Rainforests ravaged

A swamp in Kalinga forest in Srimongol shows how trees were felled by illegal loggers. Photo: Fahim BasharInam Ahmed

It seemed that we were standing on the premises of a huge sawmill. Actually we were right in the middle of Kalinga forest in Srimongol, supposed to be one of the largest and pristine rainforests of the country.

What we saw around is unbelievable -- felled trees, sawed off branches, splintered wood, barks shaved off trees, huge trees, small saplings. And this is Kalinga today, a devastated forest, plundered and pilfered, reduced to a pale shade of what it was only a year ago.

Unthinkable, how a forest could vanish so quickly just in a year.

“This forest is almost gone,” said the man who took us around on a tour and who did not want to be named in fear of reprisal from the foresters who were supposed to take care of the jungle. “What you see here is just the tip of the iceberg. Deeper in the forest and by the chharas (streams), you will find nothing left.”

And we did find it -- found how greedy forest officials and illegal loggers joined hands together and finished off the forest.

And villagers gave out names of officials who are responsible for the onslaught.

“All this happened in last one year,” said another villager. “What the illegal loggers could not do in the last 10 years has been done in last one year.”

In the next two days, we walked for about 25 kilometres inside the forest and witnessed the mindless logging. The thieves were so confident that nobody would catch them or bother them that they felled trees right beside the tracks. They even had all the time to piece the felled trees to exact sizes.

That the forest officials did not bother to patrol the forest was apparent from the fact that none of the stumps have been marked. The rules require that once illegally logged, the stumps have to be numbered and recorded so that one can get a clear idea of the scale of illegal extraction. In Kalinga this procedure, it seems, has been deliberately avoided to hide the spurt in illegal logging from the higher authorities in Dhaka.

And the method worked well. Because the road to the forest is extremely difficult even in winter. Monsoon makes the forest totally cut off. Even our four-wheel got bogged down twice in this dry season. There are a few rickety bridges made of logs and sticks which are said to be deliberately kept that way to ward off outsiders.

And when the Dhaka forest officials were contacted and asked for their comments why the forest has depleted so suddenly, they said they did not know the fact.

The community patrolling of the forest that used to exist before has also been discontinued, officials and locals said, giving the illegal loggers a free hand.

One forest official's name came out from the villagers and locals who they said is responsible for the onslaught. They said beat officer Mostafizur Rahman has link with the loggers who come from outside the forest. Because of this insidious link, the loggers can work freely. This claim matches with the fact that Mostafiz was transferred to this forest about a year and a half ago when the forest was still in good condition. And in one year, it has almost vanished.

As the news of inquiry from the press went around, the beat officer employed locals to clear off all the logs from the forest so that any official investigation would not reveal the fact. The stumps were dug out and taken away to hide signs of logging. Fresh numbering of stumps was done.

Mostafiz however denied all the allegations.

“Since I had come here, illegal logging has decreased,” said the man. “I had tried my best to save the forest. I had filed 200 to 250 cases against loggers. I can tell you that I had given the highest revenue from sales of seized wood in a year. But I cannot protect the forest because of shortage of staff. We are only four persons here to look after Kalinga.”

He however admitted that he had ordered clearing of the felled trees but denied having ordered to take out stumps.

We talked to Nabadwip Barma, an indigenous Tipara, who was making bamboo mats. He described how the loggers came one afternoon at around four and openly chopped off the jackfruit trees in the jungle.

“The next day they came, chopped the trunks down and dragged away,” he said. We saw the dead stumps.

Inside the forest, we met at least a dozen people collecting wood. They all said they got 'pass' from the forest department's designated people for Tk 10 each. Without this, they cannot come here. The 'pass' holders mainly destroy the young saplings as they cut them off to be used as firewood. We saw scores of such firewood collectors and all of them admitted to buying 'pass'.

“What I see here is unbelievable. I remember when I first visited Kalenga forest, it was simply wonderful,” said Ronald Halder, a birder who has been a frequent visitor to this forest and was with us on this trip. “There were very large trees all around. I remember after the wooden bridge past the BDR post, on the left side there were huge Garjan trees. I had videographed Capped Langur from that tree. This time I found those trees have vanished. The trail we have walked through was virtually impenetrable; now all that is history. This is how the Bhawal and Modhupur forests were lost too.”

Kalinga forest and the conjoined Rema forest covering about 1,795 hectares is the largest patch of forest in Bangladesh after the Sundarbans. It is a host to such rare mammals and birds such as flying squirrel, spectacled monkey, giant Malayan squirrel, … Holook Gibbon has vanished from the forest and only a few now survive in Rema because of deforestation.

The forest, Kalinga, is today primarily an undergrowth that is taking over the place of felled trees. And the wildlife variety is fast shrinking. For example, the population of red breasted parakeet has dropped to less than half as fruit trees have vanished. Squirrels have become rarer. And only a few spectacled monkeys survive.

But with the rate of deforestation, they will not last long too.

Dr Anwarul Islam, chief executive of Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh, while expressing shock at the destruction of the forest said, “ Kalinga was a good patch of forest and its degradation is an irreparable loss to the country. We immediately need to count the remaining trees and publish the figure”

Dr Munirul H Khan, professor of zoology at Jahangirnagar Universtiy, said, “Even two years back, it was a good natural forest. I have not seen illegal logging there because of its remoteness. This was the only forest where you could find trees as old as 50-60 years. When such reckless logging occurs, the forest officials must be involved in it.”

Enam Ul Haque, a renowned birder and nature lover, also expressed similar views about the forest. He recalled his countless days in the forest looking for rare birds. “This was a unique forest and its destruction cannot be acceptable,” he said.