Cancel Lathitila safari park project
Environment ministry recommends to PC
FE REPORT | Thursday, 3 October 2024
The Ministry of Environment recommended on Wednesday to the Planning Commission (PC) the cancellation of the approval for a project to build a safari park in Lathitila, Moulvibazar.
This project raised concerns among environmentalists, who feared it would endanger the pristine biodiversity of the reserved forest. A letter regarding this recommendation was sent to the PC.
The "Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park, Moulvibazar (Phase-1)" project was conditionally approved on 9 November 2023 in a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
On 21 August 2024, a four-member committee was formed by the ministry to assess the project's impact on biodiversity and provide recommendations.
The committee, chaired by Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmed, former chief conservator of forests, included Mustafa Firoz, professor of zoology at Jahangirnagar University, Farid Uddin Ahmed, former executive director of Arannayk Foundation, and Imran Ahmed, conservator of forests for wildlife and nature conservation of the Forest Department, as members.
In its report, the committee recommended cancellation of the project, highlighting that the Lathitila forest is part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot and serves as an elephant corridor. Building a safari park in this area would have a negative impact on the forest's ecosystem.
Taking into account the potential effects on biodiversity and the opinions of local stakeholders, the committee concluded that a safari park should not be established in this natural forest. Therefore, the ministry stated that the project should be cancelled.
The Forest Department has been tasked with conserving the degraded areas of the forest and its threatened biodiversity.
The construction of the park was initially proposed by the Ministry of Environment during the tenure of former minister Shahab Uddin. Despite controversy and calls from environmental rights groups to suspend the project the former minister insisted that the project move forward.
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