Policy and Legislation Environmental policy in Bangladesh is based on the following three broad principles: precautionary, whereby harm to the environment is avoided; originator, whereby the costs of ameliorating damage to the environment are borne by those responsible; and cooperation, whereby relevant bodies are involved in planning for environmental protection (Rahman, 1983).

The need for an explicit national policy on environmental protection and management has been repeatedly highlighted (BARC, 1987), and is presently under consideration by the government. Objectives of such a policy will be as follows: to create, develop, maintain and improve conditions under which man and nature can thrive in productive and enjoyable harmony with each other; to fulfil the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations; and to ensure the attainment of an environmental quality that is conducive to a life of dignity and well-being (Rahman, 1983).

Environmental impact assessment for anticipating adverse impacts has not yet been incorporated into the development planning process, nor is it a mandatory requirement of project-approving agencies. According to government policy, sanctioning agencies should ensure that project proposals contain adequate environmental safeguards but, in practice, this is not strictly followed (BARC, 1987).

Bangladesh has completed the first phase of a national conservation strategy aimed at integrating conservation goals with national development objectives and overcoming identified obstacles to sustainable development (BARC, 1987). Some twenty sectors in the current Third Five-Year Plan are identified for critical analysis during a second phase, including the conservation of genetic resources, and wildlife management and protected areas. The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Ministry of Agriculture is the lead agency for the implementation of Phase II which began in October 1989.

There is no national wildlife conservation policy. The Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation) Order, 1973, promulgated under Presidential Order No. 23 on 27 March 1973 and subsequently enacted and amended in two phases as the Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation) (Amendment) Act, 1974, provides for the establishment of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, game reserves and private game reserves (see Annex). Under Article 23, wildlife sanctuaries enjoy a greater degree of protection than national parks. For example, entry or residence, introduction of exotic or domestic species of animals and lighting of fires is prohibited in wildlife sanctuaries, but not national parks. No specific rules are detailed for game reserves. The Article makes provision, however, for the government to relax any of these prohibitions for scientific, aesthetic or other exceptional reasons, and to alter the boundaries of protected areas. Under Article 24, provision is made for the establishment ofprivate game reserves upon application by the landowner. The owner of a private game reserve may exercise all the powers of an officer provided under the Act. Proposals are being drawn up to strengthen the existing legislation, largely through raising fines and terms of imprisonment for offences.

Conservation, use and exploitation of marine resources are provided for under the Territorial Water and Maritime Zones Act, 1974. According to provisions in this Act, conservation zones may be established to protect marine resources from indiscriminate exploitation, depletion or destruction. At present, there is no legal provision for the management of coastal zones.

The Forest Act, 1927, enables the government to declare any forest or waste land to be reserved forest or protected forest (see Annex). Activities are generally prohibited in reserved forests; certain activities, such as removal of forest produce, may be permitted under license in protected forests, while others, such as quarrying of stone and clearing for cultivation, may be prohibited. The rights of government to any land constituted as reserved forest may be assigned to village communities, with conditions for their management prescribed by government. Such forests are called village forests. Under the Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 1989, penalties for offences committed within reserved and protected forests have been increased from a maximum of six months imprisonment and a fine of Tk 500 to five years imprisonment and a Tk 5,000 (US$ 1,700) fine. In accordance with the National Forest Policy, adopted in 1979, effective measures will be taken to conserve the natural environment and wildlife resources. The Policy does not, however, deal explicitly with the need to set aside special areas as protected forests, as distinct from productive forests, to preserve genetic diversity and maintain ecological processes within the context of sustainable development (BARC, 1987).

Other environmental legislation less specifically related to protected areas is reviewed elsewhere (DS/ST, 1980; Rahman, 1983).

International Activities Bangladesh is party to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (World Heritage Convention) which it accepted on 3 August 1983. No natural sites have been inscribed to date. Bangladesh participates in the Unesco Man and the Biosphere Programme. Apart from a couple of reserved forests proposed as candidate sites by the Bangladesh MAB National Committee in the late 1970s, there does not appear to have been any significant development in recent years. A proposal to become a party to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) was submitted to the erstwhile Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry by the Forest Department and awaits approval. It is proposed to nominate the Sundarbans mangrove forests as a wetland of international importance, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Convention (Rahman and Akonda, 1987).

Administration and Management Wildlife conservation, including the management of protected areas, is the responsibility of the Forest Directorate within the new Ministry of Environment and Forests formed in 1989. Previously, the Forest Directorate came under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests while the former Department of Environmental Pollution Control, concerned largely with environmental pollution, was under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural development.

