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Govt mulls separate Sundarbans command

REZAUL KARIM
The government is mulling a proposal for setting up a separate, independent management body for the Sundarbans in order to preserve its bio-diversity.
In a momentous meeting yesterday, it was also decided to make eco-friendly modifications of the policy currently applied in mobilising resources from the world's largest mangrove forest.
Participants of the meeting, convened to review a report on the Sundarbans Bio-Diversity Conservation Project (SBCP) prepared by Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Sundarbans Stewardship Commission, advised the government to adopt a more pro-preservation policy in case of the Sundarbans, also a world
heritage site.
Environment and Forest Minister Tariqul Islam chaired the discussion held at the ministry's conference room and participated by conservation experts, academics, high officials, and representatives from forest department and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Pointing at the progressive decay the Sundarbans has been going through for long, a majority of the discussants maintained that it is well nigh impossible for the forest department to protect and conserve the reserve forest with the existing infrastructure.
Meeting sources said Ministry of Environment and Forest (Mef) Secretary Syed Tanbir Hossain first tabled the proposal to form a sepa-
rate authority for the Sundarbans comprising representatives of all the stakeholders to ensure conservation of its bio-diversity.
The minister seconded the secretary's scheme and asked all quarters concerned to ponder and suggest specific ways for forming such a separate command.
Talking to The Daily Star, Tariqul said, "We must go deep into the existing problems in the Sundarbans, as there are some 21 sections of stakeholders depending on this forest for their livelihood and income. To conserve its bio-diversity, we need to resolve the stakeholders' problems first."
The minister said if the current problems are let to continue for long the forest at some point is sure to be destroyed. "So, we are planning for alternative employment for the stakeholders whose livelihood depends on this forest," Tariqul who hails from a district close to the Sundarbans announced.
"Whatever we introduce -micro-credit or VGF -- for the stakeholders dependent on the Sundarbans, we have to ensure that it goes to the genuine recipients," he added.
The forest minister said the bio-diversity conservation project the ADB had launched was suspended due to management complications and conflicts. "We are now trying to resume the project. But, this time we want to reform the infrastructure and rearrange the management system first, to assure a proper project implementation."
Meeting sources said the ADB-funded SBCP was aimed at safeguarding the mangrove forest's environmental integrity and biodiversity; but before being suspended around 30 percent of the US$ 77-million project fund was spent with almost zero achievement.
Citing his experience during project work, an SBCP consultant said, though the project caused losses for the forest department, poor stakeholders and laymen in the Sundarbans, a section of government officials, forest robbers and influential locals have gained a lot from it.
Sketching the current state of the Sundarbans Reserve Forest, the consultant said it is decaying, and the situation will further aggravate if the local stakeholders' dependence on it for their livelihood continues.
According to meeting sources, the Mef secretary, while narrating his surprise visit to a project site, said he found the project accountant did not know even how to prepare a balance sheet.
The project director however laid the blame for the project's suspension on foreign consultants, saying they had always given false impressions about the rate of project implementation.
Prof Ainun Nishat of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), who was present at the meeting, told The Daily Star that the government at present is redesigning the suspended SBCP. To him the government moves appear to be very positive, as "it wants to replace the existing policy of resource mobilisation from the Sundarbans with a more pro-biodiversity policy."
"There is no alternative to building separate infrastructure and management for conserving the Sundarbans' bio-diversity, as it is not possible with the existing ones," Ainun said.
He said the current mandate of the forest department is to enhance revenue collection from all forests, including the Sundarbans; but the meeting has decided to change this policy and make it pro-conservation.
On suspension of the $77-million ADB project, Ainun said there were objections from both the government and the donor sides against different aspects of the SBCP. The forest department, local NGOs and various stakeholders also complained that the project design was faulty.
The yesterday's meeting has asked the project consultants to work out a conservation-oriented management system for the Sundarbans that would be able to address its problems adequately.