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ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY SECTOR OUTLOOK STUDY

WORKING PAPER SERIES

Working Paper No: APFSOS/WP/48

COUNTRY REPORT – Bangladesh

By

Forest Department HeadquartersBangladesh

Nazrul IslamBana Bhaban, Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212

Forestry Policy and Planning Division, RomeRegional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok

September 1998

Forest Department Headquarters, Bangladesh

Country Report - Bangladesh

The Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study is being undertaken under theauspices of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission.

This report comes under Workplan Number E25.6.

Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 48


TABLE OF CONTENTS

INFORMATION NOTE ON ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY SECTOR OUTLOOKSTUDY....................................................................................................................................... I

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1

GENERAL BACKGROUND .................................................................................................. 2Present Population............................................................................................................................................ 3

GENERAL ECONOMIC SITUATION ................................................................................. 3Agriculture ........................................................................................................................................................ 3Industry ............................................................................................................................................................. 5Energy/Infrastructure ...................................................................................................................................... 5Employment and Labour Productivity ........................................................................................................... 6National and Per capita Income ...................................................................................................................... 6Balance of Payment/Investment ...................................................................................................................... 7Land and Forest Area ...................................................................................................................................... 8

FOREST SECTOR CONDITIONS...................................................................................... 10General ............................................................................................................................................................ 10Environmental Issues...................................................................................................................................... 11

Major environmental issues ......................................................................................................................... 12

GOALS AND STRATEGIES................................................................................................ 13

POLICY................................................................................................................................... 14

INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATION................................................................................. 15Major Issues .................................................................................................................................................... 16Goals and Strategies ....................................................................................................................................... 18

FOREST PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT ............................................................. 18General ............................................................................................................................................................ 18Deforestation ................................................................................................................................................... 19

NATURAL FOREST RESOURCES.................................................................................... 21Hill Forests ...................................................................................................................................................... 21Sal Forests ....................................................................................................................................................... 21Mangrove Forests ........................................................................................................................................... 22

INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING.............................................................................. 22General ............................................................................................................................................................ 23

NATIONAL FOREST POLICY ........................................................................................... 24Definition ......................................................................................................................................................... 24Sectoral Policy................................................................................................................................................. 24Policy Directives.............................................................................................................................................. 26



Forest Policy Implementation ........................................................................................................................ 27

BANGLADESH’S FUTURE FOREST POLICY GOALS................................................. 28Local Strengths ............................................................................................................................................... 28Policy Imperatives........................................................................................................................................... 28

POLICY OBJECTIVES AND FRAMEWORK.................................................................. 29

SECTORAL ORGANIZATION........................................................................................... 31General Perspective ........................................................................................................................................ 31

REORGANIZATION ............................................................................................................ 32Forest Department.......................................................................................................................................... 32Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation (BFIDC) ........................................................... 33Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI).............................................................................................. 34Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC)................................................................................ 34

EDUCATION AND TRAINING........................................................................................... 34General ............................................................................................................................................................ 35Existing Facilities ............................................................................................................................................ 35

APPENDIX 1 - ABBREVIATIONS, TERMS AND CONVERSION FACTORS............ 37

APPENDIX 2 - AREAS UNDER NATIONAL PARK AND WILDLIFE SANCTUARYIN BANGLADESH (HA) ....................................................................................................... 39

APPENDIX 3 – MANAGEMENT PLAN OF SRF.............................................................. 40

APPENDIX 4 - FOREST HARVESTING CODE OF PRACTICE IN BANGLADESH 49

APPENDIX 5 - HAND-OUT FOR THE SEMINAR-WORKSHOP ON THE DRAFTFINAL REPORTS: FRMP FOREST INVENTORIES ...................................................... 54



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INFORMATION NOTE ON ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY SECTOR OUTLOOK STUDY

At its sixteenth session held in Yangon, Myanmar, in January 1996, the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission, whichhas membership open to all governments in the Asia-Pacific region, decided to carry out an outlook study forforestry with horizon year 2010. The study is being coordinated by FAO through its regional office in Bangkokand its Headquarters in Rome, but is being implemented in close partnership with governments, many of whichhave nominated national focal points.The scope of the study is to look at the main external and sectoral developments in policies, programmes andinstitutions that will affect the forestry sector and to assess from this the likely direction of its evolution and topresent its likely situation in 2010. The study involves assessment of current status but also of trends from thepast and the main forces which are shaping those trends and then builds on this to explore future prospects.Working papers have been contributed or commissioned on a wide range of topics. They fall under the followingcategories: country profiles, selected in-depth country or sub-regional studies and thematic studies. Workingpapers are prepared by individual authors or groups of authors on their own professional responsibility; therefore,the opinions expressed in them do not necessarily reflect the views of their employers, the governments of theAsia-Pacific Forestry Commission or of the Food and Agriculture Organization. In preparing the substantivereport to be presented at the next session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission early in 1998, material fromthese working papers will be an important element but will be blended and interpreted alongside a lot of othermaterial.Working papers are being produced and issued as they arrive. Some effort at uniformity of presentation is beingattempted but the contents are only minimally edited for style or clarity. FAO welcomes from readers anyinformation which they feel would be useful to the study on the subject of any of the working papers or on anyother subject that has importance for the Asia-Pacific forestry sector. Such material can be mailed to the contactsgiven below from whom further copies of these working papers, as well as more information on the Asia-PacificForestry Sector Study, can be obtained:

Rome: Ms. Qiang MaForestry Officer (Economist)Policy and Planning DivisionForestry DepartmentFood and Agriculture Organization of the

United NationsViale delle Terme di CaracallaRome, 00100, ITALYTel: (39-6) 5705 3506Fax: (39-6) 5705 5514Email: <[email protected]>

Bangkok: Mr. Patrick DurstRegional Forestry OfficerFAO Regional Office for Asia and the

PacificMaliwan MansionPhra Atit RoadBangkok 10200THAILANDTel: (66-2) 281 7844Fax: (66-2) 280 0445Email: <[email protected]>



1

INTRODUCTION

Situated in the north-eastern part of the South Asian subcontinent, between 20o25’ and 26o38’north latitude and 88o01’ and 92o40’ east longitude, Bangladesh occupies a unique geographiclocation. With an area of 14.4 million hectares, it is one of the most fertile regions of theworld and spans a relatively short stretch of land between the Himalayan mountain chain andthe Bay of Bengal. It is a vast flood plain located at the confluence of Ganges, Brahmaputraand Meghna and is dominated by the flooding patterns of these rivers and those of manysmaller rivers and tributaries. The country has some 700 rivers, tributaries, mountain streams,and meandering creeks, with a total length of over 24,000 kilometres.

Three broad physiographic regions are discernible in Bangladesh:

a) Flood plains, consisting generally of level alluvium, occupy about 80 percent of thecountry. Differences in elevation between adjoining ridges and depressions range fromaround one meter on tidal flood plains near the coast to 2-4 meters over the river floodplains, and as much as 5-6 meters in the Sylhet Basin in the north-east. This physiographicregion is also dotted with other water bodies.

b) Terraces (which are slightly uplifted fault blocks and include Madhupur and Barind tracts)account for about 8 percent. Topographically Madhupur tract is relatively more dissectedthan the Barind tract.

c) Hills occupy about 12 percent of the land area. They occur in northeast and eastern portionof the country. The hills comprise two types of topography - the high hills and low hills.The highest elevation in the Chittagong Hill Tract is 600 meters above sea. Slopes in thehills are generally steep.

Almost all of Bangladesh (144,400 km2) lies in the active delta of three of the world’s majorrivers. A few small tracts of higher land occur in Sylhet, Mymensingh and Chittagong HillTracts (CHT) regions. The south-western region consists of a large number of dead and cut-off rivers, the coastal part of which includes the famous Sundarbans mangrove forest. Withingreater Sylhet and Mymensingh districts lie a number of depressed basins inundated by freshwater during the monsoon, gradually drying out during the dry winter season. Climate istropical and monsoon rainfall varies from 1,200-3,500 mm. Average daily temperatures varyfrom 11-34oC. Soils are fertile and well-watered, but less than 20% of the cropped area isirrigated. Maximum elevation is 850 m on the Bangladesh – Burmese border. Rice is themajor agriculture crop while jute, sugarcane and tea are the main cash crops. Other importantcrops are wheat, tobacco, pulses, vegetables and tree fruits. Garments, raw and manufacturedjute goods, tea, fish, and hides and skins are the chief exports. 1990/91 exports totalled TK60.2 billion and imports amounted to TK 111.5 billion. Gross domestic product in currentvalue was TK 7,156 in 1990/91, equivalent to $200 per capita. Principal natural resources arenatural gas, lignite coal, limestone, ceramic clay and glass sand.



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GENERAL BACKGROUND

Chittagong and Mongla are the only seaports and Dhaka, Chandpur, Barisal and Khulna arethe main inland ports. Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet have international airports. Dhaka andChittagong are the principal domestic airports, there are eight other regional ones.

Environmental issues are given very little importance in national and regional legislation anddevelopment planning. Undoubtedly the major constraint on sustainable development inBangladesh is the rapid increase in population. Economic growth must substantially exceed2.5% annually to improve the living standard of the general population. While agriculturalgrowth has kept pace with the population increase, production has increased more slowly,particularly in the 1980’s.

Future employment opportunities are as grim; agriculture opportunities are almost exhaustedand 54% of the population is below 15 years of age. Average gross domestic production(GDP) in the four years ending 1990/91 increased at 3.8% annually.

Agriculture is the major economic activity in Bangladesh, making up 37.6% of 1990/91 GDP(constant prices) of which forestry contributed 2.5%, according to official statistics. The threenext largest sectors are transport, storage and communication 11.8%, professional services10.5% and traders 9.1%. Livestock and fisheries are marginally more important than forestryin the official statistics.

Bangladesh is noted for its estuarine environment, yet less than 10% of its total waterfloworiginates from its own catchments, the rest comes from India, Nepal and Bhutan. Normally,20% of the country gets flooded during the monsoon period.

Important Demographic Features

Important Population features affecting national economic development are:

• Life expectancy 55 years, expected to increase to 65 years by 2010.• Active labour force 31%, female participation is about 10%.• Over 50% of the population is below 15 years of age.• 0.5% of the population are of tribal origin, many of whom practice shifting cultivation.• About 23% of households are female-headed, a considerable percentage are destitute.• Participation at the primary school level is about 89%, dropping to 26% in the case of the

secondary level and to a mere 3.4% at the higher level of education.• One doctor every 6,300 people, infant mortality is 105/1,000 live births.• Per capita caloric intake in Bangladesh declined to 1,920 calories per day in 1990, from 2,300

calories in 1960. Malnutrition is a major cause of death.• Overall per capita land availability is about 0.12 hectares. Some 60% of the rural population are

now functionally landless, and depend on wage income totally.



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Present Population

Bangladesh’s 1991 population was 108 million, up from 51 million in 1961, and growing at arate of 2.2%/year. Average population density is about 750/km2, reaching some 1,300/km2

near Dhaka, Chittagong and other population centres. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) hasthe least population (less than 80/km2), partially reflecting the lower carrying capacity of theland and lack of infrastructure and its tribal nature.

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries of the world and population growthis the most serious problem facing sustainable use of resources. If uncontrolled, it will causefurther poverty and environmental degradation. Life expectancy in 1991 was 56 years and theliteracy rate averaged 25%, female life expectancy is only slightly less but their literacy is50% of the male rate. Over the next ten years there will be a dramatic rise in the demand foremployment due to the large number of people currently below the age of 15.

About 80% of the population lives in urban areas and the urban population is expected toreach 41 million by 2000. Population growth is a very serious problem inhibiting sustainedeconomic growth and resource management and use. The low area of land per capitaintensifies competition for the very limited land resources for different uses. At the same time,existing agriculture productivity is not great. The present population of Bangladesh comprises19.7 million households (average household size is 5.3 persons) and about 75% of householdsdepend on agriculture for a living.

GENERAL ECONOMIC SITUATION

Agriculture

Agricultural activities dominate the national economy and account for 38% of gross domesticproduct (GDP). The scarce land resource is subjected to continuously increasing pressure by agrowing population. Considering the size of the agricultural population, the availability ofarable land per capita is less than 0.1 hectares. This level of population pressure has made itdifficult to make landuse allocations based on land capability.

Farm Size and Farming Intensity – Farm land distribution is quite skewed, average propertysize is about 0.8 hectares. This average, however, camouflages great unevenness in landdistribution. About 40% of the rural population is classified as landless. Small groups ofaffluent land owners hold land much in excess of their family needs. Some of this excesslands is share cropped by landless labourers. In the case of small and medium land holders,fragmentation of land holdings is increasing alarmingly and impedes efficient utilization.

1983-84 official data indicate that 57% of the total number of rural households are landlessand more than 50% of their income comes from non-farm activities. Therefore, economicdevelopment and poverty alleviation must focus on increasing intensity of farming and onincreasing non-agricultural income. Forestry could play a much more important role.



4

Figure 1 – Bangladesh land use distribution (total 14.4 million ha)

Bangladesh Forest Land (total 2.24 million ha)

Nature is bountiful in Bangladesh, but it is poorly managed and exploited. In spite ofconsiderable progress in food grains production, self-sufficiency has not been achieved due torapid population growth. Of the present net cropped area (8.84 million hectares), 49% issingle cropped, 42% is double cropped and 9% is triple cropped. Improving the situation calls

Agriculture 57%

Classified forest 13%

unclassified Forest 7%

Tea/rubber garden 1%

urban 8%

Water 7%Other 4%

Village Forest 3%

Unclassified areas44.1%

Protected Area5.2%

Jhummed Encroached4.9%

Plantations13.5%

Sparse Trees/Baren4.3%

Poor density3.7%

Bamboo3.2%

Medium-good density20.5%

Water/unproductive0.6%



5

for diversified development, expanding horticultural crops, growing multipurpose trees, andintensified farming methods.

Livestock and Fisheries – Livestock can be found on most farms. The most recent 1983-84Census indicates 22 million cattle, 14 million sheep/goats and 74 million poultry are presentin the country. Small farms account for a share of 43% of all cattle and about 50% of thesheep, goats, and chickens. Grazing facilities for cattle are very limited in rural areas and aremostly of poor quality. Some 75 million tons of fresh dung is produced annually, of whichabout 50% is used as manure and the rest as cooking fuel.

Fishing in ponds, inland water bodies and the inundated flood plain is an important activity.Apart from hydrological characteristics, the nature and distribution of vegetation plays animportant role in influencing the fish yield. Some 768,000 fishermen are involved in inlandfishing and 510,000 in marine fishing.

Industry

Agricultural, rural and cottage industries, and related activities accounted for more than 90%of all private employment in Bangladesh. Farming alone accounts for nearly 60% of alllabour. The crude rate of participation in employment is 31%, unchanged since 1984-85.Industrial sector growth remains slow due to a number of factors. While agriculture’s share oftotal employment decreased from 85% in 1950/51 to 58% in 1988/89, the correspondingchange in the industrial employment rose from 4% to only 14%.

The number of industrial units in the country is about 30,000 out of which 80% are cottageindustries. Early industries utilized renewable local resources such as jute, sugarcane, tea,tobacco, cotton, forest-based raw materials and hides and skins because of the agrarian natureof the economy. The use of non-renewable local raw materials began in the sixties. During thesecond half of the sixties, a modern industrial base with heavy industries developed. Many ofthese industries use imported raw and intermediate materials. In recent years a garmentindustry developed, mainly for export.

Energy/Infrastructure

The limited development of industry is also reflected in the pattern of energy consumption andsources. Total energy balance in 1990 indicated that the share of commercial energy was 27%(up from 17% in 1981) and that of biomass energy 73% (down from 83% in 1981). While thebulk of the total energy consumed (about 73%) was accounted for by the household sector forsubsistence purposes, industry accounted only for about 17%. Commercial, transport andother sectors consumed the rest.

Households predominantly use biomass fuel for cooking (100% in rural households and 70%in urban households) and kerosene for lighting (93% in rural households and 76% in urbanhouseholds). Average energy consumption per capita in 1990 was reported as 57 kilograms ofoil equivalent. Energy use is generally inefficient.



