Globally as well as nationally there is consensus on the issue of biodiversity conservation through various means, especially by saving the forests. Because of random felling of trees in the pristine forests of Bangladesh a large variety of flora and fauna have already become extinct and others are on their way to the same finality. It is only a matter of time before the wanton destruction of the biodiversity would result in irreparable ecological disaster throughout the country.

The onus of conservation of a country's forest resources lies primarily on the government; and laws and regulations are created in order to discourage any move to destroy these resources for personal gain. But it can be said with a touch of cynicism that the past governments in Bangladesh did little to save the forests and biodiversity therein from their own party people. In fact, the tale of blatant encroachment on forests and water-bodies by the lawmakers and their henchmen reached a new level in the last five years.

It is, however, heartening to note that a good number of stakeholders, both national and international, including UN agencies, are getting their heads together to find ways and means to address the burgeoning situation. They have spoken loud and clear about the imminent threat the destruction of forests poses to biodiversity as well as the overall environment of the country. The core message that comes out from numerous research works, seminars and workshops is that if the forests are gone, biodiversity will be gone too. The added fallout of vanishing forests is erratic behaviour of the climate, triggering devastating cyclones, earthquakes and floods at odd times of the season.

In Bangladesh, the present forest management system, conservation laws and awareness level of the masses of the people need to be looked into on an urgent basis. Before the world community comes forward to help us with damage control measures, we have to make our own people conscious about what would happen if all the forests were gone one day. At the same time, the government has to recover all the lands, water-bodies and forests from the evil clutches of the encroachers.