JICA to support Forest Department to enhance coastal resilience

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will support Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) in implementing comprehensive forest management utilizing advanced technologies in the country’s coastal zone.
 
To this end, JICA has signed a record of discussion with the Economic Relations Division (ERD), Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and BFD for the project titled “Project for Enhancing Coastal Resilience through Technology-based Forest Management”, said a JICA press release today.

The project is set to span four years (May 2025 to April 2029) and will involve Japanese experts in necessary fields with relevant BFD counterparts at both headquarters and field levels.

This technical cooperation project aims to enhance the BFD’s capacity for forest landscape restoration in coastal areas by promoting technology-based forest management planning and monitoring.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Bangladesh coast is one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change and is exposed to frequent cyclones and storm surges.

As a result, the region is experiencing significant coastal degradation, severely impacting coastal forests, particularly mangrove ecosystems.

In response, BFD has taken a number of initiatives to expand coastal forestry. The project will build on these initiatives by identifying and taking advanced forest planning and monitoring approaches to ensure effective coastal landscape restoration and coastal resilience to mitigate climate change impacts.

Miura Mari, Senior Representative, JICA Bangladesh Office has appreciated ERD, MoEFCC, and BFD for their enormous effort on a project formulation.

She mentioned that this technical cooperation is the first attempt at cooperation in the forestry sector in JICA’s cooperation to Bangladesh that is highly significant to disaster risk reduction, livelihood improvement of local community and climate change mitigation.

Dr AKM Shahabuddin, Additional Secretary, ERD, expressed his appreciation to JICA, MoEFCC and BFD for realizing the project and requested MoEFCC and BFD to accelerate the implementation process.

Md. Amir Hosain Chowdhury, Chief Conservator of Forests, BFD said that there are many challenges in the planning and monitoring of the forest resources, including a lack of modern technology to conserve the forests.

So, BFD will be benefitted by this project and happy to be a part of JICA’s first cooperation in the forestry sector in Bangladesh, he added.

Fatema Tuz Zohora, Joint Secretary, MoEFCC, said the project will support the conservation of forest resources using modern technology, including the capacity development of BFD officials.

The ministry is looking forward to having more cooperation with JICA in the future, she added.