In 1976 a Wildlife Circle was established within what was then known as the Forest Department, with specific responsibility for wildlife matters under the charge of a Conservator of Forests responsible directly to the Chief Conservator of Forests. A $13.3 million scheme, entitled "Development of Wildlife Management and Game Reserves", was incorporated within the country's First Five-Year Plan, but reduced to $92,000 in the subsequent Two-Year Approach Plan (Olivier, 1979). The Wildlife Circle was subsequently abolished in June 1983, allegedly in the interests of economy and following the recommendations of the Inam Commission. The post of Conservator of Forests (General Administration and Wildlife) remains but the incumbent has many other administrative duties unrelated to wildlife. Following its general down-grading within the Forest Department, wildlife conservation has become the theoretical responsibility of the various divisional forest officers (Blower, 1985; Husain, 1986). Separate staff are deployed for protection purposes in a number of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries (Sarker and Fazlul Huq, 1985).

The Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation)(Amendment) Act, 1974, also provides for the establishment of a Wildlife Advisory Board, which was set up in 1976 under the chairmanship of the Minister of Agriculture. The Board is supposed to approve important wildlife management decisions and directives (Olivier, 1979). Although it still exists, it does not appear to be a dynamic force (Blower, 1985; BARC, 1987).

In view of the low priority accorded to protected areas, a Task Force was formed by the Ministry of Agriculture in 1985 to identify institutional and other measures needed to improve current provisions for wildlife conservation. Recommendations of the Task Force, submitted to the government in July 1986, await approval by the competent authority. They include a plan to immediately revive the erstwhile Wildlife Circle, review Phase II of the Wildlife Development Project and secure protection of 5% of the total land area of the country for conservation purposes (Rahman and Akonda, 1987).

The principal non-governmental conservation organisations within the country are the Society for Conservation of Nature and Environment (SCONE), which is mainly concerned with environmental pollution, and the Wildlife Society of Bangladesh. Pothikrit, based in Chunati, and Polli Unnayan Sangstha (POUSH), founded in 1984, are both involved in promoting the adoption of sound management practices in and around protected areas. Their efforts are presently focused on Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary and Teknaf Game Reserve. IUCN (The UNEP World Conservation Union) has a project office in Dhaka.

Given that wildlife resources are vested largely in reserved forests, their conservation has in the past been diametrically opposed to forest management practices. Few, if any, protected areas are effectively managed and protected. Lack of personnel trained in wildlife conservation is a further handicap (Gittins and Akonda, 1982; Khan, 1985; Olivier, 1979). The very low priority apparently now accorded to wildlife conservation is reflected in the recent abolition of the Wildlife Circle, the reassignment of staff to normal duties, the lack of any separate financial provision within the Forest Directorate's budget and the now moribund Wildlife Advisory Board (Blower, 1985).

Systems Reviews Some 80% of Bangladesh is lowland, comprising an alluvial plain cut by the three great river systems (Ganges-Padma, Brahmaputra- Jamuna and Meghna) that flow into the Bay of Bengal. Typically, at least one-half of the land is inundated annually, with one-tenth subject to severe flooding. The entire flood plain was well-vegetated, but much ofthe forest has been replaced by cultivations and plantations in recent decades due to mounting pressure from human populations. Here, the only extensive tract of forest remaining is the Sundarbans. Hills are confined chiefly to the east and south-east, notably the Chittagong Hills where forest cover is among the most extensive in the country.

According to the 1987 Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh, forests cover 2.1 million hectares or 14.7% of total land area, but this represents neither the area under forest nor that under the control of the Forest Department (Rashid, 1989). In 1980, Gittins and Akonda (1982) estimated remaining natural forest to be 4,782 sq.km (3.3%) and scrub forest 9,260ha (6.5%). Actual forest cover is presently estimated to be 1 million hectares or 6.9% of total land area, a reduction of more than 50% over the past 20 years (WRI/CIDE, 1990).

The major forest types are mangrove, moist deciduous or sal Shorea robusta, restricted to the Madhupur Tract and northern frontier with Meghalaya, and evergreen forests found in the eastern districts of Sylhet, Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts. A small amount of freshwater swamp occupies the basins of the north-east region.

Wetlands, variously estimated as covering between seven and eight million hectares or nearly 50% of total land area, support a variety of wildlife, as well as being of enormous economic importance (Scott, 1989).

The only known coral reef is around Jinjiradwip (St Martin's Island) in the Bay of Bengal. It is reputed to be a submerged reef but little is known about it (UNEP/IUCN, 1988).

Conservation efforts began in 1966, prior to independence, when the government of Pakistan invited the World Wildlife Fund to assess its wildlife resources and recommend measures to arrest their depletion. Two expeditions were mounted (Mountfort and Poore, 1967, 1968) and the severity of the situation confirmed, whereupon the government was urged to appoint its own Wildlife Enquiry Committee. The committee was established in 1968 and by 1970 had drafted a report. That part relating to East Pakistan was published as a separate report (Government of East Pakistan, 1971). Considerable progress was made with the establishment of several protected areas (Mountfort, 1969), research undertaken on the Sundarbans tiger population of East Pakistan (Hendrichs, 1975), and technical input from UNDP/FAO (Grimwood, 1969). Then, in 1971, came the War of Liberation which inevitably disrupted subsequent progress. In spite of political instability, however, the Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation) Order was promulgated in 1973 and an ambitious programme of wildlife management developed, followed by the formation of a Wildlife Circle in 1976 and further technical assistance from UNDP/FAO (Olivier, 1979). Economic constraints, however, have subsequently been responsible for the loss of much of this initiative (Blower, 1985).

