Govt to strengthen climate resilience of vulnerable coastal belt

City Desk :

The government has moved forward with an important initiative to strengthen climate resilience in the country’s vulnerable southern coastal belt through the introduction of advanced, technology-based forest management and restoration systems.

The Forest Department under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change will implement a project to this end titled “Project for Enhancing Coastal Resilience Through Technology-based Forest Management’ by March 2029.

Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud has already approved the project while it has been placed before the last meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for its appraisal, reports BSS.

The Taka 35.97 crore project will be jointly financed by the Government of Bangladesh and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with JICA contributing a grant of Taka 32.33 crore. A Planning Commission official said the southern coastal region-including Barishal, Barguna, Patuakhali and surrounding areas-has been identified as the priority zone due to high exposure to climate change-induced disasters such as cyclones, tidal surges, sea-level rise and saline intrusion.

“These impacts have severely disrupted local ecosystems, reduced vegetative cover, and increased threats to coastal communities.

International climate research groups, including assessments, have repeatedly warned that Bangladesh’s coastal belt is among the world’s most vulnerable climate hotspots, requiring immediate investment in adaptive technologies and ecological restoration,” he added.

This technical assistant project seeks to strengthen coastal resilience through the restoration of degraded forest land, particularly mangrove and protective greenbelt areas.

Key components include the development of technology-assisted forest restoration planning, integrating geospatial modeling, remote sensing, and advanced monitoring tools. The project also aims to introduce collaborative forest management involving local communities, co-management committees, and conservation groups to ensure long-term sustainability.

The Forest Department estimates that Bangladesh has lost nearly 1.5 million hectares of forest in the past two decades due to extreme weather events, rapid urbanization, shrimp farming expansion, and unplanned land conversion.

Experts say that the decline of mangrove cover-especially in buffer zones outside the Sundarbans-has intensified risks of embankment erosion, loss of biodiversity and weakened disaster preparedness in rural settlements.

Officials said the project is aligned with the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) which emphasize ecosystem-based adaptation, community-led protection, and modernized forest management systems.

The initiative also complements the government’s coastal afforestation programme, which has been underway for decades to expand green belts along the shoreline.

A Special Project Evaluation Committee (SPEC) meeting held on 13 July 2025 endorsed the project with specific observations, including strengthening GIS-based decision-making, enhancing the capacity of field-level foresters, and ensuring transparent data-sharing mechanisms.

The sponsoring ministry has since incorporated these recommendations. The project received final approval on 24 September 2025.

The project has been listed under non-approved new projects in the FY 2025-26 Annual Development Programme (ADP), enabling foreign assistance mobilization and preparatory activities.

Officials hoped that the project will help restore degraded landscapes, improve biodiversity, and build long-term climate resilience in coastal zones, contributing to national climate goals and SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).