Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts of Social Forestry in the High Barind Tract

Abstract

Forests and forest produce are the integral part of world's environment and they support the environmental balance of the world as well as supply the major portion of the basic needs of human beings. Forests accommodate a great diversity of largely unknown plants, animals, microorganisms and genes generated by intricate ecological process. Forests and trees provide a range of wood and non-wood products, fuel wood, fruits and vegetables, fodder, medicine and so forth. Forests also provide basic elements for life on earth through ecological functions, regulate climate and water resources, stabilize soil, cycle nutrients, treat waste, provide habitat and facilitate recreation. People began to clear forestland's for agriculture, settlement and grazing from Neolithic age. As the population rapidly increased since the l 8th and 19th centuries, a pressure on forestland's also increased. Nowadays the demand for forest goods and resources are the highest ever as the world's population is constantly increasing (Isik, Yaltirik and Akesen, 1997). Population pressure, agriculture, industrialization and development activities are exerting a tremendous pressure on the forests and forestland's. Forest covers one-third land of this planet (about 3.9 billion hectares) excluding Antarctica and Greenland, which is 29.6% of the world's total Landmass (Larsen, 2003). Assessments have shown that for many years world's forest cover is shrinking. According to Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] (2003), 0.38% of the world's forest were converted to other land uses (i.e., deforested) every year since 1990s. Although large areas reverted to forest, it leaves a net annual loss of 0.22 percent and the world lost about 94 million hectares of forest from 1990 to 2000. Bangladesh is a developing country in South-East Asia with low natural resource base but a dense population. The natural resource base of the country is under serious threat, as most natural resources are being over-exploited and used unsustainable. In 1947, the natural forest cover of the country was 24% of the total land (Gain, 1998a), which has now come down to about 5.8% of the total land of the country (Bangladesh Forest Department [BFD], 2003). Bangladesh has nearly 150-years' history of scientific forest management. In the early 1980s, Bangladesh introduced Social Forestry with some core objectives: ecological restoration, poverty alleviation and people's participation. There remains a question whether these objectives are fulfilled at excepted level or there is room for a more responsive practice to improve outcomes of Social Forestry. A brief examination of past forest resource management practices and shift in forest policy changes in Bangladesh is essential to fully perceive the answer of this question. 1.1 Bangladesh Forestry Sector Bangladesh is situated in the no1th-eastern part of South Asia between 20° 341 and 26° 381 1101th latitude and between 88° 011 and 92°411 east longitude. The country covers an area of 1, 47,570 sq. km and is bounded by India from the west, north and most of east. Myanmar lies on the southeast and the Bay of Bengal on the south (BBS, 2001a). The cow1try is highly populated and total population of the country is 149.7 million (UNFP A, 2005). Bangladesh is located in a unique geographical location between two biologically diverse sub-regions (Indian and Malayan). Due to this, the country has a number of major natural forest ecosystems including the Sunder ban. Forest ecosystems of Bangladesh mainly consist of natural and plantation forests. Tropical wet evergreen, tropical semi evergreen, tropical moist deciduous ai1d tidal forest ecosystems are in the category of natural forests (Ali, 2003). Plantation forests are however developed in deforested forestland's, degraded hill forests, sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn.) forests, marginal lands and newly accreted low-lying coastal areas. Forest area of Bangladesh is gradually decreasing since the independence of Bangladesh. From 1986 to 1996, more than half of the closed forests those were medium to good density forests were turned to either degraded to poor density forests or deforested or encroached (F AO, 2000). Androgenic activities and natural causes are the agents of depletion of forest resources in Bangladesh. Increased consumption of forest products, human encroachment, deforestation, illegal logging, low flows in the dis-tributaries of the Gai1ges due to withdrawal of water at Farakka Barrage point in India during lean season and its · consequences are the human induced activities responsible for forest degradation. Climate change, sea level rise also acts as natural causes for forest degradation in Bangladesh (Ahan1ed, Siddiqi & Choudhuri, 1999). Three distinct periods are evident in the forest management history of Bangladesh. They are: 1) Forest management during colonial period 2) Forest management during Pakistan period and 3) Forest management in Bangladesh and inception of Social Forestry…