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An important aspect of production and use of energy in Bangladesh is the regional disparity inthe availability of energy sources. Most of the known resources of fossil fuel, the only sourceof hydro-power and a major portion of State forests are located in the east zone. Other areas,which are densely populated, have to depend, to a great deal, on whatever is locally available– i.e. agricultural residues and homestead vegetation, especially for domestic purposes.

Inadequate infrastructure is also a constraint, slowing the economic growth of the country.Transport, storage and communication facilities need further upgrading. The large number ofrivers facilities cheap water transport, but are often seasonally disrupted due to floods or lackof sufficient flow. Expanding the land transportation network is also made difficult by thepresence of many rivers.

Employment and Labour Productivity

The pattern of employment in 1989 indicates that 31% were self-employed, 42% were unpaidfamily helpers, 14% were employees and 13% were casual labourers. Officially reportedunemployment is 1.1%, a rate which masks massive underemployment. The projectionsindicate that there will be an increase of 32% in labour force between 1990 and 2000. Thiscalls for substantial generation of new employment opportunities.

Bangladesh has very low wage rates, this differential from other countries is advantageous inthe short and medium term for developing export oriented and labour intensive enterprise,provided workers are given necessary training. The recent growth of the garment industry isan example of this. The situation of unemployment/underemployment and low rate ofearnings has prompted the migration of skilled labour. Bangladeshis employed abroad in 1989remitted $771 million, a sum equal to about 60% of the country’s merchandise exports.

National and Per capita Income

The incidence of poverty in Bangladesh is alarmingly high compared to neighbouringcountries. Estimates show that during the last 25 years the poverty situation has not improved.The number of people below the poverty line was estimated at 43% for 1988/89, similar to1963/64 rates. The corresponding figures for other countries in 1988-89 were: 35 for India; 23for Pakistan; and 27 for Sri Lanka. 1990 gross national product (GNP) per capita ofBangladesh is $210, compared to: $350 for India; $380 for Pakistan; and $470 for Sri Lanka.The average annual growth rate of GNP per capita in Bangladesh between 1965-1990 was0.7%, compared to 1.9% for India; 2.5% for Pakistan; and 2.9% for Sri Lanka.

In 1990, Bangladesh’s GDP (gross domestic product) equalled $22,880 million with theforestry sector constituting about 3% of this. This does not, however, reflect the trueimportance of the forestry sector due to the problem of valuation. Also, the various benefitsand multiplier effects attributable to forestry are often assigned to other sectors such asindustry, services and agriculture. During the five year period of 1991-95, an average annualGDP growth rate of 5% is the target sectoral growth rate, 3.6% for agriculture and 9.1% forindustry. GDP growth in Bangladesh, during 1980-90, was 4.3%, agricultural production grewat 2.6%, industry at 4.9%, manufacturing at 2.8% and services at 5.8%.



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Balance of Payment/Investment

Bangladesh suffers from a persistent negative balance of trade and current account deficit.Total external debt as in 1990 stood at $12.2 billion (up from $3.8 billion in 1980). During theperiod 1980-90, gross domestic investment in Bangladesh grew negatively at –0.6% (asagainst 5.0% for India, 5.7% for Pakistan and 0.4% for Sri Lanka). For the year 1990, grossdomestic savings were only 2% of GDP. Almost 90% of GDP was accounted for by privateconsumption and 9% by government consumption. Gross domestic investment of about 12%of GDP was based mostly on external assistance, thus indicating a resource balance of about –10% (and a development assistance of over $2 billion, equivalent to about 83% of totalinvestment).

The high level of dependence on external sources for public investment will persist at least forseveral years. The investment financing gap, met from external sources, over the Fourth FiveYear Plan (1991-95) exceeds $9 billion (constant 1990 prices).

Table 1 Bangladesh Land Area Classification

Landuse Category HectaresMillion Percent

Agriculture 9.25 64.2State ForestClassified 1.49 10.3Unclassified 0.73 5.1Private ForestVillage 0.27 1.9Tea/Rubber Garden 0.07 0.5Total 2.56 17.8Urban 1.16 8.1Water 0.94 6.5Other 0.49

2.593.4

18.0Total 14.40 100.0



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Figure 2 – Regional forest land and population

Land and Forest Area

Agricultural land makes up 64% of Bangladesh’s land area, forest lands account for almost18%, and urban areas account for a further 8% (Table 1). Water and other land uses accountfor the remaining 10%. Table 1 presents figures, showing that total forest land area totals 2.56million ha, including officially classified and unclassified state lands and forest landsaccounted for by village forests and tea/rubber gardens. In the case of private forests, the datarepresent tree covered areas, but this is not the case with the state areas. Most of the stateforest land is devoid of trees. Classified and unclassified forest land merely designatesgovernment-owned land once covered by forests and it signifies an administrative or legalcategory, not necessarily areas with forest cover.

Table 2 gives the most up to date summary of actual forest area shown in figure 2. This datashows that the natural forest accounts for almost 31% and forest plantations 13% of totalforest areas. Shifting agriculture plus illegal occupation cover 5% of forest lands while water(9%) and unproductive area (0.6%) and other areas (35%) account for almost 45% of forestland. Presently protected areas represent just over 5% of forest land. BFD is responsible foradministering 65% of state forest land (about 1.46 million ha) .The balance comes under localDistrict Commissioners.

Excluding parks and sanctuaries, but including the better quality natural forest (medium togood density) plus bamboo areas and plantations gives a figure of 835,000 ha of reasonablequality forest vegetation on state forest land. This equals 5.8% of Bangladesh’s total area. Thearea included in the present protected area network is 116,700 ha, equal to 5.2% of state forestland or less than 1% of Bangladesh’s total area.

Figure 3 – Per capita forest land and forest cover

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Northw est

West

Northeast

Northcentre

Southeast

Southeast

Hill Tract

Percent

Forest Area

Population



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Tabular data rest on outdated forest inventories, excepting the Sundarbans mangrove forest.Social unrest in the tribal hill areas has compounded the problem of getting more reliableestimates for the remaining area outside of the Sal forests.

In terms of forest land, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Division on the eastern border contributes47% followed by the Sundarbans and Patuakhali Coastal Divisions at 27%. The north-westerndivisions, including Dinajpur, Bogra, Rajshahi and Rangpur Districts, has the least state forestland, less than 1%. The western divisions of Jessore, Kusthia, Faridpur and Bhola haveslightly more than 1%.

Table 2 Classified and Unclassified Forest Land by Physical Cover

Type of Land Cover AreaHectares Percent

Natural ForestMedium-Good Density 460,700.0 20.5Poor Density 82,200.0 3.7Bamboo 71,200.0 3.2Scattered Trees/Barren 95,900.0 4.3Total 710,000.0 31.7Plantations 303,000.0 13.5Jhummed/Encroached 111,000.0 4.9Total Productive 1,124,000.0 50.1Unproductive 12,900.0 0.6Parks/Sanctuaries 116,700.0 5.2Water 9.0 -Other* 786,600.0 44.1Total Unproductive 1,118,200.0 44.9Total 2,242,300 100.0

*Predominantly Unclassified State Forest (USF)

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

bhuta

nbu

rma

Indon

esia

Philipp

ines

India

Pakist

an

Bangla

desh

Squa

re M

etre

s

Good Forest

Forest Land



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On a per capita basis, there was 225 m2 of forest land for every Bangladesh citizen in 1993.This drops to 99 m2 considering only reasonably forested land which excludes barren areasand low density vegetation. Table 3 shows area and volume of the natural forest by foresttypes.

FOREST SECTOR CONDITIONS

General

Bangladesh’s forestry sector consists mainly of the primary production of forest products. Excluding pulp and paper, the secondary sector is weakly developed and under-capitalized; itfeatures obsolete technology and badly designed or worn out equipment. Tertiarymanufacturing is even less well developed. Primary production of logs and bamboo, the mainindustrial products, comes mostly from private land and secondly from government managedforest land. Government forests serve the organized manufacturing section, especially thegovernment sector.

Table 3 Principal Primary and Secondary Wood Using Industry

Annual Volume (000)Industry Unit NumberCapacityb Production

PrimarySawnwood m3 4,492 5,868.0 2,726.0Pulp ADT 1 30.5 18.0d

Newsprint ADT 1 50.8 43.5d

Paper ADT 3 136.0 61.0d

Rayon ADT 1 2.4 1.2d

Cellophane ADT na 1.0 naParticleboard m2 2 4,142.0 2,748d

Hardboard m2 2 3,121.0 1,589d

Plywood- Plywood m2 8 2,787.0 1,248- Tea cheat no 8

Match gross boxes 18 15,000.0 12,400Pencil gross 1 194,000.0 na

SecondarySeasoning m3 6 28.3 naTreatment m3 6 62.3 naBobbin no 12 3,100.0 naFurniture m3 1 1,700.0 naDoor/Window m2 3 83.6 na

a = Mechanical b = 1989 c = 1989/90 d = 1990/91 e = 1979/80 f = BFRI, 1992 g = Excludes pitsaws



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Figure 4 – Actual recent forest department expendiutres

The estimated demand for round logs in the country in 1991 was 4.26 million m3 of which0.25 million was consumed by process industries and the rest by households. In comparison,the sustainable local supply was 1.28 million m3. Roundwood consists of both direct andderived demand for domestic consumption and industrial processing. A recent moratorium onfelling created a shortage in the market. This, along with tribal insurgency problems in hilldistricts, seriously affects some government-owned forest industries.

Wood markets are fed both by recognized and unrecognized sources of log supply. Among theunrecognized sources, unrecorded production, illicit felling and smuggling from neighbouringcountries are important. A minimum figure of 20% is commonly accepted as coming fromunrecognized sources.

Panel product marketing in Bangladesh is in its infancy. Potential for growth exists, but lackof standards; market promotion and existing product surplus creates the lowest production,sales and consumption in developing countries. Local preference is for solidwood products;market promotion and effective pricing is necessary to help expand this market. The demandfor paper, paper products and newsprint is increasing, but lacks sufficient pulpwood and pulpprocessing industries, new demand being met through imports. Forest development, withproper emphasis on pulpwood plantations and other commercial softwoods, could save theexisting paper related industries and encourage future expansion.

Environmental Issues

Environmental impact assessment experience is limited in Bangladesh, and legislation andpolicy are weak. Significant training and national capacity building is needed, within both theForest and Environment Departments. There is an absence of effective policy, legislation, andimplementation mechanisms for conservation, protected area management, wildlifemanagement and biodiversity. For example, environmental impact guidelines for the forestrysector do not exist in Bangladesh and need developing. Finally, while there is substantial

0

5

10

15

20

1980

/81

1982

/83

1984

/85

1986

/87

1988

/88

1990

/91

US

mill

ion

Development

Normal



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international agreement on the need for biodiversity protection, there remains the question ofwho should pay for such programmes, as well as pollution mitigation measures. Owing to itspopulation and limited resources, Bangladesh can ill afford not to fully utilize its limitedresources. The problem is how to manage renewable resources without depleting them or theirproductive capacities.

Environment Issues

• Declining plant and animal varieties.• Present exploitation levels are not sustainable.• Productivity is unacceptably low.• Social equity remains unresolved.• Absence of effective environment monitoring.

Major environmental issues

Conserving ecological processes is critical for Bangladesh and its extremely diverse speciescompliment. The regulation of these processes by micro organisms, animal and humans hasimpacts on the complex relationships within and between species, habitats and ecosystems.This diversity is substantially threatened, particularly through man-induced changes.

Past and present forest resource use and exploitation patterns, if allowed to continue, willresult in further severe depletion of growing stock and reduced varieties of flora and fauna.These past patterns are not sustainable. To what extent can the remaining natural forests in thecountry be exploited, without causing irreversible and permanent damage to the naturalheritage of the country? Given the pressures on land in Bangladesh, how much canrealistically be kept under a protected area system?

The net result of all the plantation activities over the last 100 years in Bangladesh has beennegative, as has the traditional approach of the Forest Department in designating reserves forrevenue generation while not contributing to providing basic needs for local people. Theproductivity of forest management techniques requires a dramatic increase. How can this bestbe achieved, given the existing severe social and institutional constraints?

Social equity has not been seriously attempted before and the forestry sector has not fosteredthe participation of people in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating sectoralprogrammes. Biomass production, development of non wood forest products, and communityparticipation and benefit-sharing are not adequately addressed. To what extent can equity inforestry activities be addressed through participatory mechanisms?

Bangladesh has only recently created institutional mechanisms for environmental managementthrough the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Department of Environment. Amajor issue is how to build the institutional capacity and how to use existing national levelexpertise more in environmental impact assessment, monitoring, and evaluation of the forestsector.



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GOALS AND STRATEGIES

Analysis shows that Bangladesh’s goals for constructing a balanced environment contributingto national social and economic goals, while preserving and improving environmentconditions, 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 presentprotected area under accepted standards and management before considering expanding thearea. 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 ofbotanical gardens, herbaria and zoos. Once these are in place, the creation of new protectedareas, 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 environmentmanagement accord recently agreed. Meeting the principles defined in that document means:

• Altering existing silviculture systems and practices to eliminate destructive impacts fromharvesting and planting activities.

• Rewriting and updating forest management plans to include effective measures to protectwatersheds, soil and wildlife.

• Beginning effective research on species regeneration requirements and regular continuousmonitoring of forest conditions.

• Implementing the convention on biodiversity.

As a matter of policy, the International Tropical Timber Organization’s guidelines forsustained management of natural tropical forests are appropriate and need adopting andimplementing.

Increasing Productivity – Unless productivity is dramatically improved, Bangladesh haslittle 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.



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• Multiple use management and production requires zoning core and buffer areas fordifferent levels and types of utilization and user benefits in areas subjected to heavy andvaried use.

• Increase productivity by planting open and sparsely covered areas with multipurpose andnon 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 fromdevelopment and in a more equitable fashion, requiring:

• Significant re-ordering of priorities primarily through institutional change and a strong focus oneffective 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 manageand plan resource development requires:

• Environment impact assessment training for both Forest and Environment Departmentstaff.

• Forming a coastal management development authority to manage coastal development in acoordinated and controlled fashion.

• Upgrading the Forest Department’s resource information management system with ageographic information system to assist monitoring and evaluating forestry activities andenvironmental impacts.

• Coordinating and implementing forestry development with evolving national conservationand coastal environmental management strategies plans and action plans.

POLICY

Because NWFPs receive little economic recognition, there is a lack of policies, rules andregulations supporting their development. There are harvesting rules for some products, butthey are not strictly followed. For other products there are no rules and regulations.Restrictions on collecting are mostly non existent, there is no effective management of NWFPresources, and little effort goes to replenishing the resources. The present system of clear-cutting does not support the plant diversity and forest structure needed to conserve and protecta wide range of NWFPs.



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In the case of government lands, GOB has to identify and delineate suitable areas for NWFPcollection and be ready to allow public and private groups and communities to use the land onagreed terms and conditions. Since there are no guidelines yet on the granting of forest landsfor NWFP development, these require definition and approval.

INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATION

There is no single body specifically responsible for developing and managing NWFPs. BFDadministers the land from which most supplies originate but devotes only slight attention tomanaging the depleting resources. Bangladesh Scientific Industrial Research Council’s(BSIRC) mandate includes developing small and cottage industries. However, BSIRC needsstrengthening and convincing of the importance of NWFP industries in providing employmentand income for the poor. Presently, this opportunity is not well recognized.

Table 4 - Area and Volume of the Natural Forests of Kassalong and Rangkhiang by ForestTypes

Location Forest Cover Type 1963 1983Area (ha) Volume

(000’cu m)Area (ha) Volume

(000’ cu m)Kassalong Timber-types 52689 7002.4 46395 6337.6

Timber-bamboo 23506 2818.0 14878 1679.7Bamboo-timber 31972 1725.8 23525 1270.3Bamboo-types 41366 714.6 12653 218.9Plantation 5013 - 14330 -Non-forest and non-productive areas

9981 - 52667 -

Total 164527 12260.8 164448 9506.5Rangkhiang Timber-types 20325 3285.5 7116 1220.4

Timber-bamboo 6933 988.5 3228 393.8Bamboo-timber 17519 809.0 6194 286.2Bamboo types 27907 563.1 13606 274.8Plantation 2011 - 8873 -Non-forest and non-productive areas

2409 - 38087 -

Total 77104 5646.1 77104 2175.2Grand Total 241631 17906.9 241552 11681.7

Source: De Milde, R. et al. 1985. The Kassalong and Rankhiang Reserve Forests in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, FieldDocument No. 10 FAO/UNDP Project, BGD/79/017

Research and development efforts with NWFPs are scattered, unorganized and uncoordinated.Coordination and institutional linkages at local and national level between government, non-government and other agencies is missing. Confusion exists as to what agency is responsiblefor each product. Competent, knowledgeable and well-trained staff responsible andaccountable for developing, managing, processing, utilizing and marketing NWFP are needed.staff to do this will require good programmes for training.



