Deforestation, land conversion and illegal logging in Bangladesh: the case of the Sal (Shorea robusta) forests

Abstract

© iForest -Biogeosciences and Forestry IntroductionDeforestation is considered one of the oldest problems of the world, and it is as old as the agricultural revolution 10 000 to 12 000 years ago (Mena 2001). People have always needed land for their own uses and have consequently cleared natural vegetation. Nowadays, global deforestation is understood to be one of the key problems of climate change (FAO 1995, Turner 1996, Cassel-Gintz & Petschel-Held 2001, Gorte & Sheikh 2010. Moreover, the economic value of natural resources, such as forests, has been shown to be the major cause of deforestation in developing countries (Munasinghe 1993). About 50% of the original forest covering our globe has been cleared in the last 40 years (FAO 1995, WWF 1998, and in developing countries about 1.5 billion people rely on firewood for cooking and heating (Tucker 1999).Bangladesh is a developing country having 14.4 million hectares of total geographic area (GOB 2010, Islam 2005. Of them, 13.36 million hectares are land surface, and 0.94 million hectares are rivers and other inland water bodies (Ahmed 1999, BBS 2001, Islam 2005. The country has only 17.08% (2.52 million ha) of total forest land (GOB 2010), and the Sal forests cover about 0.12 million hectares, so representing 4.7% of the total forest area of Bangladesh (GOB 2010). A few decades ago, Bangladesh was rich in forest resources but a rapid population growth, land conversion into different commercial activities, increased consumption of energy and wood and maximum utilization of natural resources have led to a rapid degradation of forest resources (Alam et al. 2008). The tropical moist deciduous Sal forests are a leading example of such degradation (Ali et al. 2006), due to highly increasing population that have sequentially brought exploitation of the forest at a significant rate, nearly close to destruction (Safa 2004, Alam et al. 2008. As a consequence, about 36% of the Sal forests original cover existed in 1985, and more recent estimates mentioned that this figure dropped down to only 10% (Alam et al. 2008, FAO 2003.Several researches dealing with deforestation have been undertaken, focusing on both the microeconomic (Repetto 1988, Gillis 1988 and macroeconomic causes of rapid deforestation in the tropics (Shafik 1994, Capistrano & Kiker 1995, Khan & McDonald 1995. However, the relevance of understanding the deforestation systems goes beyond the capability to point out the changes resulting from deforestation; it is necessary to realize its causes and effects on natural resources (Mena 2001). Scientists generally mention population pressure and rural poverty as a key element in explaining deforestation of Bangladesh. However, other scientists and environmental groups have referred forest shrinkage to economical growth, national policies, and the harvesting of trees for firewood (Salam & Noguchi 1998). Empirical support for these hypotheses is fundamentally applicable for all forest types of Bangladesh. Deforestation in Bangladesh is obviously a complex issue and, ...

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