The existing system of protected areas has been reviewed recently (Green, 1989). It is not comprehensive, having been established with little regard to ecological and other criteria, and falls well below the target of 5% recommended by the erstwhile Ministry of Agriculture Task Force. Some effort has been made to include representative samples of the major habitats but, for example, marine and freshwater areas have been largely neglected (Gittins and Akonda, 1982; Khan, 1985; Olivier, 19 9; Rahman and Akonda, 1987). Priorities to develop the present network of protected areas are identified in the IUCN Systems review of the Indomalayan Realm (MacKinnon and MacKinnon, 1986) and further recommendations aremade in the Corbett Action Plan (IUCN, 1985), many of which are based on earlier recommendations by Olivier (1979). More recently, wetlands of conservation value have been identified (Scott, 1989). Of outstanding importance is the need to prepare a plan for the development of the country's protected areas network.

ANNEX

Title: Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation) (Amendment) Act

<> Date: 1974

<> Brief description: Provides for the preservation, conservation and management of wildlife in Bangladesh

<> Administrative authority: Forest Directorate, Ministry of Environment and Forests

<> Designations:

<> National park A comparatively large area of outstanding scenic and natural beauty, in which the protection of wildlife and preservation of the scenery, flora and fauna in their natural state is the primary objective, and to which the public may be allowed access for recreation, education and research.

<>Hunting, killing or capturing any wild animal within a national park or one mile (1.6km) of its boundaries, causing any disturbance (including firing of any gun) to any wild animal or its breeding place, felling, tapping, burning or in any other waydamaging any plant or tree, cultivation, mining or breaking up any land, and polluting water flowing through a national park are not allowed. Such prohibitions may be relaxed for scientific purposes, aesthetic enjoyment of the scenery or any other exceptional reason.

<>Construction of access roads, rest houses, hotels and public amenities should be planned so as not to impair the primary objective of the establishment of a national park.

<> Wildlife sanctuary An area closed to hunting and maintained as an undisturbed breeding ground, primarily for the protection of wildlife including all natural resources such as vegetation, soil and water.

<>Entry or residence, cultivation, damage to vegetation, killing or capturing wild animals within one mile (1.6km) of its boundary, introduction of exotic or domestic species of animals, lighting of fires, and pollution of water are not allowed, but any of these prohibitions may be relaxed for scientific reasons, or for the improvement or aesthetic enjoyment of the scenery.

<> Game reserve An area in which the wildlife is protected to enable populations of important species to increase. Capture of wild animals is prohibited.

<>Hunting and shooting may be allowed on a permit basis.

<> Private game reserve Area of private land set aside by the owner for the same purpose as a game reserve. On application by the owner, such an area may be notified as a private game reserve.

<>The owner shall exercise all the powers of an officer under this Act.

<> Source: Original legislation

Title: Forest Act

<> Date: 1927

<> Brief description: An Act to consolidate the law relating to forests, the transit of forest produce and the duty leviable on timber and other forest produce.

<> Administrative authority: Forest Directorate, Ministry of Environment and Forests

<> Designations:

<> Reserved forest Any forest land or wasteland belonging to the government, or to which it has proprietary rights, may be constituted a reserved forest subject to completion of notification and settlement procedures provided under the Act.

<>Prohibited activities include: making fresh clearings or breaking up land forcultivation; kindling or carrying fire; trespass and cattle grazing; felling or otherwise damaging any tree; quarrying stone, burning lime or charcoal; removing forest produce; and hunting, shooting, fishing, trapping and poisoning water.

<> Village forest Any land constituted as reserved forest that has been assigned to a village community by the government.

<>Rules for regulating the provision of timber, other forest produce or pasture to the community, and their duties for protecting and improving such forest may be prescribed by the government.

<>All provisions of the Act relating to reserved forest apply to village forest, in so far as they are consistent with the rules.

<> Protected forest Any forest land or wasteland not included in a reserved forest and belonging to the government, or to which it has proprietary rights, may be declared a protected forest provided that the nature and extent of rights of government and of private persons in or over such land have been recorded.

<>Any trees or class of trees may be reserved; any portion of forest may be closed for up to 30 years; and quarrying of stone, burning of lime or charcoal, collection and removal of any forest produce, and breaking up or clearing of any land for any purpose may be prohibited.

<>Rules may be made to regulate collection and removal of forest produce, granting of licences to inhabitants of nearby settlements to remove forest products for domestic consumption, granting of licences for commercial extraction of forest products, clearing or breaking up of land for cultivation or other purposes, and the protection from fire of timber lying in such forests and of trees reserved under the Act.