<i>Testing time for forests</i>

Life for this critically endangered hoolock gibbons is going to be harder in the days to come as the government has allowed pumping out natural gas from three wells in Lawachhara reserve forest area, the gibbons' home. Photo Courtesy: Ronald Halder

The government has permitted Chevron Bangladesh, a US-based energy corporation, to drill three wells and extract gas in block-14 within the periphery of Lawachhara reserve forest.
The environment and forest ministry approved the Chevron project in August.
Nearly 460 species of flora and fauna thrive in an area of merely 1,250 hectares in the Lawachhara reserve forest, one of the last patches of tropical forests in Bangladesh, say environmentalists and researchers.
One of the three wells falls within 500 metres of the periphery of the Lawachhara National Park where drilling or exploration of any kind is a violation of Wildlife (Preservation) Order 1973.
Article 23 (3) of the Bangladesh Wild Life (Preservation) Order 1973 says, "Firing any gun or doing any other act which may disturb any wild animal or doing any act which may interfere with the breeding places of any wild animal is prohibited."
The law specified that the government might relax the prohibition, "for scientific purposes or for betterment of the national park or for aesthetic enjoyment of scenery." Here "scientific purpose" refers to research on forest and wildlife or biodiversity.
Petrobangla formed an upazila-level committee to assess whether the drilling of wells would cause any harm to wildlife in the forest.
The committee observed a small hill between the Chevron well at the Gilachhara Tea Garden and the forest area will protect wildlife from harm. The well is only 500 metres from the forest.
"It will take 60 to 70 days to dig the well and the noise would not cause any disturbance to wildlife in the forest," said the report of the committee, led by Foyez Ahmed, upazila nirbahi officer in Srimangal.
The committee in its report said digging of the rig would not pose any threat to biodiversity and wildlife in the forest.
When the environment and forest ministry sought opinion on the digging of well and gas extraction, the Department of Forest raised objection to it saying such activities will harm the forest, which is small but extremely rich in wildlife.
It requested the ministry "to ask Chevron to find another place for the work."
In a letter to the environment and forest ministry, Md Abdul Motaleb, former chief conservator of forest, said the Lawachhara forest, home to many rare flora and fauna, is exposed to poaching and logging.
He also said the Chevron's seismic survey in 2008 caused serious disturbance to wildlife in the forest.
"The locations of the wells are very close to the reserve forest. Constant noise and vibration from drilling will cause harm to the biodiversity of the forest," he said.
But the environment and forest ministry ignored the objections and recently okayed the project in Lawachhara National Park periphery, seven kilometres northeast of Srimangal in Moulvibazar.
Hasan Mahmud, state minister for environment and forest, said the ministry approved the project in the forest area for the sake of national interest.
"The government permitted them to explore gas in the protected area in the greater national interest. We need gas for development," said the minister.
The power, energy and mineral resources ministry recently asked the Moulvibazar deputy commissioner to allocate 15 acres of land to Petrobangla to allow Chevron use Gilachhara Tea Garden and Fulbari tea garden.
All these activities happen at a time when the government is working on a tougher wildlife preservation law to prohibit any activities within a radius of three kilometres outside the boundary of a forest.
Earlier, an explosion at a gas pad operated by another US oil company Occidental caused huge damage to the forest in 1997. The company later shut its operation in Bangladesh.
Newspapers reported another fire at Lawachhara during the Chevron's seismic survey in 2008. A probe committee was formed to look into the incident. It submitted a report saying the fire was not caused by Chevron.
The United States Assistance for International Development (USAID) had implemented a project on forest management, Nishorgo, in the Lawachhara National Park over the last few years.
During the tenure of the last caretaker government in 2007, former CCF AKM Samsuddin in a letter to the secretary of the environment and forest ministry objected to giving Chevron the permission for gas exploration there.
He said Lawachhara is one of the country's last tropical forests and home to seven of the ten species of primates available in Bangladesh. At least 49 Hoolock gibbons, a critically endangered species, were in the national park in 1997, according to a survey.
Chevron dug nearly 800 wells up to 21 metres deep in the Lawachhara forest during the seismic survey, the letter read.
"The Chevron's seismic survey was harmful to wildlife of the forest. Many wild animals left the forest and entered adjacent villages," the letter of CCF mentioned.
Many of the wild animals were captured and killed by locals, reported newspapers.
Asked about the violation of law, Chevron in a reply by e-mail said, "Chevron Bangladesh values all laws of the country it operates in and shall not conduct any activity until and unless it has full authorization to do so by the Government of Bangladesh."
On the seismic survey, a Chevron official said they knew about the letter of the former CCF.
Explaining its position the company said it took special precautions such as alternating seismic data cable lines along existing trails to avoid felling of trees in the forest.
On violation of Wildlife (Preservation) order 1973, Chevron said it got approval from an expert committee to go ahead with the project.
The committee was comprised of upazila nirbahi officers of Srimangal and Kamalganj, assistant conservator of forest of Moulvibazar, a manager from Petrobangla and an inspector from the department of environment.
In a report, the committee said extraction of gas from the wells will not be harmful to wildlife in the forest.
CHEVRON PAYS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Chevron financed the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the seismic survey done by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2007-08.
Its report said, "The survey did not harm the biodiversity of Lawachhara."
The IUCN has been a recipient of Chevron's financial support. In 2006, the IUCN head office received $46, 286,875 for implementation of environmental programmes worldwide.
This time Chevron hired Snow Mountain Engineering Corporation (SMEC) to conduct EIA and initial environmental examination (IEE) on gas exploration in the Lawachhara forest.
Chevron said it intends to drill wells in block-14 on approval of IEE and EIA reports by the energy ministry and Petrobangla.
Interestingly, Chevron Bangladesh, not the government, will pay the SMEC for conducting the IEE and EIA.
SMEC has started working on IEE and EIA in Dhaka and Moulvibazar, Chevron official Khan Md Ahsanullah said in an email message to The Daily Star in September.
Chevron said it has so far drilled about 16 wells in Bangladesh without any major accident.
NISHORGO AND LAWACHHARA FOREST ECOLOGY
The USAID funded project Nishorgo was implemented in the Lawachhara National Park and other protected forests -- Satchhari Reserve Forest, Teknaf Game Reserve, Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary and Rema Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary.
The sites are in the Surma basin in the northeast part of Bangladesh. The basin has been identified as the eastern fold belt, the most prosperous gas reserve in Bangladesh, Mohammed Tanzimuddin Khan, a researcher at the University of New England, Australia, mentioned in one of his articles.
An extensive census was done in Lawachhara forest under the Nishorgo Project. According to it, the forest has plants of 167 species, four species of amphibious animals, six species of reptile, 20 species of mammals, and 246 species of bird.
There are spiders of over a hundred species, different types of monkey, red jungle fowl, deer, crab, fishing cat, nearly extinct animals like gibbon, blackface monkey, mirage, modest monkey, Albino fishing cat, short-tail monkey, squirrel, snake, butterfly, different worms and insects, wild boar, lizard, marten and civet.
The plants include Chapalish, Dumur, Segun, Talsur, Batna, Awaal, Kanak, Bonak, Rata, Jarul, Amloki, Udol, Raktan, and Lotkon.
"Chevron should not explore gas in the periphery of Lawachhara. We only have this single patch of unique forest remaining. The government should not let anybody destroy it," said wildlife photographer Ronald Halder.
It would be an "attack on the forest," said Ronald.