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In order to promote profitable, self-sustaining socio-economic development in villages andcommunities near NWFP resources, it is imperative to develop and promote NWFP-basedindustries. Existing cottage industries are mostly household-based. To maintain profitability,they require adequate support in terms of financial, technical and marketing assistance. Thehouseholds engaged in each industry need to be organized into functional transparentcooperatives. This type of development and coordination must have active linkages with othergovernment agencies, e.g. Department of Agriculture, Bangladesh Agriculture ResearchInstitute, Agriculture Extension, and NGOs, plus normal credit institutions.

The government should encourage and support the establishment of an integrated NWFPprocessing or manufacturing industry, including murta, rattan and bamboo. This has to includean effective and efficient marketing system. Traditional artisans are leaving their tradebecause of the seasonal nature of the industry. An integrated established industry, offering acontinuous and rewarding source of income, if given proper encouragement, can providesignificant employment in many parts of Bangladesh.

Success in the various NWFP programmes requires a well managed and expanding resource.Industry development will require systematic and organized extension services. Awarenessappreciation and organized motivation are essential in getting people’s participation. Onlyextension and training can generate this motivation and support.

Major Issues

Uncoordinated Development – The main issue facing future NWFPs development andimprovement is the lack of a single organization responsible for the collection, promotionand/or development of non wood products. In the absence of such a unit, it is not possible tomake a coordinated effort to achieve a breakthrough in any remarkable promotion of theseproducts.

Five issues dominate non-wood product development

• Uncoordinated development.• Inappropriate forest management.• Inadequate resource information.• Under developed extension services.• Unexploited social and economic development opportunity.

A well developed and economically successful industry based on non wood products requiresthe will and commitment to package and transfer the technology to the primary producers andprocessors through an institutionally coordinated scheme. There is an urgent need to create anoffice or unit to promote and develop non wood products. Adequate funds for the operationsof the proposed office are also needed. One way to do this is to put back wood productsrevenue or income to finance development until the programme becomes self sustaining.Government should provide an incentive or reward system for people involved in NWFPsdevelopment and management.

Policy and Institutional Strengthening – The lack of long term policy places NWFPs in anunhealthy situation. Responsive, long term policies need formulating, appropriately supported



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by research and development. The policy formulated should be relevant to the thrusts andpriorities of the government. Specifically, it must conform with the present and proposedforest, health, industrial and trade policies. These policies need gearing towards povertyalleviation, social equity and sustained public participation. Moreover, some organizations oragencies must have sole responsibility and financing to develop NWFPs from collection pointto marketing.

Inappropriate Forest Management – Government must change its traditional forestmanagement and development approach. Its clear felling silvicultural system requiresreplacement with one which not only conserves biodiversity but maintains the non woodproduct resource base. This will keep the forest ecosystem healthy and help to sustain theeconomy of forest-dwelling communities. Both management and development strategies mustpromote the country’s forests as an integrated complex of both wood and NWFPs.

Silvicultural issues are many, in fact, higher yield from plantations and high forest, are mainlysilviculture and management related. For the last few decades, forest protection has becomevery problematic. This problem will assume a still higher proportion if the socio-economicconditions of a large majority of the population worsens.

More protected areas need to be demarcated in the country to support NWFP development.The potential of the protected areas NWFP for production and conservation remain untappedand requires close study. Areas used mainly for non wood products need zoning, delineatingand need to be managed separately and intensively from traditional products.

Inadequate Resource Information – There is a great need for a comprehensive nation-wideinventory of NWFP resources. Quantitative data are needed for the formulation of moreresponsive policies and in designing and developing appropriate plans, activities, projects, andrelated programmes. Methods and systems for reliable resource assessment need developing,including manpower and equipment to make the assessment.

Social Equity – A component of sustainable forest development is the promotion of equitabledistribution of forest benefits. The traditional disposition of forest resources, including nonwood products, through the auction system discriminates against poor people and isdestructive to the resource. The recommendation is to develop and implement an alternativesystem where long term licenses or permits go to organized communities near the resources.However, these communities require training as sustained developers, producers andprocessors of the resources. These needs can easily drive an extensive poverty alleviationprogramme in support of government social goals. However, with the right to harvest theparticular natural products goes the responsibility to protect, enrich and manage the resourcesso that the benefits are sustained.

Undeveloped Extension Services – Successful non wood product programmes on resourcebase management and industry development requires systematic and organized extensionservices. Awareness, appreciation, and motivation are essential in making people act andparticipate. More importantly, capabilities and supportive skills are strong driving forces thatwould make the programme successful. Good extension and training generates the motivationand support needed.



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Integrated non wood crops are a logical part of an effective extension and training programme.A battery of extension workers need training on the various technical aspects, including seedtechnology, nursery propagation, plantation development, management/ maintenance,harvesting/collection, processing and marketing. In turn, these extension workers train thecooperators in resource management and development, and in the development of householdindustries. This means providing advice in planning and sustained management, technology inproduction and processing, and marketing.

Goals and Strategies

Developing NWFPs is an important area with tremendous potential in poverty alleviation andwidespread economic development. There is some scope for building raw material supplies,selectively. Government supports and facilitates reasonable credit, increases raw materialsupplies, and helps to supply training and extension services. Specific programmes and projectidentification are better left to individual private companies, groups or active NGOs.

Principal strategies to improve Bangladesh’s non wood products resource and related socialand economic benefits involve coordinating institutional support and developing NWFPpolicy integrated with GOB’s broad social and economic goals and policies.

FOREST PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT

General

Forest management in Bangladesh has a history of over a century. Initially, managementconcentrated mainly on natural forests, principally mangrove and Dipterocarpus forests, and toa lesser extent on small areas of plantations, chiefly teak. Multidata inventory surveys are notavailable for all Bangladesh’s forests. Approximately 65% of the forest area was measuredtwice in the past 30 years – the reserved forests of Sundarbans, Kassalong, Rankhiang, Sanguand Matamuhuri.

Bangladesh’s natural forests are controlled by the Forest Department and fall under threeclasses: hill forests (48%), inland sal forests (9%) and mangrove forests (43%). Ruralinventories show an overall depletion in forest resources in all the major forests. For example,the growing stock in the Sundarbans fell from 20.3 million m3 in 1960 to 13.2 million m3 in1984, a 35% decline over 25 years. In the reserved forests of Chittagong Hill Tracts, growingstock decreased from 23.8 million m3 in 1964 to below 19.8 million m3 in 1985.

Accurate information on tree cover density in all forests is not available. One estimate puts theaverage density in State forests at about 57%. Other estimates indicate that the current averagegrowing stock in government forests is only just over 30 m3/ha and that the growing stock in1990s was approximately two thirds of 1980s 71 million m3. Deforestation is a prominentlyvisible phenomenon, and equally seriously, although less conspicuous, is depletion anddegradation of stocking conditions.



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Deforestation

Forest cover losses in Bangladesh remain unsurveyed or unmapped and their exact size andlocation are not conclusively determined, except for periodic visual observations. Theseestimates indicate that damage affects one eighth of the country’s land area. The differentestimates of deforestation reported in various sources are not mutually consistent. In theabsence of survey and demarcation of areas classified as forests, it is not possible to improvethe information base. About half of the land area controlled by the Forest Department lackstree cover. By major class, forested areas are: hill forests (including unclassed state forests)54% cover, sundarbans 99% and sal forests 32%. Figures 27 to 29 illustrate recent areas offorest loss rates in three of Bangladesh’s main forests.

Major causes of deforestation

Deforestation results mainly from agriculture land clearing, principally shifting cultivation. Othercauses include landuse changes, encroachments, grazing, fire, uncontrolled and wasteful commerciallogging, illegal fellings and fuelwood collection. The direct causes are the symptoms or effects of awide malaise – poverty, landlessness, economic underdevelopment, inappropriate forest policies andregulations, lack of landuse planning, uncertainties in land tenure system and socio-politicalinstability.

Local economic conditions provide strong economic and financial incentives to those involved inencroachment and illegal felling. GOB is unable to solve the problem of restrictive convenants andpunitive legislation.

Shifting Cultivation – Shifting cultivation goes with primitive economies and isolatedcultural communities. Shifting cultivation is characterized by a rotation of fields rather than bycrops, accompanied by slashing and burning. In a situation of little, or no, population ormarket pressure, shifting cultivation is environmentally acceptable. There were stable cases ofintegrated land use, and good agroforestry. However, with a developing market economy andthe inevitable population pressure on land, the once elegant system of shifting cultivationcollapsed into degradation and retrogression, influenced by factors both internal and externalto the system. Control or regulation of jhuming is not effective and vast tracts are denuded inthe hill regions. About 60,000 families engaged in shifting cultivation involve an area of about85,000 hectares of the hill forests reserves, excluding the shifting cultivation in the Chittagonghill tracts.

Encroachment – Encroachment is a serious problem both in the plain land sal forests and thehill forests, however, information available about encroachment is scarce. Encroached landslack legal surveys and the exact area involved is unknown. Current data are the visualestimates of the Forest Department field staff. The encroachment problem in the forest areasof Chittagong, Chittagong hill tracts and Cox’s Bazar is political and involves cyclonerefugees. Encroached sal forests in the central and northern Bangladesh area result fromtenurial uncertainties. Organized encroachments carried out by ‘dummy encroachers’supported by politically powerful local groups also exist. The Forest Department is unable tocontrol these encroachments. Lack of coordination between the Land Department and theForest Department in land transfers and records adds to the problem. Some 77,000 hectares offorest land involving 12,200 families appear involved.



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Land Transfers – Land transfers have taken place where forested land get diverted forpurposes of human settlement, development of industry, fishery, transport andcommunications, irrigation, energy and power, mining, tourism, educational institutions anddefence. The extent of such transfers was about 61,000 hectares until 1984.

New Land Accretions – While existing forest cover is being lost on a large scale, there aresome gains on a smaller scale by afforestation of denuded areas and newly accreted land. Thelarge sediment load, estimated at 1.5 to 1.8 billion MT annually, and carried by the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system, creates a dynamic delta-farming process. There is anoverall seaward movement of the belt of mangrove forests as more silt and mud are depositedat the mouth of rivers. This gives rise to a permanent ecological transfer of sites on thelandward fringe to dryland vegetation above tidal influence.

Within the sedimentation zone in the Bay of Bengal, the processes of land accretion anderosion are going on simultaneously. A comparative Landsat imagery study shows a netaccretion of 35,650 hectares in coastal districts over a three-year period. A BFD programme toplant mangroves in the coastal areas started in 1966, and has continued as an importantprogramme in the sector. Since initiation, an area of about 125,000 hectares of newly accretedland planted with mangrove species now exists. A new seven-year programme for afforestingabout 33,000 hectares with mangroves began in 1992, as part of the Forest ResourcesManagement Project.

Accreted lands are the Government’s property and are the responsibility of the Ministry ofLand Administration and Land Reform. In 1976 the Government, recognizing the role ofmangroves in stabilizing newly formed lands, decided to transfer the management of 498,000hectares of newly formed lands in the four coastal divisions to the Forest Department forafforestation purposes. Originally, the transfer was intended for 10 years but was extended to20 years in 1985. Objectives of the coastal afforestation programme have evolved through theyears. Initially conceived to provide a shelterbelt as an added protection against tidal bore andcyclones, it soon became apparent that more benefits were possible. While the prime goal ofthe coastal afforestation remained the creation of new land for agricultural use (also forshrimp farming), virtually no land has reverted back to the relevant authorities. Currently, thesuggestion is to return the land for reallocation when the plantations get harvested or becomeunsuitable for mangroves.

While the potential contribution of coastal plantations towards mitigating the damages fromtidal and storm surges is not disputed, their financial success will depend on a viable (andvalue adding) programme utilizing wood products. As fuelwood, plantation value at site isnegligible. A utilization plan (using wood resources of the afforested coastal area) forpromoting processing industry will help to improve the income and employment situation inthe adjoining areas.



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NATURAL FOREST RESOURCES

Hill Forests

The hill forests are the most important watershed areas of the country and are composed oftropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. Government management of these forestsbegan in the 1870s under a system of selection felling and natural regeneration. Subsequently,in the 1930s a system of clear felling followed by artificial regeneration or plantationappeared, while a system of selection-cum-improvement felling continued. The prescriptionsfor plantations included a specification to establish natural regeneration plots of six to tenmeters wide around every 40 hectare plantations.

During the second World War, these forests were heavily exploited and increased exploitationcontinued after independence in 1947 to meet the rising demand of forest products.Subsequent management practice raised long and short rotation plantation on a large scale,and abandoned the natural regeneration plots. Delays in revision/reformulation ofmanagement plans (working plans) occurred, and the need for ensuring timber requirements ofindustries and regulating the area of annual plantations resulted in ad hoc treatment. Yieldregulation by area was changed to one of predetermined volume. This led to larger fellingareas and consequently a larger plantation programme. Logging operations in the hill forestsare partly by mechanized and partly manual methods. A 1982 review of logging operationsrecorded a huge wastage of wood as mechanized logging residues.

The decision for large scale conversion of tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests ofhigh biological diversity in the hill areas relies on the rationale that forest protection andplantations produce better and higher yields. Sustained principles of forest management werenot applied in practice and adequate information to establish annual allowable cuts does notexist. The improper and wasteful management of the hill forests thus lead to the eventualimposition of a government moratorium on all logging in natural forests in 1989.

Sal Forests

At present, the sal forests are largely composed of two remnant tracts. First, some 105,000hectares in the districts of Tangail and Mymensigh, and second, the Barind tract, coveringscattered patches of some 14,000 hectares in the north-west districts. Unlike the other areasunder the control of the Forest Department, these areas are not forest reserves or put undergovernment management for long periods, since nationalized in the 1950s.

Sal forests occur naturally in the central and northern parts of Bangladesh. Formerly theseforests belonged to feudal land lords before BFD gradually assumed some responsibility fortheir management before nationalization. The silvicultural prescriptions included: clear fellingwith regeneration mostly from coppice; simple coppice and coppice with standards on arotation of about 20 years. Thinning occurred on a 10-year cycle to improve the existing crop,based on a rotation of 100 years; and afforestation of blanks operated under a taungya system.



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None of these practices sustained the forests and they continued to deplete in size andstocking.

Sal Forest Cutting Moratorium

In spite of a 1972 moratorium on the area, encroachments and illicit felling/smuggling continued. Most parts of the recorded area of sal forests are under occupation and the remaining stands of salhave poor stock and quality. The notified sal forest area is honeycombed with habitation and ricefields. In some cases more than three quarters of the area is encroached, or abandoned due to heavydegradation.

A large population of the area, with its increasing need for forest products, building materialsand fuelwood, cultivable land, employment opportunities and income, will continue to exertheavy pressure on the remaining forest area. A recent study found that the land in the remnantsal forests is not suitable for permanent agriculture in most cases, without irrigation, and if salstands are afforded adequate protection and tending, they respond well. If forestry is to remainhere, it is necessary to manage the area under a system of integrated land use.

Mangrove Forests

As recently as 2000 years ago, the Sundarbans extended farther inland, including much ofKhulna region, and formed a continuous coastal forest eastwards to the Chokoria Sundarbans.The Sundarbans were declared as a Reserved Forest in 1879. Since then it has been directlyadministrated and managed by the Forest Department. Early management consisted of revenuecollection on forest produce from the area. A selection system of silvicultural managementwith an exploitable girth limit for the main species and a felling cycle of 40 years prevailed.Subsequently, plans reduced the felling cycle to 20 years. Following the Khulna NewsprintMills Ltd. (KNM) construction in 1959, and other Khulna-based forest industries, the forestmanagement intensity increased.

