TO arrest tile pnWein of depk lion of green cover one nrals to think not only gkibalh but also take other elements of nature into ccmskieratkicL The world in all its variety and interdependence is nothing but a complete and simultaneous whole. One may draw parallel between musical aimposition and nature — slightest change in both cases destrov the- harmony. What we do in one area affects the other It is difficult to deal with one problem without inadvertently causing other prol*-ms. The pmbk-ms we are lacing todav are rooted in our insensitivity towards interdependence. Our history of progress is a fusion of gradual movement from depcndencr huo al*lutxHi from others and aK.. tnaii nature sum unduig us

I hr man we have seen full of brgffu priwpm m gcilussaiMr m thr Mb of Kcason or 1 nlighlrrunrnt he has grown Ki a superman reaching for the slurs onh * kti thr nghtrmtfi cvnturs industrMtasauiHi man had not fUM bought fortune be also sowed tin seeds of hr own deci** M>w thr enure coriununirv of Hr is m senotr danger Mom omtnoush ail of the i» wo hem*al svsteni essential for life on the planet tile iiabkats essen Hal for thr survival of drwrsr species and even the atmosphere and the oceans are now disturbed and threat ened on a pfanetarv stair Scientists sav char for most of the last oou md bon sears no more than 10 species died out each sear whereas now uiainh because of the desirut tion of plants species are dymg at the rate of "Da das It thmgp continue as they art humankind inigiii wipe out its own species tn mi thr planet.

We now would lik< to throw b0u on how thr expanding human actm ties, in our part of the world art killing nun s partner m thr prues* of respiration hence the tit west of al a. him in thr nature span from talcing pan in the breathing cycle. plants in general stabilia rainfall and linuu Sion and purih water and protect sod and fertility

Vs thr population swells man. ki inert its ever grow uig demands mas sacre the plants and thereby dr pm ing lumself from thr Hrswaigs of the green cower and rnhani ing environ mental degradation rhe asadable land in Bangfadrsh a now IUD mil bon hectares (X which. 1 * nallion herlares an bring used fur the pur posr of cukivaUHi. Fhr prvseig rate of population growth - 11 per cent annually — indicates a sharp decline in the availability of per capita arable land. Hie per capita arable land which stood at 0.14 hectares in 1970 is likely to plummet to 0.05 hectares by 2005. LIk ever increasing marginalisation of die land poor in the rural areas is driv ing a large number of them into urban centres which is contributing to the adverse environmental impacts ol unplanned urbanization Mushroom mg of slums w oh concomitant prob kms of madequate water supph and waste disposal systems creating health luzards and piamg a threat k> thr eus inmmrik. of uiur*. drstros mg the green cover in thr prucesa. IK . n erburdnung population a dr nudiog tin land and pushing fhr pro dustivity of thr land to thr point of no-productivity. On the other hand, natural resources are gradually ex haustid. The productivity of our fer tile wetlands is also on decline mainly because of intensive cultivation. With the decline of the fertility irreversible ecological degradation is Ukeh to occur. Because intensive cultivation leads to the genetic erosion of indigenous strains of rice and other crops as well as animal, fish and bird species.

For a country where 'X per c ent people live in rural areas and are mutkly poor and dependent on their local ex osvMetn for survival any en vironmental degradation is a severe blow to the core of their existence Ihe environmental problems in our country to manifold gradual degrada tion of land, erosion of top soil, creeping salinity, rapid extraction of groundwater, declining soil fertility, waterlogging, increasing sediment load on river beds and. above all. destruction of forest resource. A detail account of all the aspects is not pos- sible in the space of a single article ai kI which is not our intention either, i mr emphasis is onh on the tiling tliat different aspects of nature should not be treated separately because even it seems thev do exist separately but they are a part of the whole — Earth. So. if any step is taken wit hock thr consideration of others, that is highly likely to lead to a catastrophe. One such ill-conceived step is the Kira to bring wetlands under boro cukivalion ignoring tig- muhipk uses of w etlands and its unique ability to support a multitude of species in their natural environment

II

In Bangladesh the village wood lots which cover 10 per cent of the country's total forest area are supplying 90 per cent of the requirements of rural fuelwood. Lack of commercial energy supply in the countryside forces the rural poor to rely heavily on forest resources for fuel The demand for fuelwood is expected to reach 11.55 million cubic metres by the year 2013 with population running up to 152 million. Loss of forest is causing land erosion here and leading to the heavy sedimentation of rivers and degradation of land. Land erosion is acute particularly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The slash and bum cultivation process followed by the people in Hill tracts has depleted some one million hectares of forest. The soil erosion caused by this cultivation method is continuously depositing silt in river beds, on arable land and in the 67.000 hectare Kaptai Lake. The other major causes of forest or green cover destruction are logging and clearing of forest itself for agricultural and habitation purposes.

Painting a complete picture of country’s green cover or, for that matter, its decline is hard because no detailed and coordinated study has been done yet But the alarm has already begun to ring. Global warming process of desertification, flooding, shortage of water, drying of river are onh signs of a impending disaster

III

In many myths and folktales tree I us been understood as divine and as the nucleus of life. Tree is the vertical centre of the nature — binding together the heavens and the earth — in one form of notion. The other notion says. tree, at the horizontal centre of the earth, is the source of life. When tree links heaven with earth it is called the tree of know kdge and it is tree of life when it provides food. These myths are the testament of the importance attached Io trees by the non literate man of antiquity . The myth making nun realised the place of tree in his life as a result of their close and intense living with nature. The modem man on the other hand, is far removed from nature This kiss of connection with nature and de pendence on tec hnology have made the modern man insensitive towards nature. Miracles of technology brought him everything home and also leading him to become alienated from everything, Hk mulrm man has become, as a result alone.

What primitive man unde-mood about nature we have to hear from scientists today. The damage we have dune to nature ui the course of our progress is only recently be ing feh. The global threat to the environment is pointing to our erroneous notion dial we. humans, are superior above and independent of all other life

What we would like to emphasise regarding environmental degradation and tree in particular is dial the plants or the green unit of nature can akmc reduce the gkibal threat to env iron ment. Covering mother earth with trees would be saving her from imminent catastrophe let us act together w ah conviction for the environment Perhaps, by now tree has reminded us. divided we tall united we stand