No felling of trees in Sundarbans for a year: CS Karim

Dhaka, Dec 5 (bdprem.com)—The government will prohibit tree-felling in the Sundarbans for the next one year, an environment and forest ministry meeting decided Wednesday. Your Ad Here Another decision taken at the meeting, chaired by environment and forest adviser CS Karim, will restrict all rights of entry to the Sundarbans for one year to authorised fishermen, honey collectors and nypa palm ( golpata) harvesters only. Forest officials have been instructed to plant the cyclone-ravaged coastal patches of the forest with matching mangrove species. Karim told the meeting that the Nov 15 cyclone wrought extensive damage to the resources and biodiversity—both flora and fauna—of the world's largest mangrove forest. About 32,000 acres of forestland were destroyed, the number of affected trees numbering around 50 lakh. The tree species prioritised for planting in the Sundarbans are a mix of mangrove species as well as other indigenous ones: keora, chambol, date palm, vasaka, coconut, safeda, bamboo, mahogany, gamari, keya, babla, kalabada and panial. Local communities will be trained in the care-taking of the new plantations, the adviser said.