Curbing deforestation is the key

Deforestation is the leading driver of climate change, contributing to 15 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions. While some countries like Indonesia have made a substantial progress in slowing down deforestation, Bangladesh lags far behind as deforestation is increasing at an alarming rate of 3.3 per cent — far above the global average. This is of significant concern to the country given that less than 10 per cent of the area are forested whereas 25 per cent is the minimum requirement for maintaining a healthy ecosystem. The loss of the forest cover has increased landslide and flooding over the years, resulting in the deprivation of livelihood and people sinking into poverty and the creation of the ‘new poor’. Therefore, tackling deforestation is crucial in the battle against climate change and in attaining sustainable development.

Even though Bangladesh is a signatory to the Paris Agreement and pledged to end deforestation, its forests remain unprotected. The protection and preservation of forests are essential to creating a sustainable livelihood.The primary drivers of deforestation in Bangladesh are population pressure, illegal logging, commercial agriculture and a high demand for timber/firewood. As many people migrate to urban centres in search of a better livelihood, forest areas are cleared to accommodate their needs. Increased population pressures in the districts of Gazipur, Tangail and Mymensingh districts are creating a fast disappearance of the Sal forest. The Sal forest has lost more than 70 per cent of its original cover. This is a significant cause of concern. But perhaps, the biggest contributor to deforestation is illegal logging. Despite a decade of on-and-off government action to curb this practice, it persists because of a strong network of politicians and local administrators behind illegal logging.

The Rohingya crisis has further aggravated the situation, creating pressure on the environment as more than 8,000 hectares of forest areas at Cox’s Bazar had to be cleared to set up camps. It further created water shortage and increased the frequency of landslide. Nonetheless, the immediate impact of the crisis has been severe on the community. A recent report by the United Nations Development Programme has found that the multiplier effect of foreign aid of $1 reduced from $2.70 to $2.30 when the loss of forest and water resources is considered. It has increased, as the report says, child labour in Cox’s Bazar as forest-dependent communities look for alternative sources of livelihood and use their children as labourers to facilitate their earnings. While the government has taken certain laudable steps in reforestation efforts in Cox’s Bazar with the assistance of UN agencies, it certainly needs to pace up reforestation efforts and put in place livelihood strategies.

Bangladesh could follow Indonesia as a model in combatting deforestation — Indonesia mandated the licensing of export-oriented timber, which decreased illegal logging as timbers obtained from non-legal sources could not be sold on the market. Consequently, they had to sell outside at a much lower price, which incurred losses to loggers. This minimised the need for logging. Besides, alternative livelihood strategies were created for forest-dependent people and, at the same time, palm oil plantations, which substantially contributed to deforestation, were restricted. Nonetheless, this policy owes to strong political willingness at the central level as they are strictly enforced by the law enforcement agencies in collaboration with the local model. Even though Indonesia’s success is about to change because of a change in their national legislation, the period during which these policies were adopted could, however, be localised in the context of Bangladesh, where much of the forest land is lost due to commercial agriculture.

On the other hand, private efforts in Kenya have substantially transformed its dying forest — the Kiagusu corridor — through reforestation efforts. Once the project started documenting reductions in carbon emissions, they sold it to companies that wanted to reduce their carbon footprints. The funds were not just used on the preservation of the forest but also on building community schools and attaining other sustainable development goals. Bangladesh could develop a similar reforestation model, document its carbon reductions, and generate revenue by selling these permits to national and international companies.To begin with, it is essential for Bangladesh to build its data capacity. Ample opportunity now exists to enhance digital governance through enhancing the quality of data. A key area would be to enhance the quality of the data collected, upgrade the technology for constant data collection and analysis.Furthermore, to enhance forest management, there are areas of improvement in Bangladesh; it primarily needs to work on building its data capacity. Therefore, tremendous potential exists in this area for public-private partnership for better data coordination and for enhancing the monitoring mechanism to create a sustainable livelihood.

 * Namia Akhtar is a development professional