TDS Desk:

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has canceled the “Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park, Moulvibazar (Phase 1)” prioritising the conservation of biodiversity in the Lathitila forest.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the ECNEC with its Chairperson and Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus in the chair held at the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.

Briefing the reporters after the meeting, Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud said the ECNEC has canceled the project as the Lathitila Forest is a hotspot of biodiversity..Constructing a safari park in this area would put negative impacts on the forest ecosystem, he added.

Earlier, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recommended canceling the approval of a safari park project in the Lathitila reserved forest in Moulvibazar.

“Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park, Moulvibazar (Phase 1)” project was approved on conditions in an ECNEC meeting on November 9, 2023.

Following the ECNEC meeting’s decision, a four-member committee was formed on August 21, 2024 by the ministry to assess the project’s impacts on biodiversity and provide recommendations.

The committee was comprised of former chief conservator of forests Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmed (convener) and Dr Mustafa Firoz, professor of zoology in Jahangirnagar University; Farid Uddin Ahmed, former executive director of Arannayk Foundation; and Imran Ahmed, Conservator of forests for wildlife and nature conservation, (members). Later, Pavel Partha, director of the Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge, was included as a member of the committee.

After considering the potential effects of the proposed safari park on the forest’s biodiversity and giving importance to the opinion of local stakeholders, the committee concluded that a safari park should not be established in this natural forest. That is why the committee recommended cancellation of the project.

The Forest Department was instructed to work on conserving the degraded forest areas and its threatened biodiversity.