Sundarbans, A unique Forest

Exclusively mangroves, this forest, is an important natural resource providing a large number ofproducts such as timber, pulpwood, fuelwood, fish, thatching materials, hone, bees wax and shells. Inaddition it supports a very rich and diverse flora and fauna. It is the largest remaining habitat for theRoyal Bengal Tiger. Some 600,000 people are directly dependant on this forest for their livelihood. In addition, the mangrove forest acts as a natural barrier to cyclones and tidal bores, and protects thedensely populated agricultural areas to its north.

A substantial area in the Sundarbans supports KNM. Out of eight blocks, six are for extractionof pulpwood. The Sundarbans forest is managed under a selection system, but all agegradations of trees are not available due to improper marking and inadequate regeneration.Besides, improvement felling is low and growth less than predicted. Fuelwood and golpattapalm leaves exploitation takes place on the basis of collection permits and for this purpose,the Sundarbans consist of a number of annual cutting areas.

INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING



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General

Roles of institutions are crucial in guiding the course of events and ensuring that the goals andpurposes falling within their purview get fulfilled. Institution characteristics depend on theirpolicies, laws, regulations and conventions, and those of related organizations. Influenced bysocio-political systems and related forces, institutions are public or private, government ornon-government, traditional or modern, bureaucratic or non-bureaucratic or a mixture ofthese. Dynamism of institutions depends on their capability to change with the time, to adjustto the changes in socio-political realities and people’s aspirations. Many of the socio-economic problems faced by developing countries are often the result of inability of theirinstitutions to accept or adopt changes. Today, forestry and forestry institutions are judged in amuch wider context than formerly. The interrelated and multiple roles of forests, covering thewide spectrum of environment, conservation and rational utilization of forest resource arevital for human welfare and sustained socio-economic development. Forestry’s scope andimportance in a country are reflected in its forestry institutions.

Analysis of institutions carried out by the Forestry Master Plan considered five interrelatedareas: policy, legislation, organizational structure, human resource development, research andextension. Policy refers to the principles that govern actions directed towards given ends.Legislation is an important instrument to facilitate policy implementation. Organizationalstructure defines the agencies and mechanisms for translating policy directions into action, onthe one hand, and the authority for enforcing legislation on the other. Quality and impact ofpolicy implementation reflect the type of education, training, specialization and attitudes ofthe human resource employed. Research on all aspects of forestry (scientific, technical,economic, social, environmental, and institutional) is essential to keep the sector dynamic andto support development. Effective extension distributes improved development actions andbenefits.

Major institutional issues

Relevant institutional issues racing Bangladesh forestry today are:

• Inadequacies of the current National Forest Policy (1979) and the need for a new, comprehensiveand dynamic policy.

• Irrelevance of the current Forest Act (1927) and related regulations to address the presentconcerns of forestry and the need for a new law for the conservation and development of forests,trees and wildlife in Bangladesh.

• Weaknesses, shortcomings and conflicts in the functioning of the public forestry organizationsand the urgent need to restructure them.

• Lack of an effective and coordinated system of human resource development for the forestrysector and the urgent need to remove the constraints.

• Poor impact and weaknesses of forestry research and the need to strengthen it with appropriateorientation, funds, facilities and autonomy.

• Inadequate forestry extension effort.

Institutional improvement needs to be effected as a package, with each of the aspectsreceiving commensurate attention. Important features influencing institutional evaluation are:

• Increasing rates of deforestation, encroachment and forest degradation, and productivitydeclines.



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• Inadequate maintenance and poor quality of forest plantations.• Loss of wildlife and biodiversity.• Under achievement in targeted forestry programmes.• Increasing importance of the homestead forests as the major source of forest products.• Emergence of margins of roads, railways, field boundaries, and embankments and charl

and potential sources of forest products and services.• Increasing wood shortage for domestic and industrial use.• Increasing bureaucratization, and lack of efficiency/accountability criteria in forest

resource management.• Inadequate reflection of national forest policy related to public and especially women’s

participation, rural development, decentralization, involving private and cooperativesectors and Forest Department activities.

• Lack of recognition of lessons available from global development in forestry.

NATIONAL FOREST POLICY

Definition

Policy generally refers to the principles that govern action directed towards given ends. Itdefines agreed or settled courses for adoption, by governments and institutions. At thenational level, policy embraces general goals and acceptable procedures and actions to achievetheir goals. While policies reflect long term objectives, they are subject to modifications basedon the dynamics of policy environment. Policy provides a basis for legislation, plans andprescriptions, and a framework to continuously correct institutional inadequacies to maintaindynamic growth. A policy, thus, provides an important means to achieve goals consideredessential and desirable by society. The effectiveness of a policy therefore, depends onachieving defined goals.

While national policies should be specifically tailored to conditions existing in the country,there are several goals and aspects which have universal or wider relevance and applicability.These include environment conservation, sustained production and utilization of resources,satisfaction of basic needs, equitable distribution of income, acceleration of socio-economicgrowth, and people’s participation.

There are different categories of policies depending on coverage, scope and purpose. At thenational level there are the principles enshrined in the Constitution and general aspects, suchas economics, development, education, and environment conservation. Specific policies applyto sectors, such as forestry, agriculture, and industry. These policies are not mutuallyexclusive, and the general policies considerably influence specific sectoral strategy.

Sectoral Policy

A national forest policy specifies principles regarding the use of a nation’s forest resources,intended to contribute to the achievement of national objectives. In this context, the forestresource includes land where such resources can be developed. Diverse, and often conflicting



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concerns and interests, at various levels, affect people’s perceptions of potentials andproblems relating to the multiple roles and uses satisfied by forests today.

Modern forestry involves a web of interrelated activities that go far beyond the limits of forestland, and affect the welfare of everyone economically and ecologically. Rational practice offorestry requires decisions on what (and how much) goods and services we wish to obtain andhow to obtain them. Multiple roles (production, protection and conservation) of forests arenow the accepted basic objectives of forest management. A serious concern is how to manageforests to retain their essential roles as part of the natural resource system, while maintainingtheir capacity for supporting people. Fully sustained multiple roles of forestry has come moreand more into focus as a fundamental objective.

Over the years the concepts and methodologies of policy analysis, and policy formulationevolved and improved considerably. The old manifesto-type policies are being modified intoones with specific and measurable objectives. Accordingly, traditional manifesto-type forestpolicy declarations are now viewed as imprecise expression of intent. Acceptable, goodnational forest policy is now seen as a formal and comprehensive statement which provides aconceptual framework, and clear objectives for forestry development, as well as orientationfor the choice and execution of forestry programmes and related activities. It sets standards fordecision making and discourages ad hoc acts. Policy development, implementation andevaluation are more or less a continuous process and closely related to effective planning.

Planning should allow and respect the legitimate range of interests of all concerned, (bothpublic and private, including those of local inhabitants) and bring about their effectiveparticipation in all stages of the process. Otherwise, it becomes socially irrelevant andpolitically ineffective. In a broad sense, forest policy works best as a dynamic system,influenced by changes in policy environment.

Existing policy weakness

Forestry as a sector of the economy is viewed as a government department, despite the fact that some70 percent of all forest products originate on lands outside the control of the Forest Department.

Several crucial aspects get little or inadequate mention in existing forest policy. Such aspects include:functional classification and use of forest land, role of forests as the biological foundation ofsustained natural productivity, community participation, role of private sector, processing andutilization of forest products, organization of forest-based growth centres, enterprise development,rural energy needs, involvement of voluntary organizations, importance of non wood forest productsand forestry extension.

Currently, the National Forest Policy of Bangladesh (1979) is a manifesto-type statement andis very general and vague. In summary, it states:

• Forests shall be carefully preserved and scientifically managed;• Government forests shall not be used for non forestry purposes;• Timber wealth shall be increased by large scale plantations;• Optimum extraction and utilization of forest produce will be carried out using modern

technology;• Measures to set up new forest-based industries and to meet raw material requirements

shall be adopted;



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• Research, education and training in forestry shall be organized to meet scientific,technological and administrative needs;

• A cadre of officers shall be constituted for manning the forest sector;• Forest sector shall be organized as a separate administrative unit of the government and

relevant laws updated for implementing forest policy;• Steps shall be taken for conservation of forests and wildlife and for utilizing recreational

potential of forests;• Mass motivation shall be initiated and technical assistance extended to those interested in

forestry.

Policy Directives

Sectoral policies are subordinate to those defined by national goals, including theFundamental Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution. The Government ofBangladesh recently adopted policies related to two vital areas. One is the policy of economicgrowth within the broad framework of a Twenty Year Perspective Plan (1990-2010). Thiscovers: acceleration of economic growth; alleviation of poverty; generation of employmentopportunities; and increased self-reliance. The other is the National Environmental Plan withthe following objectives:

• maintenance of the ecological balance and overall progress of the country throughprotection and development of the environment;

• protection of the country against natural disasters;• prevention of all types of activities leading to pollution and degradation of the

environment;• ensuring environmentally sound development in all sectors;• ensuring sustainable, long term and environmentally congenial utilization of all resources.

Thus, the overall policy directives are fully in favour of: ecologically sound and biologicallysustainable development of forestry; supporting economic improvement through appropriatemeasures of resource expansion, conservation, management and utilization including alllinkages and involving people at each stage.



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Need for policy review

Policy analysis clearly highlights the following areas of critical importance for:

Controlling the high rate of deforestation;introducing scientific and sustainable management of forest resources;undertaking intensively managed (on high-input and high output basis) forest plantations as aninvestment enterprise;practising appropriate, integrated landuse for improving overall sustainable biological productivity;reducing wastage in logging/harvesting and processing of forest products;rationally restructuring the forest industry as an economic undertaking and improving their economicefficiency;strengthening/intensifying forestry and forest products research and extension;arresting ecological degradation and erosion of biodiversity;rehabilitating wildlife and wildlife habitat;improving essential infrastructure for forest resource development;meaningfully involving people, private sector and NGOs in the development of forestry sector;appropriately restructuring the forest sector institutions to be capable of serving as effective agents forpromoting sectoral growth, unfettered by bureaucratic hurdles;improving, qualitatively and quantitatively human resource for forestry in terms of training, educationfacilities and incentives.ensuring multidisciplinary approach and inter-sectoral coordination in forestry matters.

Forest Policy Implementation

Reviewing the situation of the various crucial aspects of forestry development in Bangladeshindicates that the broad policy directives require follow up action. Identified weaknesses ofthe current forest policy and implementation mechanisms are:

• Natural forests are not managed under an environmentally sound system.• Forest plantations (inspite of having a legacy of over a century) have not yet been able to

contribute to the wood supply.• There is very little improvement in harvesting and processing technology.• Extension forestry benefiting the homesteads producing trees and forest products in rural

areas is inadequate.• Forest-based industrial development is stagnant or deteriorating.• Community forestry projects produced some good results but there is no indication how to

achieve growth and development with public equity and true participation.• Coastal afforestation for stablizing accreted lands is successful, but there is need for a

clear and rational policy regarding the use of such lands.• Wildlife conservation and forest recreation potential are both badly neglected areas,

neither conserved nor fully utilized.

Plan team review clearly pointed out the need for resolving conflicts between forestry andother sectoral policies, such as agriculture, land use, livestock, fishing, irrigation, mining,industry, investment, finance, trade, taxes and fiscal regulations, tourism, transport, energy,urban development, social and community welfare, environment and nature conservation,science and technology and education.



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BANGLADESH’S FUTURE FOREST POLICY GOALS

Local Strengths

Evolving an approach to the future forest policy of Bangladesh considers the followingstrengths of the sector. All are significant factors contributing to the growth of the forestrysector, if adequately backed by appropriate policies and institutional mechanisms.

• Long tradition and history of forest management, even though there is currently a crisis.• National forest areas, combined with extensive government land and homestead areas, are

available to support biodiversity and environmental objectives.• A well trained core of professionals and technical staff, with expertise and experience,

whose performance can considerably improve under congenial conditions, exists.• Institutions exist for research, education and diversified training; and these can be

strengthened suitably.• There are supporting institutions outside the forestry sector, such as the national remote

sensing agency and Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC); and fruitfulcollaboration is possible.

• A good amount of science and technology related to forestry is available and suitable, afterremoval of administrative and financial restrictions.

• Tree consciousness on the part of millions of innovative farmers and homestead ownerswho make homestead forestry an important component of the forestry sector.

• Active and experienced Bangladesh NGOs support grassroots organizations and people’sparticipation through group formation, provide training and credit, and promoteafforestation and environmental conservation.

• Unconventional and innovative credit is available, Grameen Bank successfully promotessmall scale private investment in forestry.

• A wealth of unexploited traditional knowledge on the uses of non wood forest products, aswell as artisan and handicraft skills.

• Existing local administration and agricultural extension systems can considerably benefitforestry.

• Increasing recognition that market-orientation and more rural community involvement canfacilitate the creation and establishment of small-scale forestry enterprises.

• A hard working labour force is a valuable resource, providing cheap labour.• Relative homogeneity of the country in terms of language, culture, religion and ethnic

derivation.• Interest and willingness on the part of the political leadership, to embark on a course of

appropriate economic reforms is surfacing.

Policy Imperatives

In Bangladesh, three imperatives are critically identified, i.e. sustainability, efficiency andpeople’s participation; these reflect the national goals related to environmental conservation,economic development and social progress. These imperatives are in tune with the Agenda 21



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forest principles, adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment andDevelopment, held in Brazil.

Sustainability – A primary goal of sustainable development is to achieve and perpetuate areasonable and equitably distributed level of economic wellbeing for many humangenerations. The condition depends on: economic efficiency, equitable distribution ofdevelopment benefits and shares of scarce resources, non-economic social valuable, and anappropriate balance among them. Sustainability aims at inter-generational equity.

Ecologically, sustainability has two attributes in addition to equal harvests and regeneration:continued adaptability and capacity for renewal of plants, animals, soils and water; andmaintenance of biological diversity. It also implies acceptance of the irreplaceable andunknown values of wild plants and animals, and of the equity of watershed forests andwetlands. However, there is no market mechanism to value them adequately.

Basic Principals of Sustained Management

An attribute inherent in the sustainable management of renewable natural resources is that it should bebased on using income or interest and not on running down the capital. The rate of harvest of livingresources (e.g. forest or fish stock) should not exceed rates of regeneration. It also implies themaintenance, rational use and enhancement of the natural resource base that underpins ecologicalresilience and economic growth.

Sustained yield forest management, implies an approximate balance between net growth andharvest. In the present day context, this concept needs widening to incorporate both tangibleand intangible values; and optimization of both rather than maximizing wood yields.

Efficiency – An important function of the forest is the renewable production of goods andservices for human needs. Efficiency implies improving productivity (i.e. increasing outputper unit of input), reducing waste and indirect costs, or negative side effects. This registershigher economic rate of return in comparison with other alternatives. Areas set apart forproduction of timber and other products must be able to compete with other potential landuses – in economic, if not financial, terms. The same criteria should also apply to investmentsin other commercial forestry activities, as well as in processing of forest products.

People Participation – Participation of people is both an objective and means ofdevelopment. It is crucial in charting the course of forestry development in the right direction,and in ensuring its sustainability. A philosophy of a ‘people-based’ development from belowassumes that participation is not only a fundamental precondition for, a tool of, any successfuldevelopment strategy, but also is an end in itself. This unity of participation is implicit insustainable development policies. Forestry can facility, and benefit from, people’sparticipation in all facets and aspects.

POLICY OBJECTIVES AND FRAMEWORK

The long-term goal of the National Forest Policy of Bangladesh is to enhance the contributionof the forestry sector to the country’s ecology and economy. This goal is best explicitlydefined by specific categories of objectives and related policy measures. Depending on the



30

nature and scope of policy measures, sectoral conditions will change. Thus, achievement ofpolicy objectives depends on effective adoption and implementation of policy measures.Specific forest policy measures are proposed to:

• Effectively conserve, rehabilitate, replenish, expand, enhance, develop and manage theforest resources of the country, as a renewable national asset, to meet the vital needs offorest goods and services, for the benefit of all citizens of the country, now and in thefuture.

• Protect the land resource (all forest lands generally and watersheds particularly) againstdegradation by deforestation, soil erosion, shifting cultivation, landslides, floods, fire,grazing, and other natural and anthropogenic causes, and to enhance the protectionfunction of forests and trees.

