A Half-yearly Peer Reviewed Journal of Bangladesh Forest Research Institute
Ecosystem exists at all scales. Ecosystem ranges from a grain of soil to the entire planet and include
forests, rivers, wetlands, grasslands, estuaries and coral reefs. The global economy has seen incredible
growth over recent decades; growth that has been fuelled by the erosion of the planet’s natural assets.
Ecosystem degradation is an environmental problem that diminishes the capacity of species to survive.
Ecological restoration has a growing role in policy aimed at reversing the widespread effects of
environmental degradation that includes activities to assist the recovery of ecosystem structure and
function; and the associated provision of goods and services. On 1st March, 2019, the United Nations
(UN) General Assembly (New York, USA) declared the decade of 2021-2030 the “UN Decade on
Ecosystem Restoration”. The purpose has been to recognize the need massively accelerate global
restoration of degraded ecosystems, and to fight the climate heating crisis and protect biodiversity on the
planet. The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world; and it is known for its’ rich
biodiversity. Due to the increasein salinity, natural disasters, sea-level rise, illegal felling of trees and
over-exploitation of scanty available natural resources, the Sundarbans is losing its rich biodiversity.
Thus, this review aims in highlighting the restoration initiatives taken to reverse and conserve the Indian
Sundarbans ecosystem. Nurturing this vision, there are three main goals of the UN Decade’s strategy:
prevention of degradation, increasing multiple benefits and implementing the idea of ecosystem
restoration in education system. There could be a strong corporation between Indian and Bangladesh
Governments for long term, sustainable and holistic management of the entire Sundarbans region.
The rural people depend largely on homestead forestry for their fuel, energy and house
building materials (Alam et al. 1988). Deforestation of this homestead forstry have been causing
severe environmental degradation and poor yield
of crops, livestock, fisheries, etc. (Haq 1986).
Considering these facts, the present study was
conducted to find out the perception of the
farmers regarding the impact of homestead
afforestation and deforestation on environmental
upgradation and degradation respectively.
The Salna village under Kaultia Union
which is adjacent to the national forest area of
Gazipur district was selected for thisstudy. Out
of 378 farmers 100 were selected randomly as
sample. Data were collected through personal
interview, using a semi-structured interview
schedule during October24 toNovember23,1996.
The trend of plant population was measured by
considering 1975 as the baseline year and then the
change was shown after 10 years (1985), 5 years
(1990), 5 years (1995) and the study year which is
1996. The 5 years gap was used for two times
because it was assumed that the awareness
programme regarding deforestation wasstrengthened from that time. The number of tree during
the past period was measured on the basis of
number mentioned by the farmers depending on
their memory. For this reason, the farmers aged
above 40 years were selected for the study
Welcome to the Bangladesh Journal of Forest Science (BJFS) – a leading platform for advancing the knowledge and understanding of forest science in Bangladesh and beyond. Established with a commitment to excellence, BJFS serves as a cornerstone for researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts dedicated to the sustainable management and conservation of forest ecosystems.