The size of Madhupur forest is decreasing day by day due to various reasons and initiatives, as well as lack of governance.
A law should be in place to save it from extinction, according to former advisor to the caretaker government and economist Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud, who made this claim in a roundtable discussion titled "Madhupur Forest: Its Demise, Demographic Changes and Customary Land Rights" at the Forest Departments’ conference hall in Dhaka on Monday.
The discussion was jointly arranged by Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), Society for Human & Environmental Development (SHED), Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) and Gram Bikash Kendra (GBK).
“The government should formulate a policy for saving the forest and its people. Necessary laws should be made and implemented to apply the policy,” he said proposing that a commission can be formed to settle the matter.
He also remarked that political and economical interventions often damage the ecosystem, which was apparent in the case of Madhupur forest.
Hossain Zillur Rahman, former advisor of care taker government and chairman at PPRC, who presided the dialogue, said the adversaries of the ethnic minorities living there should be resolved immediately for the sake of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “The core meaning of SDGs is that nobody can be left behind.”
“Insight between forest department and forest inhabitants also be coordinated.” he added.
Philip Gain, director of SHED presented the research findings of Madhupur area. In his research Philip said : “Only 13% Bengali and 4.19% Garo population in the area have the proper documents of land owning. In the forest inhabitants have customary land ownership."
According to the study, Garo people living in Madhupur village have a literacy rate of 78.75% while Bangalees in the same locality 58.62%.
Speakers urged the government to take necessary steps to resolve the issues and suggested inclusion of Garo people in plans for stopping deforestation.
Leaders from Adivasi community, local government representatives and officials from forest department were present at the discussion.
