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BANGLADESH
Bangladesh Forest Figures
Forest CoverTotal forest area: 871,000 ha % of land area: 6.7%
Primary forest cover: n/a % of land area: n/a % total forest area: n/a
Deforestation Rates, 2000-2005Annual change in forest cover: -2,600 ha Annual deforestation rate: -0.3% Change in defor. rate since '90s: -1397.1% Total forest loss since 1990: -11,000 ha Total forest loss since 1990:-1.2%
Primary or "Old-growth" forests Annual loss of primary forests: n/a Annual deforestation rate: n/a Change in deforestation rate since '90s: n/a Primary forest loss since 1990: n/a Primary forest loss since 1990:n/a
Forest ClassificationPublic: 98.2% Private: 1.8% Other: 0% Use Production: 31.7% Protection: 7.8% Conservation: 20.9% Social services: 1.1% Multiple purpose: 38.5% None or unknown: 0
Forest Area BreakdownTotal area: 871,000 ha Primary: n/a Modified natural: 592,000 ha Semi-natural: n/a Production plantation: 195,000 ha Production plantation: 84,000 ha
PlantationsPlantations, 2005: 279,000 ha % of total forest cover: 32% Annual change rate (00-05): 600,000 ha
Carbon storageAbove-ground biomass: 51 M t Below-ground biomass: 12 M t
Area annually affected byFire: n/a Insects: n/a Diseases: n/a
Number of tree species in IUCN red listNumber of native tree species: 1,074 Critically endangered: 4 Endangered: 2 Vulnerable: 6
Bangladesh's high population density (2,650 people/sq. mi or 1,075 people/sq. km) and lack of environmental planning have had a significant impact on the environment. Less than 4 percent of Bangladesh's original habitats remain, and virtually none of these are rainforest. Many of Bangladesh's 5,000 species of plants and 1,500 species of vertebrates are highly threatened. Several species have disappeared from the country in recent years.
Deforestation of the foothills for fuelwood (fuelwood provides more than 60 percent of the country's energy) may contribute to periodic floods that cause widespread misery to people living in the flood plains of the Ganges-Brahmaputra system, which covers about 75 percent of the country. When it is not raining, the country may be stricken with droughts. The cyclical drought and flood conditions take a heavy toll on the economy of Bangladesh. Hasan and Mulamoottil (1994) reported that between 1973 and 1987 an average of 1.7 million tons of food crops were destroyed annually by floods, while an average of 1.46 million tons were destroyed every year by drought. Models indicate that as much as 10 percent of Bangladesh, including its extensive mangrove forests, could be submerged should projected increases in sea levels due to global warming prove accurate.
Water contamination is a major problem in Bangladesh. Naturally-occurring arsenic affects perhaps 25 percent of the country's wells.
Most people in Bangladesh live in poverty, while 19 percent of the population controls 70 percent of the land. Some of the land owned by the wealthy is held simply as a hedge against inflation, while the poor struggle to gain control of even tiny patches of land.
Forest clearing has led to increased conflicts between wildlife and people. During a four-month period in 1997, elephants killed 30 people and injured over 100 as they sought food, which had become scarce due to forest clearing for agriculture. Subsistence agriculture is widespread in Bangladesh.
Gas operations also pose a threat to Bangladesh's forests. In June of 1997, a massive explosion at an Occidental Oil well caused a large fire that caused extensive losees to an area of timber-rich tropical forest.
The forestry department initiates and executes forest management decisions. In 1989 the government put a moratorium on tree felling and since has initiated a reforestation program. By 2012, Bangladesh aims to have 20 percent of its land under protection. As of 2003, the official figure was 0.5 percent of Bengladesh protected in one form or another. In the late 1990s the government established environmental courts to prosecute polluters.
Currently Bengladesh has a low deforestation rate—it has lost just over 1 percent of its forest cover since 1990.
Nations vulnerable to global warming present demands: carbon levels below 350ppm and billions in aid
(11/10/2009) A group of nations especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change have released a declaration calling for developed countries to keep CO2 emission below 350 parts per million (ppm) and to give 1.5 percent of their gross domestic product to aid developing nations in adapting to the myriad impacts of climate change.
UN: Population growth rates fall to 1.1 percent in Asia-Pacific
(05/19/2009) The population growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region has dropped to 1.1 percent, according to the Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific 2008, compiled by the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The 1.1 percent growth rate is the lowest in the developing world.
Massive population of rare Irrawaddy dolphins discovered in Bangladesh
(03/31/2009) The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has discovered an unknown population of the rare Irrawaddy dolphin in Bangladesh numbering 6,000 individuals. The dolphins were found in the freshwater areas of the Sundarbans mangrove forest. Prior to this discovery, the largest known populations of Irrawaddy dolphins numbered only in the hundreds.
Asia's tigers could get big boost from small conservation efforts
(11/05/2007) Small changes to the management of wildlife reservers in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal could dramatically boost endangered tiger populations, reports a new study published in the journal Biological conservation.
Flooding in India Leaves 3.5 million Homeless
(09/11/2007) The Indian military has been evacuating thousands of people from Assam, a state in northeastern India, after Monsoon rains flooded rivers. So far, 3.5 million people have been directly affected by the floods, in a state of 27 million. A total of 2,000 villages have been completely submerged by the floods, in some of the worst flooding in years.
