The Bangladesh Environment Conservation Alliance has blamed the Forest Department's failure for the killing and abuse of wildlife, and made seven demands to stop it.

The demands were made at a sit-in in front of the Forest Department in Agargaon in the capital from 10am to 4pm on 28 November.

The sit-in protested against the Forest Department's failure to prevent the recent killing of elephants, the killing of wildlife at various times and deforestation. The 33 environmental organisations demanded that forest officials be made accountable to the public for these incidents and that effective steps be taken quickly to resolve the problems and ensure the safety of wildlife.

Staying in front of the Forest Department all day, the protesters held a human chain, painting and protest programmes. Expressing no confidence in the current forest management for failing to protect forests and wildlife, they presented seven demands to the Forest Department:

• A neutral, objective investigation, with experts, into the elephant killings, to identify the culprits and bring them to justice.
• Evict encroachers from elephant corridors and restore them as elephant habitat.
• Immediately form a neutral national commission, with those concerned, to protect the country's forests and wildlife.
• Set out the Forest Department's duties clearly in all existing laws on forests and wildlife and ensure its accountability.
• Change the forest policy to stop commercial establishments being built on forest land, and protect forest land as a habitat and conservation area for wildlife.
• Investigate every wildlife crime neutrally, make the Forest Department's role clear to all, and take effective steps to implement SDG-14 and 15.
• Allocate no more forest land to new development projects, and modernise the Forest Department by increasing its staff and budget.

Professor Dr Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder, convener of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Alliance, said: "We are shocked by the recent incidents. We want the forest department to accept our demands and take effective action."

Expressing solidarity with the sit-in, Hossain Mohammad Nishad, Conservator of Forests (Administration and Finance) at the Forest Department, said: "We will take the necessary steps on your demands and step up our work to conserve forests and wildlife. The awareness work you are doing helps us too. We will work together on awareness."

Thirty-three environmental organisations and 12 prominent individuals expressed solidarity with the day-long programme. Among those taking part were Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon general secretary Sharif Jamil, Professor Dr Kabirul Bashar of the Department of Entomology at Jahangirnagar University, Save Our Sea secretary general Muhammad Anwarul Haque and wildlife researcher Adnan Azad Asif.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.