Sundarbans mangrove should be taken care of for its treasures

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The speakers recommended that the Sundarbans mangrove forest should be taken care of for its treasures.
The recommendation was given at the second national workshop on "Conservation, Sustainable Use and Benefit Sharing: Ecosystem Approach and Threat Mitigation" jointly organised by Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB) and Global Forest Coalition (GFC) at Cosmos Centre in the city Saturday, reports UNB.
WTB Vice Chairman and Chairman of Bangla Academy Harunur Rashid inaugurated the workshop.
Representatives from various organisations like UNDP, SPARSO, PROSHIKA, UBINIG, DEBTEC, SEHD, Bangladesh POUSH, POROSH, teachers and researchers from Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, IUB and NGO activists participated in the workshop.
WTB Chief Executive Md Anwarul Islam welcomed the delegates while Shahriar Kabir of Independent University Bangladesh and Mamunul Haque Khan of UNDP coordinated the workshop.
The workshop recognised that current forest management practices were divided into protective (total preservation) and productive (continuous harvest or plantation).
Participants also discussed approaches to management, indicator species, alien and invasive species, pollution impacts, climate change and prevention and mitigation of losses due to fragmentation and conversion to other land uses.
The group recommended that within the short-term framework, a total cessation of clear felling. This could be combined with selection cutting and natural forest planning according to permit considerations in the ecosystem approach.
Ecosystem approach would also require an understanding of nutrient recycling to improve forest functioning.
The group also recommended that alternative livelihood/income generation is a critical component of contemporary forest management using the ecosystem approach.
The group also stressed that targeted revenue demand from the government was counter-productive and not consistent with the ecosystem approach.
It also recognised the need to monitor the effectiveness of restoration programmes using suitable indicator species. Assessment of the risk of exotic species to ecosystem prior to introduction was a mandatory step for future introductions.
The group stressed that regular monitoring and research was needed to better understand and adapt to climate change. The group finally recommended that forestlands should not be used for purposes other than forestry purposes and stricter measures are needed to be in place to prevent encroachment and transformation of forestlands to other land-uses.
Among others, Professor Kazi Zaker Husain of Dhaka University, Razia Quader of Dharitri, Enam Ul Haque of WTB, nature lover Professor Dwijen Sarma, Naser Khan of POROSH, Sanowar Hossain of Bangladesh POUSH, Ferdousi of DEBTEC, Professor Zahed Uddin Mahmood Khan, Md Mofizul Kabir, Towhid and Professor Mahfuzur Rahman of Jahangirnagar University, Zinnahtul Islam of SPARSO and Hasan Sajed of PROSHIKA participated in the discussion.