Chapter: (One)
Introduction
Forests cover almost 25% of the world’s land and are critical in meeting human needs for water, food, shelter, medicine, fuel wood, fodder and timber. They also provide a wide range of environmental services which mainly include biodiversity conservation, watershed protection, protection of soil, mitigation of global climate change etc (Hirakuri, 2003; Landell-Mills & Porras, 2002). In last several decades, deforestation and biodiversity loss became a common event throughout the globe. This phenomenon is much more frequent in developing countries like Bangladesh. During the last two or three decades the forest cover of the country decreased from nearly 20% to 9%. Of late as a signatory of various regional and international conventions, treaties and protocol government has taken various initiatives to address the situation and to ensure the conservation of remaining floral and faunal diversity (Brown and Durst, 2003).
Forest is a very important renewable resource in Bangladesh. It provides materials like timber, pulp, pole, fuel wood, food, and medicine, habitat for wildlife and primary base for biodiversity. It also provides oxygen, controls or reduces the intensity of the cyclones and tidal surges in the coastal areas of Bangladesh, influences the rainfall, and sustained water yield in the river systems etc. Besides these, forest is also used for hunting, and nature based tourism. Now a day, eco-tourism is the preferred type of tourism and it is widely believed that eco-tourism could be an alternative mechanism for environmentally sustainable development without depleting the forest resources and its habitat and biodiversity. (BFD,1999)
In Bangladesh Sylhet forest division is very resourceful in terms of flora and fauna. In this forest division natural forest consisting of high forest (HF) and low forest (LF) , still hold some 114 cu. M. /ha of timber for all trees 20 cm and above in diameter(Canonizado, 1998).
There are currently some 23,600 hectares of bamboo resources both natural and plantations in the division. On a 3 year cutting cycle, yields an annual cutting area of 7,800 hectares. The average number mature stems per hectares are 5, 090 of Muli and 3,372 for other species. Bamboo production during last 5 years had been averaging at 16 million indicating that the resource is not being fully utilized (Canonizado, 1998).
Sungrass, cane, murta, fish, and limestone production levels are erratically distributed over the period 1991-1997. These resources will be managed on an area control basis, and further studies need to be conducted to determine the optimum and sustainable levels of their extraction (Revilla, 1998).
Sunamganj range is one of the important range of the sylhet forest division, and have the almost same situation as the whole district. But in previous time there is no specific data is collected and a few researches have done on this aspect.
Thus the study is an initiative to asses the present status of tree stock, regeneration, non wood forest products and the socio-economic condition of the surrounding people of sunamganj range.
Objectives:
Ø To asses the present stock of trees, status of regeneration and non wood forest products (NWFPs) of Sunamganj range, Sylhet Forest Division.
Ø To know the Socio economic status of surrounding people of Sunamganj range, Sylhet Forest Division
Ø To know the potentialities of Sunamganj range under Sylhet Forest Division.