• Protection of wild flora and fauna; conserve ecosystems, preserve biodiversity, maintainessential ecological processes and improve the environmental services of forests throughmaintenance, and, where necessary, restoration of ecological balance and establishment/enhancement of a nation-wide system of protected areas.

• Promote efficient and waste-free harvesting, processing, and utilization of forest products,in order to obtain increased net benefit/profit/rent or return on investment, thus facilitatingforest sector economic growth and increased export earning (through increased exports orimport substitution) of the country.

• Provide increased socio-economic benefits to the people of the country by contributing tothe basic needs of families, poverty alleviation, employment creation, income generationand better living conditions, and by supporting agricultural and rural development.

• Develop and support a network of appropriate and suitably linked institutions at differentlevels, consisting of public, private, corporate and cooperative sectors involved in forestry,each with its specific institutional policy and mission, legal instruments and financingmechanisms, and together capable of addressing the present and emerging issues andchallenges in a smooth and coordinated manner.

• Facilitate human resources development for forestry in qualitative and quantitative terms,including education, training and improvement of skills and capabilities.

• Promote and support goal-oriented forestry/forest products research, and improve researchcapabilities through adequate training, appropriate institutional restructuring and provisionof adequate incentives.

• Establish an effective system of forestry extension for disseminating new and improvedtechnology, research information and knowledge for the benefit of farmers and ruralcommunity, for arranging delivery of improved planting materials and for creating publicawareness about the roles and contributions of forestry.

• Establish an adequate and effective mechanism of coordination/cooperation with othersectors of Bangladesh economy having influence on forestry, and also with internationalagencies and institutions concerned with forestry development.



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SECTORAL ORGANIZATION

General Perspective

Before partition of India in 1947, Bangladesh forests were administered under Forest Circlesof the Bangal and Assem Forest Departments. From 1947 to 1962, the Provincial ForestDepartment was the authority with a Conservator of Forests, and subsequently until 1971 by aChief Conservator of Forests. With the formation of Bangladesh in 1971, reserved andproposed reserve forests passed to the Bangladesh Forest Department.

From 1971 to 1989, BFD fell under the Ministry of Agriculture. The Department enjoyedvarying interest in terms of attention from Government. For a brief spell, there was anInspector General of Forests, in addition to the Chief Conservation of forests, to coordinateforestry activities. During 1987-89, Forestry was a Division of Agriculture Ministry, with aSecretary to Government in charge of the Forestry Division. With the formation of the newMinistry of Environment and Forests, in 1989, it was transferred to this new Ministry.

Besides the Department, MOEF controls the Department of Environment, Bangladesh ForestIndustries Development Corporation and Bangladesh Forest Research Institute. MOEFoversees all environmental matters in the country and is a permanent member of the ExecutiveCommittee of the National Economic Council.

Private sector forestry is confined to ‘homestead forestry’ and small-scale (mainly sawmilling)enterprises. While their contribution to the sector is large, they are mostly outside the formalinstitutional system of the sector.

Forest Department Mission

The Forest Department, one of the oldest government organizations, has gone through severalreorganizations, but without much change in its structure since its early inception in a differentpolitical and administrative era.

Originally, its limited responsibilities were for managing and protecting State forests. Now it is alsoan agent for rural and social development and forest production.

Forest Department – Departmental structure is hierarchical. The Department is headed by aChief Conservator of Forests (CCF). At BFD’s headquarters, the CCF is assisted by threeDeputy Chief Conservators, responsible for development planning, forest extension, andforest management planning, respectively. Each Deputy is supported by an Assistant ChiefConservator. Reporting to the CCF, is also a Conservator of Forests (CF), who with theassistance of two Assistant Chiefs, is responsible for general administration and wildlife.Directors of the Forest Development and Training Centre and the Thana Afforestation andNursery Development Project are directly responsible to the CCF.

BFD’s field operations, consisting of six Circles headed by Conservators of Forests andconcerned with territorial forestry, come under the CCF’s direction. Each Conservator is in



32

charge of several forest divisions. Every division normally coincides administrative districts,and is under the charge of a Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), there are 37 Forest Divisions inthe country. Divisions divided into several forest ranges, controlled by Forest Rangers, who inturn are in charge of several beats, each under a Deputy Ranger or Forester. The total strengthof the Department at present is about 9,000 permanent staff. It also employees a large numberof labourers on a casual basis for its field activities.

BFD’s functional characteristics

Functionally, the Department is characterized by:

a centralized command and administrative structure which causes unacceptable decision delays andleads to inefficiency and debilitating indifference;use of power as a custodial and law enforcing agency enjoying the prerogatives of authority;emphasis on process rather than performance.

In the Pre-Independence days, the major function of the Department was policing to protectthe forests in its charge and to collect taxes and revenue. It thus worked to a relatively narrowmandate, under centralized administrative system and with closed decision making.

REORGANIZATION

Forest Department

In 1976, Altaf Ali Committee recommended a fundamental change by proposing a forestrycommission headed by the Minister as the Chairman and an officer, of the rank and status ofthe Secretary, as the Executive Vice Chairman. Beneath this were several autonomous boardsand corporations headed by a member of the forestry commission. The forestry boards,BFIDC and the Rubber Board were designated as autonomous and self-financing. Thesuggestion was to return 20% of the revenue collected by Government, with the rest ploughedback to approved plans and programmes. This proposal was not acted upon.

Experience in other countries

This shows that administrative bureaucracies are not the appropriate institutions to develop andmanage forestry enterprises; and that it is not rational to assign law enforcement and enterprisefunctions to one and the same agency. The attitudes and approaches needed to run an enterpriseprofitably and efficiently are very different from those suited to a law-enforcing bureaucracy.

Reorganization resulted form the Enam Committee report in 1983 and later in 1985 under theHuda Committee report. Both reports advocated an increase in the number of units and staffbut without basis for administrative reform. Administration remained as centralized as before.Subsequently, BFD made some internal proposals for strengthening in 1989. An AsianWetland Bureau report contained suggestions for strengthening the conservation capability ofthe Department; and World Bank included some reorganization/strengthening of BFD as acomponent of its Forestry III project.



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Proposed changes under the Forestry III project call for Chief Conservator of Forests, assistedby four Deputy Chief Conservators of Forests responsible for planning, forest managementand operations, extension, and environmental management, respectively; and a Conservator ofForests (CF) in charge of finance and administration. Field level changes provide eachConservator at least one Deputy. In addition, new offices established are a Conservator’soffice for supervising coastal plantations, a Management Plan Division for management planpreparation for the Sundarbans and coastal plantations; plus new two Forest Divisions formanaging sanctuaries, national parks and other protected areas.

The Fourth Five Year Plan recommended managing industrial forest plantations and forestestates like tree farming enterprises for specific end uses.

All prior proposals remain incomplete. A recent public announcement concerns a newDepartment of Social Forestry created by splitting the present Department. Full details andimplementation schedule are under further development and consideration by Government.

Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation (BFIDC)

BFIDC’s organizational situation is comparable to the Department’s, even though theCorporation legally started at the autonomous East Pakistan Forest Industries DevelopmentCorporation. The Corporation began in 1960, as a state owned company, for developingtimber-based activities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. It is now a semi-autonomous agencyunder the MOEF, owning 16 enterprises – two timber extraction units, 11 wood-basedindustrial units, and three board manufacturing plants. Many are inoperable or not profitable.It also has 11,700 hectares of rubber plantations spread over 12 estates of which over 5,000hectares are in production. BFIDC employs some 4,000 persons.

Opening Status – Because of raw material shortage and operating inefficiency, poorfacilities, storage of qualified staff, the Corporation’s plants operate well below capacity,around 40% in 1989/90, and around 30% in 1990/91. As a result, the Corporation incurredlosses amounting of Tk 37 million in 1989/90 and about Tk 50 million in 1990/91.

Despite its semi-autonomous status, deficiencies in the operational structure and controls, as apublic sector undertaking, make it difficult to run BFIDC as a business enterprise. Inflexibilityand rigidity, coupled with a lack of decentralization of delegation of decision powers,common in administrative bureaucracies, burden its operations. BFIDC lacks true autonomyand incentive to act, which breeds inefficiency. Old and worn-out equipment, lack ofmaintenance and investment in modernization, a disproportionately large labour force andmarketing inadequacies are common. Government is seriously considering the problemthrough public enterprise reforms encompassing investment, financial restructuring,institutional improvements and pricing policies. Constraints and the steady erosion of its rawmaterial base seriously undermine the viable functioning of BFIDC.

Rubber Development – The Corporation started its rubber plantation programme in 1962.The rubber plantation venture is promising and technically successful. However, productioncosts are high compared to the other rubber producing countries. BFIDC implemented rubberprojects are highly centralized and commercial orientation is lacking in the daily estateoperations. A decentralized management structure and autonomy is required for the efficient



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operation of the rubber estates, and to permit appropriate response to the changingrequirements unforeseen in approved budgets and work plans.

Recently, an Asian Development Bank review note that one of the main lessons emergingfrom the Rubber Rehabilitation project and past experiences is that a commercially-orientedcorporate approach to management is essential for Bangladesh’s emerging rubber plantationindustry. This approach requires additional improvement to BFIDC’s operational structure, agradual introduction of private sector orientation and ownership. As proposed by the Bank,this orientation is only possible after undertaking several financial restructuring actions allgeared to facilitate independent management and financial accountability.

Apart from establishing and managing its own rubber estates, BFIDC has responsibility tosupport development of private and small-holder rubber planting, including supply of inputsand extension. This is another area where the structure and limited autonomy of BFIDC makesit ineffective. Considering the need for efficiency in the rubber plantation and processingindustry, the Second Five Year Plan contained a proposal for establishing a fully autonomousRubber Board in Bangladesh. There has, however, been no action on this suggestion. Thepresent rubber development system, including all elements, needs review and improvement.

Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI)

BFRI is responsible for all aspects of forestry research covering silviculture, forestmanagement, forest protection, forest products development, environmental conservation andagroforestry. The Institute is headed by a Director who is supported by two Chief ResearchOfficers and Officers in charge of Research Divisions.

Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC)

BCIC, created in 1972, operates some of the industries abandoned during the liberation war. Italso incorporates industries managed earlier by other government corporations. BCIC is by farthe largest public sector corporation in Bangladesh and has two ongoing projects and 22enterprises under its control. It employs about 4,200 managerial and technical staff and about27,200 workers. It produces fertilizer, pulp paper, basic chemicals, cement, sanitary wares,insulators, glass sheets, rayon/viscose yarn, rayon staple fibre, cellophane, soap and cosmetics.The Corporation, which manages four pulp and papermills, a particleboard mill, a hardboardmill and four match factories, is controlled by the Ministry of Industries.

BCIC’s forestry operations are not doing well due to raw material constraints and otherreasons. The current accumulated loss of Khulna Newsprint Mill is about Tk 900 million.Other pulp and paper units are also afflicted with problems, particularly related to rawmaterial supply. Unless the raw material issue is solved, it is unrealistic to expect large- scaleinvestment.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING



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General

Along with specialization, other needs for emphasis are: bridging the gaps in knowledge andskills of technicians and sub-professionals; providing a comprehensive training programme atthe vocational level to improve productivity; establishing a regular and intensive programmeof upgrading in-service training and continuing education; establishing facilities for trainingpersonnel for forest industrial and business establishments; and making available trainedteachers and trainers.

Existing Facilities

Bangladesh has eight institutions offering education and training services in forestry. Untilrecently, Institute of Forestry of the Chittagong University (IFCU) was the only body in thecountry offering university level education in forestry. It enrols 40 national students and thereis provision for five foreign students. The course takes eight semesters, covering a period offour years and leads to a BSc (Honours) degree in Forestry. The Institute is contemplatingstarting a Masters degree course in Forestry. The newly established Khulna University starteda Forestry and Wood Technology discipline in 1992. This offers a four-year course leading toa bachelor’s degree with an intended average intake of 40 students annually. Also theBangladesh Agriculture University in Mymensingh has started a degree course in agroforestry.

The Bangladesh Forest Academy reconstituted as the Forest College at Chittagong, suppliesinservice training for the Forest Department. After strengthening, this will provide facilitiesfor three types of refresher courses:

• Orientation course for newly recruited professionals (six months).• Professional course for selected senior Forest Rangers (three months).• Refresher officer course (three months).

Sylhet Forest School, opened in 1948 is undergoing conversion into a Forest Guard TrainingCentre, Rajshahi Forest School, formerly accommodated 50 students with an output of 25 peryear and followed a two-year diploma course. With the introduction of three years diplomacourse, the annual input will drop down to 15 students. Chittagong Forest School is expectedto have an annual input of 50 foresters.

The Kaptai Forest Development and Training Centre (FDTC) provides vocation level trainingto workers with a yearly output of 300 trainees in:

• Basic logging, timber harvesting and road construction.• Equipment and maintenance.• Saw doctoring and sawmilling maintenance.• Extension forestry for rural development.

Extension training centres, located at nursery sites, under afforestation and nurserydevelopment, provide extension training throughout the country for plantation assistants.Additionally, BFIDC runs a training centre for rubber tappers in Chittagong.



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None of the above programmes are liked and are not based on any long term training needsassessment, but are derived from arbitrary decisions. Facilities available are generally poor,and there are none to meet the special training needs of forest industries or the large numberof people involved in forestry activities in the unorganized or informal sector.



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APPENDIX 1 - ABBREVIATIONS, TERMS AND CONVERSION FACTORS

ABBREVIATIONS

ADB - Asian Development BankADT - Airdry Metric TonneBARC - Bangladesh Agricultural Research CouncilBARI - Bangladesh Agricultural Research InstituteBBS - Bangladesh Bureau of StatisticsBCIC - Bangladesh Chemical Industries CorporationBCISR - Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial ResearchBFD - Bangladesh Forest DepartmentBFIDC - Bangladesh Forest Industries Development CorporationBFRI - Bangladesh Forest Research InstituteBSCIC - Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries CorporationCCF - Chief Conservator ForestsCF - Conservator ForestsCHT - Chittagong Hill TractsCIF - Cartage, Insurance and FreightDFO - Divisional Forest OfficerDOA - Department of AgricultureEIA - Environment Impact AssessmentEIRR - Economic Interval Rate of ReturnESCAP - Economic and Social Commission Asia PacificFAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsFDTC - Forest Development and Training CentreFEC - Foreign Exchange ComponentFYP - Five Year PlanFIRR - Financial Interval Rate of ReturnFMP - Forestry Master PlanFOI - Free on BoardFY - Financial YearGOB - Government of BangladeshHa - HectareIFCU - Institute of Forestry, Chittagong UniversityIRR - Internal Rate of ReturnKg - KilogramKHM - Khulna Hardboard MillKm - KilometreKm2 - Square KilometreKNM - Khulna Newsprint MillKPM - Karnafuli Paper MillKRC - Karnafuli Rayon ComplexKw - KilowattM - MetreM2 - Square MetreMAI - Mean Annual Increment



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Max - MaximumMin - MinimumMM - MillimetreMOEF - Ministry of Environment and ForestNBPM - North Bengal Paper MillNGO - Non Government OrganizationNo. - NumberNPV - Net Present ValuePDB - Power Development BoardREB - Rural Electrification BoardRF - Reserve ForestSPH - Stems Per HectareSPPM - Sylhet Pulp and Paper MillTk - TakaUNCED - UN Conference on Environment and DevelopmentUNDP - United Nations Development ProgrammeUSF - Unclassed State ForestVAT - Value Added Tax4WHD - 4 Wheel Drive

TERMS

Char - Land formation on rive bank on sea coastJhum - Shifting cultivationKhas - Land administered by the Bangladesh Revenue DepartmentKhetland - Low lying private landTaungya - Forest plantation establishment technique employing local people to raisetheir agricultural crops in association with tree plantations.

