By Md Aynal Haque

RAJSHAHI, Feb 6, 2024 (BSS)- Social forestation has benefited around 850
people, including 250 women most of them are marginalized in the region,
providing dividends of their legitimate share for looking after trees.

Besides, the participatory social afforestation programme has improved living
and livelihood conditions of the beneficiary poor and landless farmers in the
region, including its vast Barind tract, through increasing their income to
some extent as they get profit share after being sold trees following 10
years of plantation.

Rafiquzzaman Shah, divisional forest officer (DFO), said that the
participatory afforestation activities have been expedited with the main
thrust of encouraging the rural people in planting saplings and nursing of
the transplanted trees.

The department has been implementing various lucrative programmes in all 31
upazilas of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Natore and Naogaon districts, he said.

People of the respective areas were given responsibilities to look after the
planted saplings and they get 55 per cent share of the sale after 10 years of
plantation while 20 per cent and five percent are distributed among land
owners and local government institutions concerned.

The beneficiary people got around Taka 3.12 crore while the land owners got
Taka 40.35 lakh and Union Parishads (UPs) got Taka 24.85 lakh in the last two
years.

Successful implementations of the social forestry programme always supplement
the government's poverty reduction effort while facing the adverse impact of
climate change in the drought-prone areas.

Profitable afforestation activities encouraged many people to plant saplings
of wood, medicinal and fruit-bearing trees at homesteads, roadsides, office
premises, embankments, forest areas, religious institutions' premises and
other places.

DFO Rafiquzzaman Shah said they are implementing a five-year project in 32
upazilas of Rajshahi, Naogaon, Chapainawabganj and Natore districts since
November, 2020 last with the main thrust of conserving and improving
biodiversity in the region at present.

The Taka 35.13-crore project titled "Environment Protection through Social
Forestry in the Rajshahi Barind Tract Region" has provision of improving the
eco-friendly natural tourist spot of Altadighi National Park at Dhamoirhat
upazila in Naogaon district.

With intervention of the scheme, around 4,150 people have started getting
capacity building support through their involvement in social forestry
activities related to biodiversity protection together with adaptation to
climate changes.

Apart from this, 3,250 households of ethnic minorities and other less-
incoming groups are getting assistance of socio-economic development through
their participation in forestry activities and different income-generating
ventures.

Various infrastructures, including observation tower, seating bench, road,
parking area, concrete guide map, footpath, toilet and water supply will be
constructed centering the park.

It also has a provision of distributing around six lakh saplings of fruit,
forest and herbal trees among poor community people for transplantation free
of cost so that they can meet up their demands of nutrition and fuel.

DFO Rafiq Shah said they will generate 600-kilometer strip forest on a
participatory basis, 100-hectare woodlot garden and 50-hectare garden with
saplings of endangered, extinct and long-term tree species during the project
period until June 2025.

They will also transplant 40,000 saplings of domestic and ornamental plant
species, three lakh palm trees, 5,000 stick-plants.

Role of the palm tree is very important to reduce the rate of casualty caused
by a thunderbolt that claims the lives of both people and domestic animals
every year. Herbal orchard will be generated with around 1,250 saplings of
medicinal plants.

Enrichment plantation will be made on 20 hectares of land for development of
natural Shal forest in addition to establishing two arboretums with extinct
species of trees and generation of herbal orchards with medicinal plants.

Seating seats, footpaths and other essential infrastructures will be
constructed on the embankments and adjacent areas of Sonadighi and Dibor
Dighi to make those attractive to the visitors and tourists.

Beneficiary people and community watchers will be imparted training on
orchard creation and its management, environment conservation, adverse impact
of climate change along with its adaptation and mitigation, eco-friendly eco-
tourism management and wildlife conservation.