 1 Forest cover in Bangladesh (FAO, 2006)

century under the British rule.

It is characterized

with the state control over the resources with scientific basis.

Sal (Shorea robusta) was one of themost important commercial species, managed under coppice system, and teak (Tectona grandis) waspreferred for plantations (FAO, 2010). However, extensive areas of sal forest have been heavily
degraded, and extremely high population pressure reaching 964 person km-2 in 2011 (BBS, 2011) on theforest resources has moved the Forest Department to community involvement in the forest management.
2. Social forestry in Madhpur
In Dhaka division, sal forests are found in originally zamindar land. People cultivated lowland (baid)
and utilized forest resources in upland (chala) mainly for subsistence during the colonial period. Theconflicts between local people and the government have started since the land was vested to thegovernment for the direct management. The topographic configuration, containing small patches ofbaid that have already been occupied and cultivated ever since before might be one of the reasons toleave the area without clear demarcation, namely gazette process and visible boundary signs on theground.
To reduce the pressure on remaining sal forests, the Forest Department introduced
Participatory Benefit Sharing Agreement (PBSA) inside forest reserves.

Tree planting outside forests

has also been encouraged as a part of Social Forestry, and now every nitch in rural areas is filled withtrees for commercial purposes (Fig. 2).

2. Forests and wildlife in Cox’s Bazar South3.

Fig. 2. Trees arranged on the farm boundaries(Mymensingh)

Fig. 3. Sale of wood harvested from a socialforestry site (Madhupur).

In Gasabari village with around 2,400 voters, around 250 people participated in PBSA. It started in
1998, but not successful in the beginning. The first felling after 10-year rotation has just been realized
when we visited the range office (Fig. 3), and 45% of the sale of each plot will belong to the Forest
Department, 45% to the participant, and 10% to Tree Farming Fund (TFF).

3. Trends of Forest land Encroachment in Cox’s Bazar
Cox’s Bazar South Forest Division is located in the south-eastern tip of Bangladesh.

We visitedWhykeong Range Office and its surrounding area that is administering under the Cox’s Bazar SouthForest Division.

There are about 2, 24,000 voters are living Cox’s Bazar South Forest Division area

but we focus on the Teknaf Wild Life Sanctuary area. This area experiences heavily encroachment bythe local and Rohinga people. If we consider, especially on Whykeong Range Area under the Teknaf
Wild Life Sanctuary, the area comprises of 5,197.16 hectares of land.
voters and 10,000 people are living in Whykeong Range area.
about 100 years of period.

There are about more than 4,500

Most of them are settled in this area

After the World War-I, half of the total people i.e. tribal people came to thisarea from Arakan, Cambodia and north western part of Thailand.

They were illiterate and forest

dependent people. To manage these people, the then British Government allowed tribe people to live inforest with a condition to receive their labour in forest department activities.
basically forest land encroachment started.

From that initiative,

After that, within the passage of time, encroachment

increases. After 1979, Rohinga influx added the situation critical.

Now more than 50 % forest land areencroached by the illegal dwellers of that area. The Forest Department of Bangladesh Government is
now trying to conserve that forest land from illegal encroachment by introducing Social Forestry( Participatory Forest Management) and building public awareness.

Fig. 4. Community patrol group members partly
consist of Chakma people.

Fig. 5. Remaining trees indicate that the area wasonce covered by a dense forest (Teknaf).

After Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit held in 1992, Bangladesh Government started to think to conserve
its forest.

As a result, Government formulates Social Forestry Policy, 1994 that initiates participatory

forest management practices.

Now it is the main agenda of Forest Department though there are somebarriers exist. Forest Department, by their different donor supported projects, is trying to implement
participatory forest management concept by forming Community Patrol Group (CPG) and benefit
sharing mechanism (Fig. 4).

But in some cases, it is not working well due to illiteracy, poverty andhealth constraints (Fig. 5).

Even these forest dependent people do not know alternative income

generation practices.

But they are starting to realize the necessity of conserving forest.

Conclusion: Discovering social changes pattern in forest area is the main lesson of this visit.
have started to realize the necessity of conserving forest even in the poverty prone areas.

PeopleThey realizethat illegal logging and forest land encroachment should not be their job.

They have to be moved tothe sustainable forest management practices for the betterment of their future generation.

So they needto have the assistance from their government.
Reference:
BBS (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics). 2011. Population and Housing Census 2011. Ministry ofPlanning, Dhaka.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 2006. Global forest resources assessment 2005: progress
towards sustainable forest management. FAO, Rome.
FAO. 2010. Forest management – practices: Bangladesh.
http://www.fao.org/forestry/country/61585/en/bgd (cited on Sep. 15, 2011).