Editorial
Regenerating the Sundarbans
Comprehensive policy and foolproof security are the need
That the government has decided to impose a ban on a cutting and disposal of trees damaged in the Sundarbans by Cyclone Sidr is welcome. With reports coming in from such places as Sharankhola and Chandpai about the machinations by individuals within the forestry department to dispose of the damaged trees, obviously with ulterior motives in mind, it is necessary that such severe measures be in place. It must also be borne in mind that the forestry department is on record as being an organisation where wholesale corruption has been the norm for years altogether. That makes the case for action to save the damaged parts of the Sundarbans that much more serious.
What clearly must be done is to ensure that the damaged or uprooted trees are not trifled with by corrupt officials and other vested quarters. But such security for the forest cannot be ensured by merely clamping a ban on handling the trees. Strong vigilance measures are needed here. We can suggest that since in important areas security, comprising such personnel as those from the joint forces and the like, has been deployed, much a similar step can be taken to supervise the Sundarbans in these times of risks posed to it by elements ready to cash in on the consequences of the cyclone. As environmental experts have already noted, a regeneration of the damaged portion of the Sundarbans depends essentially on leaving fallen trees untouched, for it is from these trees that the soil will get new nutrients for a fresh new growth. That brings us to another thought, which is that any programme of a regeneration of the Sundarbans must involve more of environmental experts than bureaucrats if the forests are to be saved from grasping hands or ravaging nature. Moreover, the government, again on the basis of expert advice, must move quickly to initiate new mangrove projects in the Sundarbans as well as in other areas battered by the cyclone.
At a time when questions keep coming up, on a global scale, about ecology and what must be done to ensure a conservation of nature, it must be the aim of the Bangladesh government to formulate a comprehensive and foolproof policy on saving as well as augmenting the country's environment-related resources. One way in which that can be done is through seeking inputs from people connected to world heritage programmes as well as the inter-governmental panel on global warming. The Sundarbans, 600,000 hectares in all, cannot be treated with cavalier indifference.
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