CONVERSION FACTORS

US$1 - Tk 38.9Tk - U$ 0.02571 m3 - 35.3147 cubic feet (27.7 cft Hoppus)1 cft (H) - 1.2732 cubic feet true1 cft(t) - one cubic food true solid volume1 km - 0.621 miles1 ha - 2.471 acres1 litre - 0.220 imperial gallonstonne - 1,000 kilograms



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APPENDIX 2 - AREAS UNDER NATIONAL PARK AND WILDLIFE SANCTUARYIN BANGLADESH (HA)

Division & Name National Park Wildlife Sanctuary TotalSundarbanEast 31,227South 36,970 1,39,699West 71,502DhakaBhawal 5,022 5,022Tangail Modhupur 8,438 8,438SylhetRema-Kalenga 1,795Companygonj Wetland NatureReserve

3,279 5,074

ChittagongChunati 7,761Hazarikhil 2,905Cox’s Bazar 10,666Mimchari 12,590 12,590Teknaf Game Reserve 11,615 11,615BholaChar Kukri Mukri 2,017 2,017NoakhaliNijum Dweep 2,885 2,885Chittagong Hill Tracts (North)Pablakhali 42,087 42,087Chittagong Hill Tracts (South)Rampahar-Sitapahar 3,026 3,026



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APPENDIX 3 – MANAGEMENT PLAN OF SRF

Consistently dropped and its use of Gewa during the period 1992-1996 dipped from 141,000cum. per year to about 63,000 cum. Gewa wood production during the last 4 months ofoperation at the time of the FRMP Socio-Economic Survey dropped from 1,275 MT in July tojust 476 MT in October, 1997. It is feared that KNM has lost its viability as a businessenterprise, probably due to ageing equipment and other inefficiencies, and if it folds up, thefuture is bleak for the more than 2,000 officers, technicians, staff and labourers it employs.

Table 1 Number of personnel employed in KNM (as of October 1997)

Category No. EmployedOfficer 164Staff 529Worker 1339School staff 71TOTAL 2103

Source: FRMP Socio-Economic Survey 1997

Table 2 Last 4 months production of KNM, 1997

Month Year QuantityJuly 1997 1275 MTAugust 1997 1215 MTSeptember 1997 691 MTOctober 1997 476 MT

Source: General Manager (Production) BCIC

It’s financial performance as shown in Table 3 has degenerated through the years its lastrecorded profit year was 1983-84. From then on, it has been consistently incurring heavylosses.

Table 3 KNM production, production cost, profit and loss

Year Quantity (MT) Production Cost in Lac Tk Profit (loss) in Lac Tk1983-1984 37765 6452.02 40.731984-1985 50851 7471.72 44.591985-1986 55100 8754.72 (561.60)1986-1987 50395 8468.20 (989.41)1987-1988 49859 8806.69 (220.23)1988-1989 47762 9090.69 (230.49)1989-1990 50465 10127.05 (504.95)1990-1991 50722 11077.13 (1490.81)1991-1992 48527 12081.02 (2871.22)1992-1993 49101 12097.81 (1474.56)Source: Background and Financial Performance for the Period 1983-84 to 1992-93, BCIC



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2. The Khulna Hardboard Mill (KHBM)

The Khulna Hardboard Mill was established by EPIDC in 1964 and went into trial productionin July, 1966 and commercial production in October 1966. It is a wood based industry underthe administration of BCIC. Before the moratorium on felling natural reserved forests, theKhulna Hardboard Mill obtained raw materials from brushwood of Sundri. During the last 7years of the moratorium period, KHBN’s raw materials were limited to the top dying Sundrisalvage gellings and substitute raw materials from elsewhere other than the Sundarbans.

The mill’s actual capacity is 21,500,000 SFT and its present capacity is 17,500,000 SFT. Thepresent raw material requirement for Sundri is slightly more than 11,000 cum. per year.

Table 4 Last 3 months production of KHBM (1997)

Month Year Quantity inMillion SFT

July 1997 0.828August 1997 1.463September 1997 1.361

Source: General Manager (Production) BCIC

3. Match Factories

There are two match factories in Khulna dependent on the Sundarbans. The presentarrangement for supply of raw material for match production is for KNM to transfer aproportions of its Gewa Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) to the match factories. The 1993/94Allocation was 8,500 cum. although this has not been fully utilized.

4. Sawmills

There are no less than 500 sawmills and pitsaws operating around the Sundarbans, employingsome 5,000 people and churning out some 250,000 cum. of sawntimber per year (Table 5).Before the moratorium, most of these sawmills were engaged in the conversion of Sundri logs.The moratorium and the shortage of Sundri logs has since made them turn to the processing ofdomestically grown timber and logs from other places.



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Table 5 Scale sawmilling and pitsawing enterprises

District Thana Sawmills Employees Volume (m3)Barisal Swarupkati

BarisalBholaJhalakhatiPirojpur

603868

25

3602283640

125

1519101600144

18106060

Khulna KhulnaSarankholaChandpai/MonglaBagergat

56393

406215520

36100108037901010

Dhaka Dhaka/Mirpur 6 60 2740Patuakhali Barhuna

Pathargata/Sada52

6037

27401050

221 1400 207424PitsawsBarisal Bhola

Swarupkhati10

11630

34870

32130Khulna Khulna

SatkhiraSarankholaChandpai/Mongla

53125251

159375705

9600430110

Patuakhali PathargataGalachipa

1010

4030

36290

350 1057 42666Source: Masson, 1994

The FRMP Socio-Economic Survey, 1997 conducted a survey of 15 industrial firms mostlysmall-scale furniture makers, but it also included match factories, KNM and KHBN. Two-thirds of the respondents claimed they were not operating at their rated capacity. Allrespondents cited lack of raw materials as a major problem and 50% attributed to poorequipment as a reason for operating below rated capacity. For sources of raw materials, 13.3%came from government forests, 60% from home-grown timber and 26.7% directly purchasedfrom the market. The respondents also claimed that 80% of their produce goes to the localmarket and 20% exported out of the district.

5. Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Service

Currently, there is no outdoor recreational facility existing in the region, like national parks,city park, botanical garden and zoological garden. However, the Sundarbans has been for quitesometime now a favourite ecotourism destination for foreign and local tourists. Every year,during the winter and spring seasons, tourists tour the Sundarbans by boat as a totally newexperience of communing with nature and exploring the various offerings of the Sundarbans.Tourists who have gone to the Sundarbans always speak of their memorable and rewardingexperiences. Evidently, the Sundarbans is a tourist’s delight. In addition to outdoor recreation,the Sundarbans has been for a long time serving as the main subject area of local andinternational botany and wildlife ecology students, researchers and scientists. Figure 9 showsthe route and destination of tourists in the Sundarbans. (Rosario, 1997)



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Outdoor facilities for tourists in the Sundarbans include the various guest houses establishedby the Forest Department over the area, the dormitory of the Bangladesh Port HarbourAuthority at Hiron Point, the quarters of the Bangladesh Naval Base also at Hiron Point, thedormitory of the Bangladesh Port Authority at Mongla, and a number of cruiser-boatsoperated by tour companies. At Khulna city, there are hotels where tourists can rest andprepare before proceeding to the Sundarbans. These facilities are not sufficient and do notgenerally cater to the needs and tastes of foreign tourists (Moss, 1994). As observed,Sundarbans Forests and Sanctuaries have several unique and interesting attributes fordomestic and international ecotourism. They must be harnessed to promote large scalesustainable tourism for the well-being of the country and people of Bangladesh.

The FRMP Forest Inventory estimates the quantity of Goran in the Sundarbans at 693,000metric tons, with the wildlife sanctuaries holding 249,000 metric tons or 40% and the rest ofthe Goran production areas holding 444,000 metric tons or 60%. The distribution of Goran byblocks is summarized as follows:

Table 6 Distribution of Goran Resources Based on FRMP Inventory

Block Weight of Goran (metrictons) in Compartmentswith less than 500 kg/ha

Weight of Goran (metrictons) in Compartmentswith at least 500 kg/ha

Total Goran inBlock (metric tons)

1 13,434 0 13,4342 4,408 57,204 61,6123 2,206 89,552 91,7584 8,837 0 2,8375A 0 34,590 34,5905B 1,208 43,789 44,9976 0 157,541 157,5417 0 122,723 122,7238 0 163,893 163,893SRF 24,094 669,291 693,385WS 2,206 246,902 249,108SRF-WS 21,888 422,390 444,277

All the most productive Goran compartments belong to the Satkhira Range and the rest arespread out among the other three ranges. Blocks 3, 7, 8 and 9 together hold 536,000 MT, ormore than three-quarters of the entire Goran resources of the Sundarbans. The wildlifesanctuaries, with a fifth of the land area, hold 36% of the entire resources. Some 422,000metric tons of utilizable Goran are available for harvesting from the Goran production areaswhich exclude 22 compartments with less than 400 Kg/Ha of stock.

Goran is harvested in so-called Goran coupes. A 20-year cutting cycle is used. Goran permitsare issued on a first-come-first served basis. A Goran permit holder assembles a team of about10 labourers who stay in the forest for a month or more while felling and loading the Goran onthe boats. For the period 1991-1996, officially reported Goran harvests are averaging at56,200 metric tons per year with the last three years averaging 62,400, indicating an increasingtrend.

The trend for Singra and other fuelwood has drastically decreased over the last five-years(averaging 12,328 metric tons with the highest recorded in 1991-92 at 28,434 metric tons).



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The average over the last three years is only 2,746 metric tons. The 1995-96 harvest is lessthan 1,000 metric tons. Unfortunately, there are no specific results for other fuelwood (exceptGoran) from FRMP inventory. Testimonies of Goran woodcutters (Bowalis) during a 1997participatory workshop conducted by the ADB-funded Biodiversity Conservation of the SRFteam of consultants, bewailed the rapid dwindling of Singra, a highly prized fuelwood species.

Golpatta resource study was recently completed by FRMP and the results form the first trulycomprehensive estimate of this valuable resource.

Golpatta is harvested in seven annual coupes during the months of November to March. Theprescribed practice of harvesting is to remove all but two leaves, the young emerging leaf andone supporting leaf. Fruiting Golpatta are not supposed to be distributed, but this is rarelyobserved by the gatherers (known as Bowali). Golpatta regenerates by coppice and by seeds. Ittakes about five years for seed-grown Golpatta to become harvestable. Golpatta is a favouredthatching material for light construction, boat use, and weaving. Officially recorded harvestsof Golpatta over the period 1991-1996 had been averaging at 67,000 metric tons per year withthe last three years averaging 65,500 indicating a more or less constant trend. In Table 7, theFRMP Golpatta studies indicate that there are some 90,000 metric tons of utilizable Golpattain areas outside the wildlife sanctuaries. The annual level of production is consistent with thisfigure since it is expected that a considerable quantity is lost to under-measurement andpilferage and some utilizable materials are left untouched in poorly stocked areas.

Table 7 Distribution of Golpatta Resources Based on FRMP Inventory

Block Green Weight of Golpatta(metric tons) Wildlife

Sanctuaries

Green Weight ofGolpatta (metric tons)

Production Areas

Green Weight ofGolpatta (metric tons)

All Sundarbans1 0 11,236 11,2342 0 11,414 11,4143 7,680 15,129 22,8094 0 14,169 14,1695A 0 4,937 4,9365B 0 13,450 13,4506 8,130 16,294 24,4247 619 4,782 5,4018 6,047 0 6,047TOTAL 22,477 91,411 113,888

Appendix E.5.4 provides details of the distribution of Golpatta resources by compartment,block, salinity zone, range, and coupe. As expected, the least productive compartments arethose in the saltwater zone with slightly more than 4.0 metric tons per kilometre of rivers. Inthe rest of the fresh water and mild saltwater zones, the rate ranges from 9.7-12.3 metric tonsper kilometre of rivers.

The wildlife sanctuaries hold less than 20% of the utilizable stock. For the rest of theSundarbans, some 91,000 MT are available for harvesting.

6. Hantal



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Hantal (Phoenix paludosa) is a small, straight and slender palm commonly found throughoutthe Sundarbans. It can attain a height of 5-6 meters and sometimes forms pure and densestands along riverbanks, or as undergrowth in sparsely wooded areas. It reproduces by seeddispersal and also from root suckers (Karim, 1995). It is commonly used as fence and houseposts and as rafters and purlins. In construction, it is a light, relatively strong and durablematerial (Mitchell 1995b).

The declining trend in reported harvests for Hantal is evident with the last five years averaging5,500 metric tons and the last three years at only 1,250 metric tons. Unfortunately, there are noimmediately available data on the extent and distribution of this resource.

Grasses

There are three main types of grasses in the Sundarbans:

1. Malia grass (Cyperus javanicas) – grow along canals and in the low-lying interior of theSundarbans. It is used in the manufacture of mats.

2. Nal grass (Eriochloea procera) – grows along river banks and on newly accreted charlands is used for the production of baskets and rice containers (shajees, dhamas and dola).

3. Ulu grass (Imperata cylindrica) – grows throughout the Sundarbans in higher and drierareas. It is used mainly as a thatching material.

These grasses are mainly used by poorer sectors of the population for house construction andas raw material for marketable finished products (mats, baskets, rice containers).

Grass harvests over the last five years are relatively steady, averaging 4,900 metric ton withthe last three years averaging 4,700 metric tons. Since these grasses normally have an annualcycle, failure to harvest results in loss of potential revenues. Besides, harvesting of Sungrasswill encourage the growth of tender shoots which are suitable forage for wildlife and they areused by the poorer sectors of the local population. Resource estimates of grasses are notavailable.

Honey and Bee’s Wax

Honey and bee’s wax are high value products that co-exist with the natural forest cover of theSundarbans. There is no comprehensive resource information about honey and bee’s wax inthe Sundarbans. The reported average extraction of honey during the years 1991-1996 standsat 139 metric tons per annum, with the last three years averaging 117 metric tons. For bee’swax, the average extraction rate over the same five year period was 35 metric tons per year,and the last three years averaging 29 metric tons. These figures, in the absence of betterresource information, should be taken as an indication of the general decline in availableresources.

Honey and bee’s wax collection is permitted only two months a year – from the end of Marchto the end of May, considered to be the peak period of honey production. A permit holderusually assembles a team of 9-10 experienced honey gatherers (Mowalis) who stay inside theforest for the entire duration of the harvest season.



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64% fuelwood consumption goes to domestic uses and the rest to industrial use. Fuelwoodcomes from both agricultural and forestry sources. In the absence of credible estimates of thecontribution of each source, it is believed that at least 80% of all fuelwood comes fromagricultural sources.

The 1998 national demand and supply of sawlogs, pulpwood, and poles were projected by theBangladesh Forestry Master Plan (1993) as shown in the tables below:

Table 8 Projected Demand for Roundlogs (1,000 cum.)

Year Sawlogs Pulpwood Poles Total1988 5,148 321 285 5,7542000 5,335 344 291 5,9702005 5,813 403 305 6,5212010 6,323 467 319 7,109Annual Avg. Increase (%) 1.93 3.82 0.98 1.99

Based on linear interpolation of 2000, 2005 and 2010 figures

Table 9 Projected Supply of Roundlogs (1,000 cum.)

Year Sawlogs Pulpwood Poles Total1988 1,364 344 153 1,8612000 1,391 400 151 1,9422005 1,495 487 177 2,1592010 1,686 507 249 2,422Annual Avg. Increase (%) 2.27 3.37 6.23 2.80

Based on linear interpolation of 2000, 2005 and 2010 figures

Despite the higher growth rates of the supply-side versus the demand, the quantitative supplygap in each case (except pulpwood) is huge. For total roundlogs, supply in the year 2010 willstill be 45% short of demand.

Against these national projections, the supply contribution of the Sundarbans Reserved Forestin meeting demand may be presented as follows:

Table 10 Contribution of SRF to Wood Supplies (Volumes in cum.)

Year Roundlogs FuelwoodNational SRF SRF % National SRF SRF%

1988 1,861,000 74,400 4.00 6,494,000 10,216 0.162000 1,942,000 74,400 3.83 6,629,000 10,216 0.152005 2,159,000 144,000 6.67 6,983,000 17,252 0.252010 2,422,000 159,600 6.54 7,616,000 17,962 0.24



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Table 11 Estimate of Local Demand for Roundlogs and Fuelwood (Volumes in cum.)

Year Roundlogs FuelwoodDemand* Prod’n Supply Gap Demand* Prod’n Supply Gap

1998 122,600 74,400 48,200 192,700 10,200 182,5002000 127,200 74,400 47,800 199,600 10,200 189,4002005 139,000 144,000 -5,000 217,000 17,300 199,7002010 151,500 159,600 -8,100 235,000 18,000 217,000

*Demand estimates based on national per capita demand applied to local population.

