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BIO-DIVERSITY AND FOREST

M N A Katcbi Chief Conservator of Forests, Bangladesh
Biological diversity is the . total variety of genetic strains, species and ecosystems. Mankind is a part of biological resources of this planet and the life depends on the un-ln-terrupted functioning of various biological ecosystems which constitutes the nature. Man plays the vital role in shaping the biological system and its resources by his aclion. and, therefore, must fully recognize the urgency of maintaining biological stability of nature by conserving the biological resources.
Plants and animals, evolving over hundreds of millions of years have made our plant fit for the forms of life we arc
having now. They arc maintaining the , biological diversity, the chemical balance. They stabilize climate,
protect water-sheds and renew soils. We arc only beginning to understand the relative importance of different biological ecosystems or the species that compose them.
The biological diversity or the ecosystems contained in ft are now being threatened by pollution as well as over exploitation. Climate change, induced by the addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, is one of the major threats to biological resources.
Forests are considered as the store house of biological
diversity. Its diverse ecosystems supports millions of species. It moderates local climates. Much of the water vapour In the air over tropical forests, like ours comes from transpiration through forest plants and regulate local hydrological cycle, protects soil from excessive erosion and reduce the silty load of rivers. It slows down run off and there by moderating floods and other harmful actfvfltcs of steam flow
The forests, the store house to biological resources once used to cover 53 million Suare kilometers or some % of the Earth's land sur-
face and now only cover to the extent of 29 million square kilometers. Every year, an average of 180.000 square kilometers of tropical forest and woodlands are cleared for shifting cultivation, permanent agriculture and also through un sustainable logging.
The situation in Bangladesh if not worse, is in no way better. Total forest area of the country is approximately 2.45 million ha. or about 17% of the total land area but actual forest coverage has declined over the past 20 years to about 1.58 million ha. i.e. 11% of the total land. The situation Is no doubt alarming. The development strategy for forest management centres around prevention of encroachment, adoption of selected felling of natural trees, development of homestead forestry and i preservation of the country's | reserve forest areas, special attention should be given to reverse the recent trend of clearing mangrove forest areas for shrimp cultivation — a situation which has resulted in the total destruction of the biological resources of the Chakaria Sundraban forest in Cox's Bazar district.
In order to counter all these adverse situation and there by to protect out forest the store house of biological resources, we must have explicit long term goals for national forest policy. In doing so local communities should be involved in forest management by ensuring sustainable livelihoods from the forest without damage. Let us care and share the biological diversity of our forests so that we can leave a congenial environment for our posterity.