The government of Bangladesh and JICA
[Dhaka 09.01.2025] Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed a record of discussion
(R/D) with the Economic Relations Division (ERD), Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate
Change (MoEFCC), and Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) of the Government of Bangladesh
(GoB) for the project titled ‘Project for Enhancing Coastal Resilience through Technology-based Forest
Management’.
Under this technical cooperation agreement, JICA will support BFD in implementing comprehensive forest
management utilizing advanced technologies in the country’s coastal zone. The project is set to span four
years (May 2025-April 2029) and will involve Japanese experts in necessary fields with relevant BFD
counterparts at both HQs and field levels. The signing ceremony took place yesterday, January 8, 2025,
at the conference room of ERD in the capital’s Agargaon area.
To mark the formalization of this significant project, Ms. Miura Mari, Senior Representative, JICA
Bangladesh Office, signed the R/D with Dr. A. K. M. Shahabuddin, Additional Secretary, ERD, Md. Amir
Hosain Chowdhury, Chief Conservator of Forests, BFD, and Ms. Fatima Tuz Zohora, Joint Secretary,
MoEFCC.
This technical cooperation project aims to enhance the BFD’s capacity for forest landscape restoration in
coastal areas by promoting technology-based forest management planning and monitoring. According to
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Bangladesh coast is one of the most
vulnerable areas to climate change and is exposed to frequent cyclones and storm surges. As a result,
the region is experiencing significant coastal degradation, severely impacting coastal forests, particularly
mangrove ecosystems. In response, BFD has taken a number of initiatives to expand coastal forestry.
The project will build on these initiatives by identifying and taking advanced forest planning and
monitoring approaches to ensure effective coastal landscape restoration and coastal resilience to mitigate
climate change impacts.
During the signing ceremony, Ms. Miura Mari, Senior Representative, JICA Bangladesh Office has
appreciated ERD, MoEFCC, and BFD for their enormous effort on a project formulation. She has
mentioned that this technical cooperation is the first attempt at cooperation in the forestry sector in JICA’s
cooperation to Bangladesh that is highly significant to disaster risk reduction, livelihood improvement of
local community and climate change mitigation. Given the example of the forest conservation effort in
Japan, she emphasized the necessity of collective effort to make this project successful.
Dr. A. K. M. Shahabuddin, Additional Secretary, ERD, expressed his appreciation to JICA, MoEFCC and
BFD for realizing the project and requested MoEFCC and BFD to accelerate the implementation process.
Md. Amir Hosain Chowdhury, Chief Conservator of Forests, BFD said, Bangladesh is a densely populated
country, and only 14% of the area is covered by forests. There are many challenges in the planning and
monitoring of the forest resources, including a lack of modern technology to conserve the forests;
therefore, BFD will be benefitted by this project and happy to be a part of JICA's first cooperation in the
forestry sector in Bangladesh.
Ms. Fatema Tuz Zohora, Joint Secretary, MoEFCC, said natural calamities are very severe in
Bangladesh; therefore, forestry is playing a significant role. Climate change impacts, especially sea level
rise and salinity intrusion, has triggered vulnerability in the coastal zone; therefore, the project will support
the conservation of forest resources using modern technology, including the capacity development of BFD
officials. The ministry is looking forward to having more cooperation with JICA in the future.