Status of forest in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a total land area of 14.39 million hectares, of which 9.12 million ha is cultivated, 2.14 million ha public forests, 0.27 million ha village groves, and 1.64 million ha constantly under water. The remaining land area (1.22 million hectares) is occupied by tea gardens, uncultivable areas, rural and urban houses and ponds (Kibria et al. 2000). The area covered by government and village forests is about 16% of the total land area; however only 0.93 million ha (6.5%) is under tree cover, which is about 40% of the forests controlled by the government. The remaining 60% includes denuded lands (grassland, scrubland and encroached areas) (FAO, 2003b). About 24 000 ha of forest is lost annually as a result of homestead development, urbanization and deforestation (Anon 1992). But there is a controversy and another report shows that Agricultural land makes up 64% of Bangladesh’s land area, forest lands account for almost 18%, and urban areas account for a further 8% (APFSOS, 1998). Water and other land uses account for the remaining 10%. Total forest land area totals 2.56 million ha, including officially classified and unclassified state lands and forest lands accounted for by village forests and tea/rubber gardens. This data shows that the natural forest accounts for almost 31% and forest plantations 13% of total forest areas. Shifting agriculture plus illegal occupation cover 5% of forest lands while water (9%) and unproductive area (0.6%) and other areas (35%) account for almost 45% of forest land. Presently protected areas represent just over 5% of forest land. BFD is responsible for administering 65% of state forest land (about 1.46 million ha).The balance comes under local District Commissioners. Excluding parks and sanctuaries, but including the better quality natural forest (medium to good density) plus bamboo areas and plantations gives a figure of 835,000 ha of reasonable quality forest vegetation on state forest land. This equals 5.8% of Bangladesh’s total area. The area included in the present protected area network is 116,700 ha, equal to 5.2% of state forest land or less than 1% of Bangladesh’s total area (APFSOS, 1998).

Hill forests

The hill forests cover an area of 0.67 million ha. The growing stock has been estimated to be about 28 million m³ or 100 m³ ha^-1 (Anon 1992). Annual depletion of the growing stock stands at 1.65%. The estimated average annual forest growth is 2.5 m³ ha^-1 (FAO 2003b). The unclassified state forests include 0.73 million ha of hilly land located at the southeast corner of the country. The village forest area is 0.27 million ha (TFYP 1985). The growing stock of the woodlots and bamboo resources were estimated to be 54.7 million m³ and 7480 million culms respectively (FAO, 2003b). The hill forests are the most important watershed areas of the country and are composed of tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests (APFSOS, 1998). There are a lot of controversial estimates among the organizations on the scale of forest area and the deforestation rate in the country. In Bangladesh, though forest land is 18-19% of the total land area, 10-12% is declared as forest and tree cover is only 5-7% according to a present estimate. Other estimate says that the total natural forest cover 769000 ha which is 5.9% of total land area and the area of plantations is 335000 ha which is 2.5% of the total land area (FAO, 1993). The hill Forests are ecologically more important and constitute more than half of the forests of the country (FAO, 2000). Ecologically, these hill forests constitute a transition between the Indian subcontinent floristic region and the Indo-China floristic region. They consist of moist tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, which extend from Teknaf Peninsula, north along Myanmar border to the Chittagong Hills and Hill Tracts and the low hills in Sylhet district. The forests are generally uneven-aged and multistoried. Pure stands of single species do not occur. The majority of smaller understory trees are evergreen and most of the dominant trees are deciduous (FAO, 2000).  Milde et al., (1985) categorize these forests into following seven general forest sub-types (Tropical wet evergreen, Tropical mixed evergreen, Tropical moist deciduous, Tropical open deciduous, Bamboo, Lowland fresh water swamp, and Savanna). This type of forest is situated in Chittagong, Chittagong, CHT, Cox’s Bazar and Sylhet which comprise roughly 45% of the country's total forest. The main species are natural Dipterocarps and its associates including also a portion of plantation species (FAO, 1999).

Sal forests

This forests covers about 0.12 million ha and to a great degree consists of Shorea robusta (sal) located in the central and northern part of the country. The area under tree cover in this region has been estimated to be 32%. A large portion of this forestland has been encroached. About 0.02 million ha of plantations has been established (FAO, 2003b). At present, the sal forests are largely composed of two remnant tracts. First, some 105,000 hectares in the districts of Tangail and Mymensigh, and second, the Barind tract, covering scattered patches of some 14,000 hectares in the north-west districts (APFSOS, 1998).

Mangrove forests

The mangrove forests are composed of two major components, viz., the Sundarbans and the Coastal Afforestation. The Sundarbans forest is spread over 0.58 million ha in the southwestern region (Ali, 1989) with an annual depletion rate of about 1.7%. A large-scale coastal afforestation programme has been undertaken since 1966, covering about 170 000 ha (FAO, 2003b). Sundarbans, A unique Forest Exclusively mangroves, this forest, is an important natural resource providing a large number of products such as timber, pulpwood, fuel wood, fish, thatching materials, hone, bees wax and shells. In addition it supports a very rich and diverse flora and fauna. It is the largest remaining habitat for the Royal Bengal Tiger. Some 600,000 people are directly dependant on this forest for their livelihood. In addition, the mangrove forest acts as a natural barrier to cyclones and tidal bores, and protects the densely populated agricultural areas to its north (APFSOS, 1998).

Classified and unclassified forest land by physical cover

Type of Land Cover Area	Area ( Hectares)	Percent
Natural Forest
Medium-Good Density	460,700.0	20.5
Poor Density	82,200.0	3.7
Bamboo	71,200. 0	3.2
Scattered Trees/Barren	95,900.0	4.3
Total	710,000.0	31.7
Plantations	303,000.0	13.5
Jhummed/Encroached	111,000.0	4.9
Total Productive	1,124,000.0	50.1

 

Unproductive	12,900.0	0.6
Parks/Sanctuaries	116,700.0	5.2
Water	9.0	-
Other*	786,600.0	44.1
Total Unproductive	1,118,200.0	44.9
Total	2,242,300	100.0

                           *Predominantly Unclassified State Forest (USF)