**3. Bangladesh forestry**

Bangladesh – a forest dependent, over-populated country observed a huge loss of forest and forest resources over the past decades (the 1970's deforestation rate of 0.9% rose to 2.7% during 1984 to 1990) (GOB, 2001b). According to Forestry Master Plan (GOB, 1995), of the


Source: GOB, 2009

Table 1. Forest area in Bangladesh by forest types

Final part of the historical review encompasses an analysis of the Bangladeshi regime. This part of the research was conducted through literature collection and review, empirical analysis based on community survey with open ended and semi - structured questionnaire, key informant interview and focus group discussion. A total of ninety individual respondents were interviewed from nine villages of the three districts viz. Rangamati, Bandarbans and Khagrachari of the CHTs. In order to grasp the problem clearly and to know their opinion, three focus group discussions were held. A total of twelve key informants including three educationists, four political leaders, three cultural activists and two representatives from the Local Administration were interviewed in order to obtain expert opinions about the subject. A qualitative evaluation was done in order to know the respondent's opinion about the factors affecting forest and forest resources in the CHTs. Along with listing the factors, respondents were given a scale of magnitude from 1-5 indicating 1 as very low, 2 as low, 3 as moderate, 4 as high, and 5 as extreme to express the

The survey data encompassed demographic and biophysical data, ethnicity, religion, migration patterns, chronology of conflict, land ownership, etc. An extended and closer stay in the study areas helped particularly to observe, photograph, record the rituals and stories, and also to share experience on the CHTs issues. Additionally, we tried to explore available conflict resolution theories and checked the applicability of such theories in the CHTs context. Current conflict resolution efforts of the Government have been reviewed and analyzed critically to identify its limitations. Based on the analysis, a conflict resolution

Bangladesh – a forest dependent, over-populated country observed a huge loss of forest and forest resources over the past decades (the 1970's deforestation rate of 0.9% rose to 2.7% during 1984 to 1990) (GOB, 2001b). According to Forestry Master Plan (GOB, 1995), of the

> Hill forests 551 23.7 Moist deciduous forests 34 1.5 Mangrove forests 436 18.7 Bamboo forests 184 7.9 Long rotation plantation 131 5.6 Short rotation plantation 54 2.3 Mangrove plantation 45 1.9 Rubber plantation 8 0.3 Shrubs/Other wooded land 289 12.4 Wooded land with shifting cultivation 327 14.0 Village forests 270 11.6 **Total 2,329 100.0**

**(000 ha)** 

**% of the forest area** 

**Forest types Area** 

magnitude of effect for each factor.

model has been developed for this region.

**3. Bangladesh forestry** 

Source: GOB, 2009

Table 1. Forest area in Bangladesh by forest types

total area of Bangladesh, agricultural land makes up 64.2%, forest lands account for about 17.8% (2.53 mill ha), whilst urban areas are 8.3%. Water and other land uses account for the remaining 9.9%. However, the last National Forest and Tree Resources Assessment 2005- 2007 for Bangladesh (GOB, 2009) indicates a total forest area of about 2.33 mill ha (Table 1) which is about 15.8% (0.02 ha person-1) of the total landmass of Bangladesh. This forest area is categorized as natural forests (1.2 mill ha), forest plantations (0.23 mill ha), Shrubs/other wooded land (0.29 mill ha), wooded land with shifting cultivation (0.33 mill ha) and village forests (0.27 mill ha). Of this forest land, the Forest Department (FD) directly controls 1.44 mill ha with the legal status of Reserved Forest (RF) and Protected Forest (PF), and the District Administration controls more than 0.73 million ha (forest management activities entrusted with FD) of Unclassed State Forests (USF).

Fig. 2. Map of Bangladesh showing the distribution of forests areas

Conflict and Corollaries on Forest and Indigenous People: Experience from Bangladesh 189

and *Mro/Mru*) are Buddhist by religion. *Tripura* follow Hinduism. *Lushai, Pankho, Bawm* and some of the *Mro/Mru* adopted Christianity. Indigenous people of the CHTs have closer ethno - cultural affinities with other Sino -Tibetan people inhibiting in Myanmar and the

The tribal economy is basically subsistence in nature primarily based on primitive agriculture. As a result the productivity is low. They cultivate their land under input starved conditions due to lack of financial and technical resources. Historically, the indigenous people are dependent on the forests for their livelihood. Indigenous people of the CHTs

> **Indigenous groups Bangladesh CHTs**  *Bawm/Bom* 13,471 13,471 *Buna* 7,421 - *Chak* 2,127 2,127 *Chakma* 252,858 252,858 *Garo* 64,280 - *Hajong* 11,540 - *Harizon* 1,132 - *Khumi/Khami* 1,241 1,241 *Khasi* 12,280 - *Khyang* 2,343 2,343 *Koch* 16,567 - *Lushai* 662 662 *Mahat* 3,534 - *Manipuri* 24,882 - *Marma* 157,301 157,301 *Mro/Mru* 126 126 *Murang* 22,178 22,178 *Munda* 2,132 - *Oraon* 8,216 - *Paharia* 1,853 - *Pankhu/Pankho* 3,227 3,227 *Rajbansi* 7,556 - *Rakhaine* 16,932 - *Santal* 202,162 - *Tanchangya* 21,639 21,639 *Tripura* 81,014 81,014 *Urua* 5,561 - Others 261,743 - **Total 1,205,978 558,187**

Indian States of Tripura and Mizoram.

Source: BBS, 1991

Table 2. Indigenous population in Bangladesh and in the study areas

The distribution of natural forests in Bangladesh is eccentric i.e. the forests are located mostly in the peripheral zones of Bangladesh (Fig. 2). Out of the sixty four districts, there is no forest in twenty eight districts of Bangladesh. Major forest types within Bangladesh include i) tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen hill forests, ii) tropical littoral and mangrove forests, iii) inland moist deciduous Sal forests and iv) freshwater swamp forests (Champion & Seth, 1968). Despite having a century old regulatory forest management, the condition of the forest and forest resources in Bangladesh have been greatly depleted. Almost 50% of the area of Bangladesh has some kind of tree cover. Only 2.3% of the area has a very high tree cover ( >70%) and roughly 20% has low tree cover ( <5%) ( GOB, 2009 ). The goal of social forestry

Project was to educate, engage and encourage active participation in the management of forest resources, thus creating relevant stakeholders. While traditional forest management resulted in the net loss of forest resource cover, participatory social forestry on the other hand, has the potential in the horizontal expansion of forest cover benefiting thousands of poor people (Salam & Noguchi, 2005; Khan et al., 2004; Muhammed et al., 2008; Muhammed & Koike, 2009). However, the indigenous people in general have been seriously overlooked during the implementation of this program.
