Background of forest in Bnagladesh: In South Asia, Bangladesh is located in the northeastern part. It is situated between 20° 34' and 26° 38' north latitude and between 88° 01' and 92° 41' east longitude. It lays on active delta of three major rivers viz Padma, Meghna and Jamuna and their numerous tributaries. The country covers an area of 1,47,570 sq.km and bounded by India from the west, north and most of east. Myanmar lies on the southeastern edge and Bay of Bengal on the south.

A small tracts of higher land occur in Sylhet, Mymensingh, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) regions. The southwestern region consists of a large number of dead and Cut-off Rivers. The coastal part of Bangladesh includes the famous Sundarbans Mangrove Forest. A number of depressed basins are found in the district of greater Mymensingh and Sylhet, which are inundated by fresh water during the monsoon that gradually dry out during the dry winter season. These depressed basins are known as ‘Haor’.

Climate of Bangladesh is sub-tropical and monsoon rainfall varies from 1200-3500mm. Rice is the major cereal crop while jute, sugarcane, and tea are the main cash crops. Other important crops are wheat, tobacco, pulses, vegetable and tree fruits. Garments, raw and manufactured jute goods, tea, fish, and, hides and skins are the chief exports.

Bangladesh is noted for its estuarine environment, yet less than 10% of its total water flow originates from its own catchments and rest comes from India, Nepal and Bhutan. Normally, 20% of the country gets flooded during the monsoon period.

Land & Forest Areas: Of the total area of Bangladesh, agricultural land makes up 65% of its geographic surface, forest lands account for almost 17%, while urban areas are 8% of the area. Water and other land use account for the remaining 10%. The total forestland includes classified and unclassified state lands and homestead forests and tea/rubber gardens. In case of private forests, the data represent the tree-covered areas.

Of the 2.52 million hectare Forest Land, Forest Department manages 1.52 million hectare which includes Reserved, Protected and Acquired forest and Mangrove forest on the newly accreted land in estuaries of major rivers. The remaining 0.73 million hectare of land designated as Unclassed State Forest (USF) are under the control of Ministry of Land. Village forests (homestead land) form the most productive tree resource base in the country and accounts for 0.27 million hectare.