Sustainable Land Management
Minister for political consensus
State Minister for Land Mustafizur Rahman yesterday stressed consensus among all political parties of the country to design an action plan for sustainable land management.
"The country's farmland is decreasing every day alongside deterioration of fertility. All the political parties should reach consensus to chalk out a plan to address the crisis", he said.
The parties are very busy with political issues like caretaker government, but they should put five times more attention on national issues like land, education, and health, he said.
The minister pointed out that making policies and law is important to ensure sustainable land management, but much more important is political commitment and political consensus.
Expressing concern over water table depletion due to irrigation, he said, "If we do not find a solution to this problem, it will create a disaster-like situation in the country in near future".
The state minister made his observation at a roundtable, "Sustainable land management: Bangladesh perspective", organised by the daily Prothom Alo at its office yesterday.
At the discussion, Environment Secretary Mesbah ul Alam shed light on the Sundarbans, saying that the ecosystem and beauty of the forest is being destroyed gradually because of vessels' movement inside the forest and setting up of industries adjacent to it.
He laid emphasis on coordination among different government agencies to implement the existing laws to protect the forest, wetlands, and farmlands as those are interconnected.
Brac University Vice Chancellor Prof Ainun Nishat expressed his opinion for an imposition of restriction on misuse of land. He said agriculture, urbanisation, industrialisation, forests, and fishing should be elaborately considered for proper land management.
He also suggested the land of shoals be used for productivity.
All the speakers emphasised population control on urgent basis for resolving land crisis.
Prothom Alo joint editor Abdul Quayum moderated the function while Environment Joint Secretary Dr Mohammad Nasiruddin, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) research director Dr M Asaduzzaman, and Dhaka University's Prof Nurul Islam Nazem, among others, also spoke.
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