Sundarbans share in the production of roundlogs will rise from 4% to 6.5% of national figuresas soon as the moratorium is lifted, whence the SRF districts are expected to become self-sufficient and net exporter of roundlogs. However, fuelwood production will not be sufficientto meet local demand.

SRF round log contribution sums up all the Sundri, Gewa, Keora, Passur, Kankra, Baen,Dhundal, and other timber species in the form of annual allowable cuts calculated in ChapterVII. Fuelwood contributions include Goran and crown wood expected from the felling of theabove timber species.

Harvest Plan for Goran

In the absence of comprehensive growth information about Goran on a compartment basis, aharvest and growth analysis, similar to that for Gewa and Sundri, cannot be supplied. The planis to apply a strict area control on compartments that have significant amounts of Goran basedon the FRMP Inventory. Low-yielding compartments 1, 2, 13, 15, 21, 22, 23, 25-37, 39, 40, aswell as all the wildlife sanctuaries, were excluded from the so-called “Goran ProductionAreas” or GoPAs, totalling 202,207 hectares.

Using area control, this represents an annual cutting area of 10,110 hectares or 50,552 hectaresfor each of the four five years in the 20-year harvest plan. These felling areas are thendistributed among the four ranges as follows:

Table 12 Area Distribution of Goran Resources

Range Goran Area (ha) Annual CoupeSarankholaChandpaiKhulnaSatkhiraWinter Fishermen

50,21525,58947,65278,75122,503

2,5111,2792,3833,9381,125

(Comp 8 & 45)

Individual felling schedules for each range are provided in the following tables. Theseschedules are planned in such a way that contiguous compartments are scheduled together inone period and that spillover areas from one period to the next period will likewise gotogether with the next cluster of compartments to be felled. Likewise, the felling history ofeach compartment was also considered and as much scheduling as possible followed the duedate for each compartment. However, in a few cases, some compartments had to be scheduled



48

one period earlier than their due date or postponed one period in order to accommodate thecontiguity consideration earlier mentioned.



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APPENDIX 4 - FOREST HARVESTING CODE OF PRACTICE IN BANGLADESH

Bangladesh has three major types of forests, i.e., hill forests, inland sal forests and tidalforests. Hill forests of Bangladesh are located in Chittagong Hill Tract North and Southdivisions, Chittagong division, Cox’s Bazar division and Sylhet forest division. Thesilvicultural system clear felling, followed by artificial regeneration, is adopted in hill forest.The rotation is varied with the species.

Hill forests harvesting code: all the harvesting is done by open auction but separately for treesand bamboos. All auction activity is controlled by the respective Divisional Forest Officer.The pre-enlisted Mahaldar can only participate in tendering.

The area which will be felled is divided into different lots depending on quality and quantityof trees. The tenderers have to submit a separate tender for each lot.

Tender is invited for cutting of trees from a lot, converting them to logs, transporting it up to adepot and making lots for auction, according to the direction of the forest authority.

The tenderer who succeeded in auction has to submit a list of his all workers, agents,watchers, drivers or any other person in favour of him with their permanent address and threecopies of the certificate from the concerned chairman and entering permission shall be takenfrom Divisional Forest Officer to go and work in the forest area. Permission shall be taken forany replacement.

The succeeded tenderer shall have submitted a list of equipment and tools like dao, axe, saw,vehicle, etc. which will be used to implement the work and permission for using theequipment and tools shall be taken from DFO.

The tenderer will cut only pre-marked trees from a lot at the maximum stamp height fourinches (4”) by using cross cut saw. The branches of the trees shall be cut so deliberatelymaking the bole smooth. The cut trees will be topped where the girth is twelve inches (12”) bymewing cross cut saw.

The cut trees will be logged according to the direction of the authority and the desirable lengthof the log is 14’, 12’, 7’ or 5’. At the big end, each log shall be marked with log number andtree number with digit, the tree number shall be laid above the log number. Log number andtree number shall be written at both ends of each log by using red paint. Log length and loggirth shall be written opposite to the log number at both ends of each log. Log girth ismeasured at the middle of each log where debarked. Tree numbers must be digital on thestump of the tree. The prescribed silvicultural system in this type of forest is clear fellingfollowed by artificial regeneration with valuable species with a rotation of 40 years (longrotation) and 18 years (short rotation).

The cut branches whose minimum length five feet (5’) and girth at small end one foot (1’)must be treated as a log. The rest are cut branches whose minimum girth six inches (6”) shallbe used as fuelwood. All branches (fuelwood) shall be cut to a desirable length and arrangedin a lot in the depot and marked by hammering (now it is banned for the time being).



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Hill Forest Harvesting Code

In some forest areas, trees are sold by direct auction. In this system, felling coupe and trees aremarked and the trees which have been listed for felling is labelled by the marking hammer.Two markings for each tree is done, first marking on its stump and second marking on d.b.h.So after felling trees can be easily identified according to their stumps. Branches are removedand the logs are produced according to desired length. Logs produced from a tree have a serialnumber, are marked and log length/girth is recorded as stated before. The standing treemarking is done by forest authority but other activities are done by succeeded purchaser. Logsare then transported to the depot where they are marked by sale hammer by forest authorityfinally the purchaser is allowed to move the logs with transit pass issued by forest authority.

Harvesting Code of Bamboo

Forest bamboo is harvested by tendering and all activity is controlled by the Divisional ForestOfficer. Tenders are invited to sell the bamboo Mahal. Bamboos are harvested by selectivefelling of nature bamboo with 3-4 year cutting cycle.

Any young bamboo cutting is strictly prohibited. Moreover, 4 mature bamboos must beretained in each clump with young bamboos. Special care shall be taken during cutting ofmature bamboos so that it does not damage any young bamboos, stump height will not bemore than one foot (1’). Bamboo harvesting is prohibited in growing season of young bamboowhich ranges from 16 June to 15 August in each year.

All cut bamboo shall be stocked at the depot and shall be checked by concerned the ForestOfficer. The depotted bamboo shall be moved anywhere with a ‘Transit Pass’ which is issuedfrom the concerned forest office.

The Sunderban Forests

The tidal forests are managed under selection cum improvement system followed by naturalregeneration with a felling cycle of 20 years. This felling cycle of 20 years is still maintainedtoday although the harvestable diameter for the main species have been lowered. Due to overfellings and felling of smaller diameter class trees during the liberation war and subsequently,the composition and structure of Sunderbans has changed from that of a typical selectionforest. The top drying and dying of Sundri trees, a serious damage to the forest, has aggravatedthis problem. In order to restore the normalcy needed for a selection type of forest, severerestrictions on the felling of smaller sized trees for fuelwood are required.

The major species in Sundarbans, are Sundri (Heritiera fomer), Gewa (Excoecariamekongensis), Keora (Sonneratia apetala), Baen (Avicennia officinalis), Kakra (Bruguieragymnorrhiza), Goran (Ceriops decandra), Golpata (Nypa fruticans), etc.

General Marking and Felling Code

Felling coupe is divided into sections of 40 acres. The trees of exploitable diameter and allunsound, badly shaped and defective trees are marked. Marking is done by forest authorityitself. The trees which will be felled would be hammer-marked at a height of 4 feet and 6inches, and at the base. The base mark should be as low down as possible in order to



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economize timber. In order to prevent theft, each section should be marked with a hammerdissimilar to those used in the adjoining sections.

After a coupe has been marked, the trees, as listed, should be sold by auction section bysection. Purchasers fell all the marked trees and make into logs. All logs are digital markedaccording to the tree number. Before loading their marked logs and poles into boats,purchasers will spread them out on ghats on the banks of rivers and khais, the coupe officerwill check the hammer marks, and mark the logs on the battered part with the passinghammer.

Sundri Harvesting Code

The silvicultural treatment prescribed is the selection system, along with restricted thinningsand stand improvement removals. The merchantable diameter limits set for site qualities I, IIand III are 12” (29 cm), 9” (22 cm), 8” (19 cm) d.b.h. and above respectively. Felling cycle 20years.

In the process of cutting, the annual coupe is divided into sections of approximately 40 acreseach by making north-south and east-west lines 20 chains apart. All unsound, badly shaped,top dying or otherwise defective trees are marked provided their removal does not create apermanent gap. The main felling operations consisting of removal of trees marked aboveexploitable diameter and thinning operation are carried out during the year in which the coupeis prescribed to be worked. After the sections are worked for main felling, subsidiary fellingfor fuel by thinning starts. In order to prevent theft, each section is marked with a hammerdifferent from that used in the adjoining sections. Similarly, different hammers are used inthinning marking for subsidiary felling in different areas. After completion of main felling andsubsidiary in a coupe, it is opened for removal of brush wood and dry fuelwood.

In the allocation of Sundri fellings, priority must be given to the salvaging of Sundri affectedby top-dying. The allocation should favour the removal of such material, however, not to theextent of clear felling an area. The marking of this material should not exceed the following:

Dead: All standing dead trees where present will be marked for removal for fuelwood. Wherethe marking of dead stems for felling exceeds 10 stems/acre (25 ha) in any coupe the markingof this material must be certified by the Divisional Forest Officer.

Dying: Stems with greater than 75% of the crown affected by top dying may be marked forfelling up to a maximum of 10 stems/acre (25 ha) in any one coupe if no standing dead treesare present for marking. During marking of dead trees, creating large openings in the forest isavoided.

The marking, felling, logging and transporting of dead and dying trees is done by the ForestDepartment itself. After reaching depots, the logs are sold by open auction. The branches upto a certain girth are used by Khulna Hard Board Mill and the rest of the branches are used asfuelwood.

Gewa Harvesting Code



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The harvestable diameter limits set for pulp material are 4.6” (12 cm) d.b.h. and over and forthe matchwood are 6” (15 cm) d.b.h. and over. Felling cycle 20 years.

The annual allowable cut for Gewa has been set at 3.2 million cu.ft. per annum with aminimum diameter limit of 12 cm until better site and growth data is available forrecalculation. The harvesting is done by the mills authority itself through any agencysponsored by it, following working and felling plans.

When a purchaser buys any lot and would like to keep the logs in his custody for a while, theDivisional Forest Officer issues a hammer for purchaser for a certain period. This hammer isused for his logs and properly called hammer.

Inland Sal Forest Harvesting Code

The inland Sal forest (Shorea robusta) forests, mainly in Dhaka, Mymenshing and TangailForest Division were worked under a coppice system, with a rotation of 25 years. Areashaving a lower proportion of Sal trees were managed under a clear felling system followed byartificial regeneration mainly with Sal and other species.

Keora Harvesting Code

The silvicultural treatments prescribed are: (a) selection system with a harvestable diameterlimit 11.6” (30 cm) d.b.h. and over, in the pure Keora stands and the removal of dead anddying stems; and (b) clear felling of the residual stands of the Keora where the understory iswell established.

Harvesting Code for Goran

Goran felling is done in two stages: (i) felling for selected Goran poles, (ii) felling forfuelwood and singling of coppice materials felling of Goran for poles and fuelwood should becompleted during the period between completion of marking for Sundri and other species andfelling of the marked trees. During extraction one shoot is left in each branch.

Harvesting Code of Golpata

Exploitation should not be allowed in any area more than once in a year and cutting ofGolpata should not be allowed during the months of June, July, August and September whichis the growing period. The unopened central leaf and the leaf next to it in each clump must beretained. All dead and dry leaves will be cut at the time of cleaning the clumps. Flower andfruits should in no way be distributed at the time of cutting leaves. Sample plots must not bedisturbed. Purchasers must not be allowed to cut leaves which they do not intend to utilize.Young plants only on utilizable leaf should not be cut.

Miscellaneous Prescriptions

The species baen, dhundol and Kakra will be marked in the coupes annually allocated for theSundri working circle according to a diameter limit selection system. The minimummerchantable diameter limits used would be (i) Baen, site quality 1-22” (56 cm) d.b.h. andabove; site quality 2-18” (46 cm) d.b.h. and above, site quality 3-14” (36 cm) d.b.h. and above



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(ii) Dhundol – 6” (15 cm) d.b.h. and above (iii) Kakra – 8” (20 cm) d.b.h. and above. Thefelling of passur will continue to be prohibited.

Transit Rules for Sundarban Division

i. No person shall cut or convert any timber in any Reserved or Protected Forest in theSundarbans of Khulna district without a pass.

ii. The transit of forest produce through any water way or landway is prohibited without apass.

iii. Any person who cuts or converts timber in any forest is obliged to produce his passwhenever called upon by any Forest Officer or police officer to examine the produce.

iv. The pass issued shall be in the form of a permit that authorizes cutting and removal offorest produce through a specified route.

v. An Officer-In-Charge of a Forest Revenue or a checking station can issue passes beingauthorized by Conservator of Forests.

vi. For any transhipped or landed forest produce in the district of Khulna, Jessore, shallpermit ordered by any Forest or Police Officer, shall desist from such moving or landingbetween sunset and sunrise.

vii. No person shall transport any piece of Sundri or Passur timber which does not have theForest Department transit or sale mark by river or by land in any part of Khulna, Jessoredistricts without the permission in writing of a Forest Officer employed in the SundarbanDivision not below the rank of Extra Assistant Conservator of Forests.

viii. The above rates are not applicable to the species which does not grow in Sunderban.

Using of Hammer in Harvesting

Hammers are used for marking, felling, selling, seizing, passing and declaring property forany. Depending on the use, they also have their own name, i.e. marking hammer, sellinghammer, seizing hammer, passing hammer and property hammer.

A marking hammer is used in felling operation. It is used as digit number. It is given both onstump and log. For example, when a tree is numbered 5 and it produces 3 logs, the logs wouldbe numbered like 5/1, 5/2 & 5/3.

A seizing hammer is used for any felled log which is illicitly felled or which has no owner orwhich is seized from illicit fellers. After seize, it becomes the property of the government.After seizing its length and girth is measured.

A passing hammer is used for passing the logs through the forest up to the depot.

A sale hammer is used when any lot is auctioned then all the logs of that lot are marked withsale hammer. Sometimes a seize hammer is used as a sale hammer.



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APPENDIX 5 - HAND-OUT FOR THE SEMINAR-WORKSHOP ON THE DRAFTFINAL REPORTS: FRMP FOREST INVENTORIES10 February 1998

Scope/Coverage: Management inventory of eight Forest Divisions: The SRF, 4 C/ADivisions and Sylhet, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar Forest Divisions.

Objectives: (a) To generate forest resources (trees, poles, saplings, seedlings, bamboo, andGolpatta) statistics for forest management planning purposes, (b) to provide “abstract time-series” data for plantation yield/growth modelling, whenever possible, and (c) to set up asystem or at least provide a basis for setting up a system of “hidden”/unmarked sample plotsfor continuous monitoring and assessment of change on the forest/other resources of the targetforest divisions.

Target precision/sampling errors of the estimates: The sampling design specifications wereguided by the following target precision of estimates at the division and stratum levels: upperlimit of 5% sampling error (division level) based on tree volume; upper limit of about 10 to15% sampling error for each of the more important strata and species groups, and about 20%for the other strata. These target precision levels apply to the major divisions: SRF and the 3Hill Forest Divisions (Sylhet, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar). In the case of the 4 C/ADivisions, the upper limit for the sampling error, also based on tree volume, is 10% at thedivision level and about 15 to 20% at the stratum level at least for the main stratum and treespecies. To try and attain the higher precision levels would double the time and resourcerequirements of the field sampling work in the C/A Divisions, time and resources that werenot available.

Sample size (n): The following sample sizes were determined to achieve the target precisionlevels. Also shown are the actual samples sizes, na, and samplings errors that were attained atthe Division level.

