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| Eco-park |
Natural forests of Bangladesh are under
constant pressure and have already been significantly been degraded and
fragmented. Out of the total area of Bangladesh is 14.76 million ha, merely
1.44 million ha is covered by forest (close to 10%). Much of the forest land
does not have satisfactory tree cover and just 0.84 million ha (about 5.8%) of
the state forest land has good forest cover. Concentrated efforts have recently
been made as an attempt to restore the unique condition of native forest
ecosystems in some critical forest areas throughout the country. Several
protected areas, e.g. National park, Wildlife Sanctuary, Game Reserve was
created to conserve the biodiversity. Bangladesh Government has taken
initiatives to establish eco-parks at different places throughout the country.
The government prepared Eco-tourism Development and Management Plan since 2004,
and continuing, until now. The first eco-park has been inaugurated at
Chandranath Hill and surrounding areas, located in Sitakund upazila of
Chittagong. This project was initiated in 1999-2000. After that another four
eco-parks has been established throughout the country namely, Madhutila
Eco-park, Madhob-kunda eco-park, Banskhlai eco-park and Kua-kata eco-park.
Eco-tourism is a recent term for Bangladesh,
and most of the people are not familiar with this term. The sustainability of
eco-tourism in tourist’s spots mainly depends on consistent arrival of visitors
to the destination without destroying the natural resource. Thus, it is
important to ensure that the visitors are satisfied that the natural areas are
not being degraded and environment remains sound and free from pollution, and
that quality services are being provided. At the same time, the local people
must be benefited from the development of tourism. Eco-tourism acts as an
instrument to mobilize the forest dwellers to co-operate and work with the
park-managers to protect and conserve the biological resources.
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