The Cabinet has approved the draft of a new law that will require citizens to take permission before cutting down large trees planted on personal property.
The draft of the Bangladesh Forest Industry Development Corporation Act was approved at the weekly cabinet meeting on Monday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting virtually from Ganabhaban.
During a press briefing after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam said: “Such rules are present in almost all countries of the world. You cannot imagine just cutting down a tree without permission in Saudi Arabia. India also has similar laws.”
The secretary added that the law was being enacted to protect the forests of the country. The law will only apply to “permanent trees,” and not regular fruit and vegetable trees.
Will the law be beneficial?
Dr Mohammad Zashim Uddin, professor of Botany at Dhaka University (DU), told Dhaka Tribune he did not wish to comment on how beneficial the law would be before examining it.
“Any law should be both environment friendly and people friendly. From your description, the law will not be beneficial. The government should not interfere in the individual decisions of citizens with regard to planting and cutting down trees on their own land,” he said.
“Plantation has become quite a commercial venture now. Many people plant trees in hopes of selling the timber 20 years later for a profit. If this incentive is taken away, many people may be discouraged from planting trees,” the professor added.
Focus on economy as well as environment
The cabinet secretary said the law would make it easier to remove trees in certain situations.
"For example, if a man’s life is in danger after a tree has been uprooted during any natural calamity, sometimes it takes up to seven days just to get permission to remove it. The PM has asked that this process be made easier, perhaps by doing it online. As far as I know, there was such a law before,” he said
An autonomous body called “East Pakistan Forestry Development Corporation” was formed through an ordinance during the Pakistan period in 1959. In 1972, by the order of then President Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the name was changed to the Bangladesh Forestry Development Corporation.
The cabinet secretary said: “The ordinance was updated and incorporated into the law. There are many things, like its being a corporation. The corporation will have a chairman and a director. There will be a board that will oversee policy matters.”.
The corporation will govern the production of wood and wooden furniture, as well as rubber extraction from plantations under the corporation.
A major aim of the corporation will be the creation of modern and eco-friendly industries which will also be linked to maximizing the use of forest resources and banning synthetic rubber products that are harmful to the environment.
All forests to be protected
All forests would be protected under the law, the cabinet secretary said.
He said: "Other Forest industries - such as agar, in an area of Sylhet - as well as rests other than government forests have been asked to take special measures for conservation. For example, we have created a huge forest on the other side of the Padma. Although it is not a protected forest for the forest industry, these forests still need to be protected.
"If you go over the Bangabandhu Bridge, the forest that we have built is probably the deepest forest in Bangladesh. I have no idea if such a deep forest exists in the Sundarbans. Here we have released cobras, pythons, monkeys, deer and many insects. Although it is not a reserve forest, it cannot be destroyed. All forests need to be saved," he added.
The ministry of environment has been asked to conduct a publicity campaign before enforcing compliance of the law.
He said 75,000 trees unavoidably had to be felled for construction of the four-lane road from Elenga to Hatikumrul. “I myself have planted 250,000 trees in compensation for this. I started planting them when the project started, and now the project has been completed. Compensation is a must.”
When asked about the allocation of space for the BCS training academy in the protected forest area of Cox's Bazar, the secretary said he was not aware of the details.
"I think the Ministry of Public Administration is looking into that matter. Such construction needs to be done where there are no trees. If trees need to be cut down for some reason, permission needs to be taken from the Forest Department on how to compensate for such deforestation. There is provision and budget for compensation in government projects,” he added.