Division SRF Sylhet Cox’xBazar

Chtg ChtgC/A

Noak’li Bhola Patuak’li

N 1277 1162 1017 1120 374 716 328 293Est’d area 401632 32173 49319 53266 12535 24027 11022 9835Na 1143 1084 1158 1088 408 289 225 168Area, ha(Forest)

399470 41565 49482 73822 20042 34223 12420 9848

SE % 2.5 4.8 3.4 9.0 18.3 7.1 10.5 10.7SE = sampling errorSRF = Sundarban Research Forest

Sampling design and the sampling unit: For 3 reasons, systematic sampling was adopted forthe FRMP forest inventories (a) stratified random sampling was not feasible because forestmapping was not yet completed during the design phase, hence, definite/specific strata couldnot be identified and precise stratum areas were not available; (b) a set of systematic sampleplots provides a good base for a continuous/recurrent change monitoring and assessmentsystem; and (c) systematic sampling is simpler to implement in the field. Equal probabilitysampling was used in the SRF (sampling units were in one-minute grid) and C/A plantations



55

(20” grid) while unequal probability sampling was considered more suitable to the hill forestdivisions, primarily due to the large differences in areas of the forest types. The basic grid was40” x 40” with different strata having different grids, e.g. 10” x 10”, 20” x 10”, 20” x 20” and40” x 20”, depending upon the area, relative importance and variability of the stratum. Thesampling unit was a plot cluster made up of 5 plots/sub-plots, a set of centre plots/sub-plotsand 4sets of plots/sub-plots situated 100 m from the centre plot along the 4 cardinal directions(see below). Instead of 100 m, 50 m was used in the bamboo forest, SRF and C/A plantationsdue to the relative difficulty of movement in these areas. A set of plots/sub-plots consists ofseveral plots/sub-plots, one each for seedlings (1 m radius), saplings (2 m), poles (5 m), trees(11 m), bamboo Muli (5 m), plantation bamboo (11 m), other/small steam bamboo (2 m),rattan with less than 3 m long stem (2 m) with 3 m or longer stem (5 m), medicinal plants (2m), Golpatta seedlings (2 m) and Golpatta (5 m).

Sampling procedure/instructions: After the sampling design was completed and approved,the detailed sampling procedures and instructions were prepared in June/July 1995.

Field sampling: Training of field crews started in October in 1995 with ACFs are crewleaders recruited for the field work. Thereafter, field sampling started in Sylhet, SRF,Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar. The field sampling activities were under the direct supervisionof the concerned DFOs-WP. The regular field sampling activities were completed in May1997.

Data entry/validation: A data entry and validation program (DEVP) was designed starting inDecember 1995. The first working prototype was ready in early May 1996 for entry and initialvalidation of the data gathered up to the end of the field work season in May 1996. Data entryand initial validation activities were also the responsibility of the DFOs-WP. Data entry andinitial validation activities were finally completed starting with Sylhet in May 1997,Surdarbans in August and the other Divisions in September 1997.

Tree volume equations studies: In cooperation with BFRI Researchers, the volume equationsfor Acacia auriculiformis (Akashmoni), Acacia mangium, and Eucalyptus camadulensis wereimproved through (a) the collection of additional data particularly bigger DBH trees that werenot available when the original equations were developed and (b) re-specification of thevolume equations. In addition, new tree volume equations were also developed for SRF trees:Sundri, Gewa, Koera, Baen, Kankra, Passur and Dhundul due to the apparent bias of theequations used in ODA inventory in 1983-85. In addition, volume and weight equations werederived for Goran as well as weight equations for Golpatta leaves.

Data processing: A fielding data processing program (FDPP) was also designed anddeveloped specially for the FRMP forest inventories. FDPP was ready to process valid data inMay 1997. Data processing started as soon as data entry and initial validation was completed,the FI databases were received from the DFO-WPs concerned, and after final check/validationof the database by the FIS and Computer Programme. Data processing to generate the requiredstatistics and other information needed in integrated forest management planning that can beprovided by the forest inventories have been completed.

The forest resources statistics and databases: The draft final reports on the forestinventories of the 8 Forest Divisions have been submitted. These include the detailed standand stock tables for trees by DBH class and species/species group: no. of trees, basal area and



56

volume per ha and for the whole division as well as by stratum, forest type, compartment,block, and range. The detailed statistics on seedlings, saplings, and pole as well as Golpatta(in SRF) and bamboo area also included.

In addition to the results of the forest inventories being produced in the traditional hardcopies, they are also available in digital form as dbf files which are consistent with the RIMS-GIS database, hence, these can be integrated into the RIMS-GIS quite easily. All the forestinventory data that were collected in the field and entered into the Forest Inventory databaseare also stored in the computer and are available for future reference and use.

The results, in general terms: The following tables give in broad terms the major findings ofthe FRMP forest inventories.

Statistics SRF Noakhali Ctg C/A Bhola Patuak’liArea, ha 399470.00 34223.00 20042.00 12420.00 9848.00Sample size 1143.00 289.00 408.00 225.00 168.00NT/ha, 15+cm dbh 144.70 172.00 10.00 58.00 156.00BA/ha (sqm), 15+cm dbh 5.38 5.26 0.29 1.96 5.86Vol/ha (cum) 15+cm dbh 27.40 25.69 1.02 9.31 36.40SE % 2.50 7.40 18.30 10.50 10.70Seedlings/ha 33120.00 13360.00 15228.00 641.00 5840.00Saplings/ha 7469.00 3151.00 2202.00 185.00 967.00Poles/ha 1120.00 1696.00 700.00 462.00 511.00Golpatta/ha 7955.00 - - - -Wt. Leaves/ha (tons) 14.60 - - - -Areas of Golpatta, ha 7797.00 - - - -

Statistics Sylhet, NF SylhetPlant’ns

Cox’s B,NF

Cox’s B,Plant’ns

ChittagongNF

ChittagongPlant’ns

Area, ha 23693.00 17871.00 30398.00 19084.00 59679.00 14143.00N 279.00 726.00 544.00 444.00 548.00 251.00NT/ha 56.00 133.00 80.00 67.00 13.00 42.00BA/ha 5.39 6.91 8.97 3.52 1.32 2.25Vol/ha 53.20 37.64 74.36 19.68 10.87 11.32SE % 7.10 3.60 3.80 6.70 10.90 11.60Seedlings 5790.00 2940.00 4888.00 4288.00 735.00 615.00Saplings 737.00 607.00 1401.00 1092.00 323.00 362.00Poles 241.00 602.00 339.00 696.00 151.00 379.00NT = No. of treesNF = Natural forest

Conclusion and recommendation: The FRMP forest inventories of the eight forest divisionshave generated the desired results as evidenced by the sampling errors of the tree volume andother estimates. The division-wide sampling errors of the volume estimates are less than thetarget precision of 5% sampling error in SRF, Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar. The sampling error inChittagong is higher (9.0%) because the forests there are unusually fragmented and have veryhigh variability. In the C/A plantations, the sampling errors (7.4 to 10.7%) are also within thetargets, except in Chittagong where the stands are highly variable. In general, the samplingerrors at the stratum level are also within the designed targets of the forest inventory. TheENRS (Extended Natural Resources Survey) which independently collected, handled, entered



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and analyzed their own data has confirmed the results of the FRMP inventory. Moreconvincingly, in SRF, a validation re-survey of 56 plot clusters that were drawn at randomwith emphasis on the Gewa and Gewa Sundri forest types, showed a difference of less thanone-half percent in the total volume of the 56 plot clusters when compared with the results ofthe regular enumeration. The validation re-survey which was participated in by representativesof the DFO (Khulna) and KNM (Khulna Newsprint Mill) measured only three plots percluster while the regular sampling enumerated five plots per cluster. Thus, it can be concludedthat the statistics presented in this report are valid and represent the true picture on the ground.They are also quite adequate for forest management planning purposes.

The tree resources of the SRF had decreased dramatically over the last 37 years from theFORESTAL inventory in 1959 to the ODA inventory in 1983 and the FRMP inventory in1996. Estimates of the three inventories show that Sundri had decreased from 211 trees/ha in1959 to 125 in 1983 and 106 in 1996 in the whole SRF based on 15-cm+ dbh trees, or about50% over the 37-year period. In the case of Gewa, the number of trees/ha had decreased from61 in 1959 to 35 in 1983 and only 20 in 1996, or a decrease of about 67% for the same period.In terms of all tree species, the decrease had been from 296 in 1959 to 180 in 1983 and 144 in1996, or about 51% over the 37-year period. The picture is a little worse if the 10-cm+ dbhtrees are considered. The decrease in number of Sundri trees/ha in the SRF in this case hadbeen from 511 in 1959 to 296 in 1983 and 215 in 1996, or a decrease of about 58% over the37-year period. The case of Gewa and all species is similar. Gewa decreased from 345 in 1959to 224 in 1983 and 153 trees/ha in 1996, or a decrease of 55% over the same period. For alltree species, the decrease was from 952 in 1959 to 557 in 1983 and 398 trees/ha in1996, or adecrease of about 58% for the 37-year period. From the standpoint of sustainable productionof the two major species, the trend over the 37-year period is certainly a cause for alarm andhas to be addressed immediately and effectively. This is a major challenge for the on-goingforest management planning activity and implementation of said plan by the concernedauthorities. From the standpoint of vegetative cover, 144 trees/ha (15-com+ dbh) or 398trees/ha (10-cm+ dbh) plus more than 2500 small poles/ha, 7500 saplings/ha and 33200seedlings/ha do not yet present a grim deforestation picture, but obviously, the trend cannot beallowed to continue?

It should be worth repeating here that the decrease in the number of trees in the SRF from1959 to 1996, 51% if based on the 15-cm+ dbh trees or 58% if based on the 10-cm+ dbh trees,does not mean that 58% of the SRF forest is gone. It simply means that the tree density of theforest has been reduced to about half of what it used to be 37 years ago. It also means that ifsustainable management of these forest requires increasing or maintaining the present densityor even changing the stand structure of the forests, then these have to be addressed by theforest management system. In Sylhet, the bamboo (Muli) resources have decreased from about17,000 stems to 11,000 stems per hectare over the last eight years.

The fact remains that people, mostly from the less privileged segment of the country’spopulation, some 1.2 million or more in/around the SRF, depend upon the forest resources fortheir livelihood, directly or indirectly. On the other hand, the forest resources had decreaseddramatically over the years such that there is imminent danger of degrading the resources to asituation where they would lose their capacity to provide desirable levels of goods andservices. Before these resources reach that critical stage, it is imperative that the users,managers and the people, notably the leaders, provide the needed concerned efforts (politicalwill, policies, strategies, programmes, support systems, resources, …) to manage and conserve



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the forest resources so that they remain productive on a sustainable basis. This also requiresthe eradication of pervasive poverty as a minimum necessary condition, for, there can be nosustainable management/conservation of renewable resources under conditions of widespreadpoverty.

The integrated forest management plan for the 8 forest divisions are being prepared by FRMP.More projects to conserve the forest resources including the generation of more livelihoodopportunities for the people in the neighbouring areas are being proposed for funding byinternational financing institutions. All these efforts have noble objectives and could help, butin the end, the conservation or degradation of these resources will depend primarily upon theleaders and people of Bangladesh!!!

It is recommended that the other forests of the country are inventoried including the line/stripplantings along embankments, roads/highways and railroads. A simple design that wasprepared for the CCF’s Office more than a year ago could be improved along the concept thatwas applied in the determination of the area of Golpatta strips along the river banks of theSRF.

A continuing resources change assessment system (CRCAS) for the country’s forests ishereby strongly recommended. CRCAS must be designed, supported and implemented toprovide timely (at least annually) resource change statistics for the Forest Managers, theleaders and people to respond effectively to any aggravating circumstances. The basiccomponents of CRCAS have now been set in place by FRMP at the RIMS/GIS Wing of FD.What more are needed include: a) staff to operate and maintain the system, b) annual fieldcheck/enumeration/measurement of one-tenth to one-fifth of the one-minute grid plot clustersso that all plot clusters would have been re-visited/re-enumerated in five to ten years, c)annual/biennial acquisition of appropriate satellite imageries covering portions (sensitiveportions) of the SRF to detect resource changes, d) ground monitoring system to check areasidentified on the satellite imagery to have unusual activities/changes, and e) RIMS/GISpersonnel to conduct necessary studies including strategies studies to manage and conservethe SRF and other forest resources for the maximum benefit of the people of Bangladesh.



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List of Working Papers already released

APFSOS/WP/01 Regional Study - The South PacificAPFSOS/WP/02 Pacific Rim Demand and Supply Situation, Trends and Prospects:

Implications for Forest Products Trade in the Asia-Pacific RegionAPFSOS/WP/03 The Implications of the GATT Uruguay Round and other Trade

Arrangements for the Asia-Pacific Forest Products TradeAPFSOS/WP/04 Status, Trends and Future Scenarios for Forest Conservation

including Protected Areas in the Asia-Pacific RegionAPFSOS/WP/05 In-Depth Country Study - New ZealandAPFSOS/WP/06 In-Depth Country Study - Republic of KoreaAPFSOS/WP/07 Country Report - MalaysiaAPFSOS/WP/08 Country Report - Union of MyanmarAPFSOS/WP/09 Challenges and Opportunities: Policy options for the forestry sector

in the Asia-Pacific RegionAPFSOS/WP/10 Sources of Non-wood Fibre for Paper, Board and Panels

Production: Status, Trends and Prospects for IndiaAPFSOS/WP/11 Country Report - PakistanAPFSOS/WP/12 Trends and Outlook for Forest Products Consumption, Production

and Trade in the Asia-Pacific RegionAPFSOS/WP/13 Country Report - AustraliaAPFSOS/WP/14 Country Report - ChinaAPFSOS/WP/15 Country Report - Japan: Basic Plan on Forest Resources and Long-

Term Perspective on Demand and Supply of Important ForestryProducts

APFSOS/WP/16 Country Report - Sri LankaAPFSOS/WP/17 Forest Resources and Roundwood Supply in the Asia Pacific

Countries: Situation and Outlook to Year 2010APFSOS/WP/18 Country Report - CambodiaAPFSOS/WP/19 Wood Materials from Non-Forest AreasAPFSOS/WP/20 Forest Industry Structure and the Evolution of Trade Flows in the

Asia-Pacific Region - Scenarios to 2010APFSOS/WP/21 Decentralization and Devolution of Forest Management in Asia and

the PacificAPFSOS/WP/22 Commentary on Forest Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region (A

Review for Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua-New Guinea,Philippines, Thailand, And Western Samoa

APFSOS/WP/23 Asia Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook: Focus On Coconut WoodAPFSOS/WP/24 Ecotourism And Other Services Derived From Forests In The Asia-

Pacific Region: Outlook To 2010APFSOS/WP/25 Technology Scenarios in the Asia-Pacific Forestry SectorAPFSOS/WP/26 In-Depth Country Report - IndiaAPFSOS/WP/27 People and Forests: Situation and ProspectsAPFSOS/WP/28 Non-Wood Forest Products Outlook Study for Asia and The

Pacific: Towards 2010



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APFSOS/WP/29 Opportunities for Forestry Investment in Asia and the PacificThrough Carbon Offset Initiatives

APFSOS/WP/30 Country Report - The MaldivesAPFSOS/WP/31 Country Report - VietnamAPFSOS/WP/32 Country Report - NepalAPFSOS/WP/33 Country Report - The PhilippinesAPFSOS/WP/34 Regional Study on Wood Energy Today and Tomorrow in AsiaAPFSOS/WP/35 The Status, Trends and Prospects for Non-Wood and Recycled

Fibre Sources in ChinaAPFSOS/WP/36 Outlook, Trends and Options with Special Reference to Legislation,

Institutions and Capacity Building (A Review for Bangladesh,Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Japan and Vietnam) (Draft)

APFSOS/WP/37 Perspectives of Environmental Civil Society Organizations onForestry in the Asia-Pacific Region: Outlook To 2010

APFSOS/WP/38 Country Report - LaosAPFSOS/WP/39 ICIMODAPFSOS/WP/40(A) FAO Outlook Study On Wood Based Panels Production,

Consumption and Trade in the Asia Pacific Region 1996 to 2010APFSOS/WP/40(B) FAO Outlook Study On Wood Based Panels Production,

Consumption And Trade In The Asia Pacific Region - 1996 To2010 - China Section Study On China’s Wood-Based Panel MarketOutlook For The Years 2000-2010

APFSOS/WP/41 Scenarios For Extra- And Inter-Sectoral Developments Of ForestryOutlook Study For Asia And The Pacific

APFSOS/WP/42 Country Report - Forestry Of MongoliaAPFSOS/WP/43 Statistical ProfileAPFSOS/WP/44 Urban ForestryAPFSOS/WP/45 Country Report - IndonesiaAPFSOS/WP/46 Country Report - ThailandAPFSOS/WP/47 Country Report - Papua New GuineaAPFSOS/WP/48 Country Report – Bangladesh

country report – bangladesh · 2017-11-28 · country report - bangladesh 3 present population...

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