Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury has said the government is carrying out 'natural capital mapping' to prevent the degradation of natural resources and to develop them. It will help conserve the country's environment and forests and help shape our future plans and policies, he said.

He was speaking as chief guest on Thursday (1 August) at a meeting in the ministry's conference room at the Secretariat to review progress on the natural capital mapping work under the Forest Department's Sustainable Forests and Livelihoods (SUFAL) project.

The minister said a detailed map is being prepared of hillocks and hill areas, lakes, haors, baors, beels, jheels and other natural wetlands. An MIS system will be prepared to store, visualise, process and search a database of the 'natural capital' of hills, hill regions and natural wetlands.

By understanding the natural capital of a particular area, it will be possible to understand its ecosystem services, which people currently need these services most, and where building or enhancing resources should be given priority, he said.

The minister said mapping natural capital will help create an effective framework for integrating its current and potential value into local decision-making. At the meeting he discussed various aspects of the project in detail and gave those concerned the necessary directions on its future course of action.

The meeting was chaired by Dr Farhina Ahmed, secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Speakers included the ministry's Additional Secretary (Development) Md Mosharraf Hossain, Additional Secretary (Environment) Dr Fahmida Khanom, Gobinda Roy, deputy chief conservator of forests at the Forest Department and director of the SUFAL project, and Malik Fida A Khan, executive director of the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS).

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