Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury said that steps have been taken to recover encroached forest land across the country.
He said this in response to a question at the session of the 12th atiya Sangsad(JS) on Tuesday (February 6).
Saber Hossain Chowdhury said that 15.58 percent of the total area of the country has forest land. The amount of forest land under the control of the Forest Department is 10.74 percent. In order to increase the amount of forest land in the country, significant steps have been taken to recover encroached forest land.
He also said that legal measures are being taken against the encroachment of forest land and so far 7376 eviction proposals have been sent to the district administration, 13 eviction cases filed by the district administration, 852 civil cases in the lower court, 122 writ cases in the high court, 87 appeal/misc cases in the High Court. , 7532 POR cases and 6130 cases have been filed under other systems. 26474.07 acres of encroached forest land has been reclaimed and afforested till December last year by the Forest Department's own initiative and with the help of law enforcement agencies. In the current financial year 2023-24, a total of 8200 acres of encroached forest land has been restored and afforestation target has been set.
The Minister said that in implementing the government's SDGs and the 8th Five Year Plan (2021-2025), the amount of forest cover and tree cover nationwide by the Forest Department will be increased to 15.2 and 24 percent by 2025 respectively. Under the said plan, afforestation of 7220 hectares of plain land and 130580 hectares of hilly unprotected forest land, 500 hectares of agar garden to restore the biodiversity of Shalban; 15,000 km of strip plantations and participatory forest management programs involving local poor communities are ongoing. Moreover, with the aim of increasing afforestation, 14 thousand 498.5 hectares of block and 1 thousand 701 km of strip plantations and 9 thousand 405 hectares of mangrove plantations have been created in the fiscal year 2022-23.