Bangladesh News

Years ago, we had seen it in Lathitila. On a second visit to the forest in a span of three months, we were appalled by the sight.

What had been a beautiful sprawling forest over a range of curvy hills was reduced to nothingness. It was an eerie sight that made us shudder. A little further on the hilly road, we met the casualties — hundreds of thousands of freshly felled trees. Some already transformed into logs ready to be shifted off to Dhaka and elsewhere. The air was still pungent with the smell of freshly shredded leaves.

The same scene we encountered this time too, and not only in one place but on numerous hills, across Khagrachhari and Rangamati. The forests, supposed to be reserved — meaning no human interventions should have occurred there, were clear-felled for miles by the forest department. Trees which were not ready to be timber of any economic value also could not escape the forest department’s axe.

The department which is supposed to conserve and protect forests has adopted a mindless forest management system namely clear felling on short rotation that is now causing most of the deforestation in the country.

The forest department’s existence today is based on a wrong policy. It is given an annual revenue earning target, and to meet that the department engages in massive logging. Such actions totally ignore the existence and fate of the wildlife.

The department follows two types of clear felling — short rotation and long rotation. In short rotation, trees aged about twenty years or below are felled. Long rotation method targets trees over 30 years. But the forest department, often in its scurry to meet the revenue target, opts for short rotation leading to widespread destruction of forests.

“But trees don’t mature at twenty years and they basically serve no better use than of firewood,” Dr Reza Khan explained adding, “However, such short rotation felling helps quick earning for the forest department, but leads to increased soil erosion as soon as hills are cleared. This (short rotation) is viable commercially but not biologically.”

Interestingly, the same forest department practices another kind of logging — selective felling — that allows extraction of mature trees only, leaving other trees untouched. This also leaves the wildlife mostly untouched. The Sundarban is one place where selective logging is in practice. But the department, for reasons unknown, applies the clear felling method in the hills.

And worse still, once it clears a forest, it introduces alien species such as acacia and eucalyptus.

“These varieties are bad for the ecology as they support no wildlife. Nothing else grows under or beside acacia and eucalyptus. As a result, you don’t have a tier of forest that can support different species of animals and birds,” said Dr Khan.

“If money is what actually matters to the forest department, then rice cultivation should have been the most preferred option,” Dr Khan quipped. “But that would be as disastrous as clear felling.”

Long rotation crop practice such as the one done in Bhanugachh and Lawachhera forests allows more animals and plants to grow for creating a ‘tier system’ in forests. While the forest has tall trees creating a canopy and supporting some specific kinds of wildlife, smaller trees grow underneath to support other kinds of animals and birds. And the bushes that grow at the ground level make perfect habitat for yet some other groups.

Even teaks, introduced by the British for its wood value, do not help the ecology for the same reasons as acacia and eucalyptus do not. Dr Khan suggests that at least 25 percent of any new plantation must have fruit trees such as figs of all species, Lakooch, Jamun, Neem, Debdaru, Shimul, Chapalish, Gamari, Jackfruit, and Bakul.