Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) will survey the country's natural resources like forest, land, and water to assess their stock and contribution to the economy.
Currently, the GDP (gross domestic product) includes the value additions from such resources, but the new survey will help assess such assets and quantify their monetary values.
The disclosure was made at a seminar organised by the national statistical organisaton at its BBS headquarters in the city on Thursday.
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury attended the event as chief guest while Mohammad Saddam Hossain Khan, focal point, Environment, Climate Change and Disaster Statistics (ECDS) Cell of BBS, presented a keynote paper.
Chaired by Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Dr. Shahnaz Arefin, the seminar was addressed, among others, by Bangladesh Representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Dr Jiaoqun Shi, and BBS Deputy Director General Parimal Chandra Das.
Such natural resource accounts are based on spatial units of environmental assets e.g. agriculture, rivers, wetlands, estuaries, marine, terrestrial, biodiversity, etc.
Such measurement will help understand the causal relationships between the environment, economy, and poverty and quantifying, reporting, and accounting.
It will provide an integrated set of information that can be used to understand the nature-based solution.
During the presentation, Mr. Saddam said that the survey would help assess whether the country's forest area is increasing or decreasing. It will also help ascertain whether the country's economic growth is based on deforestation or not, and which social groups derive benefit out of the goods and services provided by the forests, he added.
Speaking at the programme as chief guest, Mr Saber Chowdhury said: "This is the first time we will start taking stock of our natural resources. In 2024, we cannot work with information gathered in 2021."
He adds: "We need live data. So, we need to increase our capacity at the local level."
The minister informed the meeting that along with our Bangabandhu-2 satellite, 11 more satellites will be installed to get information on climate change and environment.
The brick kiln is using 130 million metric tonnes of topsoil, essential for agriculture, every year, he said.
He further said that many propose to make roads or other infrastructure within the forest areas and assure to plant 10,000 new trees in other areas.
"Such planting of new trees cannot compensate for deforestation by using its lands as the forest itself maintains an ecosystem".
There were mangrove forests in Chattogram and Chakoria in the past. Earlier, the government allowed shrimp culture thereby destroying such forests, said the minister.
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