Forestation can reduce adverse effects of climate change

M Jalal Hussain Climate change has been taking place in many countries due to the increase in the temperature of the earth, caused by the emission of CO2, deforestation, soil degradation, erosion, uncontrolled population growth, rapid industrialisation, trade and commerce, urbanisation, development of roads, highways, and railways in an unplanned and imbalanced way. Many people in the underdeveloped countries have become landless due to soil erosion and are forced to live and cultivate flood-prone land. They have limited access to potable and clean water; water borne diseases are prevalent due to water pollution, ground water contamination with naturally occurring arsenic and intermittent water shortage because of falling water level. The environmental impacts of climate change on Bangladesh are causing an increase in the frequency of cyclones, reduction of fresh water availability, floods and sea-level rise in the southern parts of the coastal areas and desertification in the north-western region of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a tropical low lying reverine country situated in the low lying Ganges-Brahmanputra River Delta. Most of its parts are less than 12m (39.4 ft) above sea-level and it is believed that if sea-level were to rise by another 1.0m (3.28 ft), 10 per cent of the land would be flooded. The area of Bangladesh is 147,570 square kilometers (56, 977 square miles) with a huge population of 160 million. Forests and woodland cover 16 per cent of its total area. About 67 per cent of Bangladesh's non-urban land is arable. It has forests covered with several varieties of trees and plants. The importance of forests to any country is enormous. The land covers one thirds of the earth's surface and land includes forests providing innumerable benefits to its inhabitants. The most notable direct benefits are commercial products from forests such as timber, paper and so on. Forests benefit us directly and indirectly by protecting watersheds from soil erosion, keep rivers and reservoirs relatively free from silts, reduce severity of floods, and facilitate aquifer recharge, assist in recycling of water, oxygen, nitrogen, CO2 and other nutrients. The rainfall of a country depends on the size of the forest the country possesses. Generally, rainfall is always more in the densely forested country than sparsely forested ones. If we look at the rainfall data in Bangladesh, we notice that rainfall is high in the densely forested areas. For example, Sylhet has 130 to 160 inches of rainfall per annum whereas, rainfall in the northern areas is 50 to 60 inches annually, because Sylhet area has plenty of forests and northern parts have fewer forests. The water cycle is directly affected by deforestation. Trees extract groundwater through their roots and release into the atmosphere. Tree leaves control humidity of the atmosphere by transferring 99 per cent of water absorbed by roots through transpiration. The presence or absence of trees can change the quantity of water on the surface, in the soil or groundwater or in the atmosphere. This, in turn, changes erosion rates and the availability of water for either ecosystem or human utilisation. That is why in the desert regions there are no forests and no rainfalls. The adverse effects of less and scanty rainfall have already been visible in Bangladesh. Water levels in the rivers, canals, ponds and underground water have tremendously decreased causing enormous problems to the people. We can see lots of signs of desertification. If any area has less than 10 inches of rainfall annually, that area will be turned into desert within a short span of time. To save the country from the adverse effects of climate change, it is most essential to take up proactive and vigorous programmes for forestation. Deforestation is the removal, destruction and extinction of forests where land is thereafter converted to a non-forest land, farmland, industrial zones, urban areas and so on. Deforestation occurs for many reasons; trees are converted to charcoal and timber and used as fuel and for commercial purposes, while the cleared land is used as pasture for livestock, settlements by the inhabitants, and plantations of agricultural crops. The unplanned removal of forests without sufficient reforestation has resulted in colossal damage to the habitat resulting in biodiversity loss and increased aridity and it has adverse and un-friendly environmental impacts on bio-sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse silt erosion; frequently degrade into wasteland, extinction of species, changes to climatic conditions, desertification and displacement of population. Deforestation is a contributor to global warming and is cited as one of the major causes of greenhouse effect. According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, deforestation mainly in tropical countries accounts for one-third of the total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. There are many areas in Bangladesh namely, Gazipur, Savar, Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Sundarbans where government reserved forests, parks are situated. The largest forest areas are in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Sundarbans. The evergreen and deciduous forests of Chittagong cover more than 4600 square km and the Sundarbans is a single block of tidal halophytic forest in the world that covers 10,000 square km out of which 6,000 square km is in Bangladesh. Large-scale deforestation had taken place legally and illegally in these forests and parks and about 40 per cent of the forests had already vanished. No tangible steps have been taken for reforestation of these areas. It has become imminent and urgent on the part of the government, local communities and the people in general to undertake revolutionary programmes for forestation. Whenever deforestation takes place, reforestation is a must. Re-plantation of trees should be at a rate commensurate with the cutting of trees. According to The Common Sense Environment Fund, in developing countries, for every 10 trees cut down one tree is replanted. In Africa the ratio is 29 to 1. It is suggested that to balance the effect of deforestation, for every tree cut down two trees are required to be replanted. Geographically, Bangladesh is surrounded mostly by India and the origins of many rivers are in India. India already build some barrages like the Farakka Barrage, Teesta Barrage and some more are in the process of being built resulting in scanty supply of river water especially in the dry season. There are two ways to counter the water problems - one is to make water reservoirs for use in the dry season and the other is to plant more trees to attract more rainfall. Building water reservoirs needs large area of land and also a huge budget; this concept will not be feasible because Bangladesh has acute scarcity of land and money. It is easy and convenient to implement the number two concept that is to plant more trees at every nook and cranny of the country. Forestation can be increased by planting trees on the road-sides, two sides of the highways, railways, canals, riverbanks, parks, government reserve forests, and empty land surrounding houses in the rural areas. When we travel on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway, we can see both the sides of the road are empty. We can plant trees along the highway to save the environment. Similarly, two sides of other roads and highways of other parts of the country are empty and trees can be planted in a large scale. It is worth suggesting here that the government "Rehabilitation and Cyclone Shelter Programmes" for the coastal areas should include forestation, as a vital component of the programme. If we can plant more trees throughout Bangladesh, the environment will be changed and there will be plenty of rainfall and the country will be saved from the adverse effects of climate change. The writer is Group Financial Controller of a group of industries and can be reached by email at: m.jalal.hussain@gmail.com