Editorial
Laws to conserve forests
Rights of the locals have to be recognised
Bangladesh is not far away from massive ecological and environmental disasters which seem destined to stem from rampant destruction of forests all over the country. A section of unscrupulous staff and officials of the forest department in cahoots with local political goons have been cutting down trees and destroying the pristine topography of the reserve lands for decades for their personal gain. The Forest Act of 1927 is a misnomer having its purpose and objectives long lost in antiquity. It was adopted solely to generate revenue for the colonial power. In the present context, it is not inherently eco-friendly and effective in stopping mass scale pilferage of the forest resources or try the criminals in a court of law. What is required at the moment is drastic amendment of the existing laws and participation of local communities to save our forests. Against this background, conservationists, legal experts and social activists from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan deliberated in a two-day workshop on Protecting Forests and Forest Dwellers: Role of Law. We believe the timing of the deliberation was truly spot on with the nation trying to recover from the shock of a cataclysmic environmental disaster resulting from rampant hill cutting in Chittagong. The Bangladeshi experts in the workshop very rightly commented that the existing forest laws and policies were related to policing rather than protecting the habitats. The laws more often than not tend to harass the indigenous people entirely dependent on the forests. On the basis of the ground reality, experts put forward suggestions that the governments of the region should recognise the rights of the indigenous people who dwell in the forests including their right to participatory management of the resources. The suggestion concerning limiting law enforcing power of the forest department, and the question of hand over of private land ownership to the government for social forestation also need to be reviewed in order to install an effective management mechanism. What has become clear from the important workshop is that we need to amend the existing laws and have in place a set of environment-friendly and pro-people laws to conserve and develop the forests in the country. We hope the recommendations would reach the relevant office where these would be thoroughly looked into and affirmative decisions taken without losing valuable time. It needs no emphasising that we ought to brace up for a major environmental disaster with all the resources at our command.
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