Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW Vol. 5 Num 221 Wed. January 05, 2005       Letters to Editor Save forests The Ent On e-mail This is in reference to the letter on Unocal's gas exploration, dated 27.12.2004. I had been reading about this bit of news for quite some time but the letter really made me worried. How come a country, phenomenally flat and undergoing severe environmental hazards due to its rapid loss of forests and vegetation, can possibly think of eradicating a forest? In a world that awards the Nobel Prize to someone for planting trees, this doesn't seem right. Are we really that greedy? Is clearing out a forest the only solution? Why cant we promote tourism instead of resorting to the best available option - wipe out the forests! Moreover, I doubt if the GOB has developed any state of the art stringent measures to combat or even prevent a disaster like Magurchhara happening again. I really think it's time for us to go over our priorities again. It's more important to avoid worse floods and the eventual immersion of the country in water, rather than cutting a bustling forest to make way for a gas pipeline. There is always an alternative and I believe we have enough specialists to do research on these various options, but the government really needs to understand the true value of our forests.