Remarks

Launching Ceremony

Arannayk Foundation

February 9, 2005

Honorable Environment Minister, Environment Secretary, my colleague Mr. Gene George – the US Government Representative on the Board and currently the Chair of the Arannayk foundation, other Board of Directors of Arannayk, the Executive Director of Arannayk, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, as-salaamu alaikum, namaskar and good afternoon.

It’s a genuine pleasure for me to speak on this occasion. I profoundly thank the Board of Directors of the Arannayk Foundation for inviting me to witness the formal launching of the Foundation. Our two governments have been working together for years to establish this unique entity. I term this occasion, therefore, as an historic moment.

Let me take a few moments, ladies and gentlemen, to give you a quick picture of what Arannayk is all about. In 2000, the Government of Bangladesh and my Government signed agreements under a debt-for-nature swap mechanism pursuant to the U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act. Under this arrangement, both governments worked to establish an independent entity named the Arannayk foundation, or the Bangladesh Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation. The Foundation has the mandate to administer a small grants program for tropical forest conservation in Bangladesh. I believe that many of you here are aware that Bangladesh is the first country in the world to have been benefited from this debt-for-nature mechanism. It is always nice to experience a first, as Bangladesh has in the past two weeks with its cricket team winning its very first one-day international series.

The United States has a long history of supporting sustainable natural resource management. Unfortunately, we continue to be faced with an uphill battle. The current acceleration in the rate of extinction of species is largely the result of human proliferation and environmental misbehavior. Given the need to modify this behavior, the concept of biodiversity conservation has emerged and become recognized as integral to responsible, or sustainable, development. Biodiversity conservation, therefore, is now a crucial component of the U.S. Government’s development agenda.

Though I was raised in the heart of New York City, not noted as being one of the heavily forested areas of the U.S., I, like many of my fellow Americans, appreciate the majesty and value of the diversity of a vibrant forest. In Bangladesh, I’ve had the opportunity of experiencing such. Exactly one year ago I witnessed the launching of the NISHORGO program of the Forest Department, which is supported by USAID. The launching took place in the Bhawal National Park and I was struck by beauty and splendor of this forest. What this said to me is it can happen in Bangladesh.

However, there are disconcerting signs for this country. The experts tell me that if the current trend is allowed to continue, deforestation will strip this beautiful country of its forest-based biodiversity resources in less than 15 years. Distinguished guests, we are not talking decades, but we’re looking at 15 short years and you cannot afford to let it happen. The disappearance of tropical forests will be closely followed by declining livelihood opportunities for millions of poor people of this country. Over 90% of the population living in and around the forests depends directly or indirectly on this dwindling resource base. You need a number of champions to take on the complex conservation issues involving legal reform and enforcement, involve communities and government in participatory forest resource co-management, promote alternative livelihood options, change resource use practices and modify the behavior of powerful interests. This is quite a challenge for any group, but one Arannayk it poised to address.

The Foundation has developed a strategy based on financing or co-financing innovative interventions and services for forest biodiversity protection efforts by universities, NGOs, the private sector and, in exceptional circumstances, the Government of Bangladesh, acting either individually or in consortia. The focus will be on the high priority forests identified by the Foundation.

Arannayk is, as I mentioned earlier, a unique entity primarily because of its origins and administrative management structure. Arannayk has a Board of Directors consisting of representatives from the Governments of the United States and Bangladesh and a majority representation from a broad range of non-governmental related interests within Bangladesh. It is the desire of both governments to ensure that the Foundation has civil society ownership and control, thus the majority make up of the Board from the NGO community.

As I experienced, Bhawal National Park is proof Bangladesh is endowed with productive land resources. It just takes a concerted effort to cultivate what you have. I strongly believe that the Arannayk Foundation has the potential in the next few years to transform the protected forest areas into biodiversity sources of global standing, as well as turning all the suitable land of the country into productive forests.

Traditional approaches towards guarding forest resources are failing due to a number of demographic, socioeconomic, institutional and other reasons everyone here is clearly cognizant of and need not be said. It is indeed time to rethink environmental governance and I was pleased to see that the Government was opening up to the concept of decentralization and new management approaches. I urge Arannayk to take advantage of this. Bangladesh is a position to address the challenge of balancing the implications of an expanding population and the need for economic growth on a diminishing environmental resource base. You cannot succeed alone in addressing this monumental task. I would, therefore, like to emphasize the need to build trust and partnerships across the spectrum of your society. It is for you to do, but rest assured the U.S. Government is committed to standing behind and fully supporting such an initiative.

With the launching of the Arannayk Foundation, Bangladesh is moving forward towards conserving its forest biodiversity and natural resource heritage so five years from now, we can all plan to visit other parks as beautiful as Bhawal National Park. In conclusion I wish resounding success to the Arannayk Foundation. Thank you again for inviting me here and giving me the chance to say a few words about this important initiative.

    

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Note:  A Bangla translation of this article is also available from The American Center.  If you are interested in the translation, please call The American Center Press Section (Tel: 8813440-4, Fax: 9881677; e-mail: DhakaPA@state.gov; Website: dhaka.usembassy.gov).