Opportunities and challenges of urban and peri-urban forestry and greening in Bangladesh : Dhaka city as a case

Sammanfattning: This research discusses the opportunities and challenges of the urban and peri-urban forestry and greening (UPFG) in Bangladesh taken Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh as a case. The conceptual overview of UPFG, overall description of the present status of green resources in and around Dhaka city as well as current efforts for greening were the background to propose the ways to transforming the mega city Dhaka into a greener tropical metropolis in the long run. The green resources in Dhaka are overwhelmed by a number of limitation inherent to the exceptional mode of urban development, rapid increase of urban population, transformation of green and other open spaces into other types of land use, lack of proper planning and implementation and management restrictions as well. Nevertheless, this research reveals that there are ample opportunities yet remain to promote UPFG in and around Dhaka. The possible opportunities are to the protection of existing green areas such as parks, garden, play grounds etc., increase roadside, avenue plantation and rooftop gardening, introduce afforestation and nursery activities in newly developing areas in between built up and periurban, promote homestead gardening and social or community forestry in peri-urban areas. But several recurrent obstacles must be overcome in the way of the planning and execution of more green areas in urban landscapes. The present study recommends that government should take immediate steps to establish the institutional setup to facilitate the UPFG programmes. A comprehensive and long-term plan coupled with adequate and sustained resource allocation is also the essential factor in UPFG development context. Moreover, coordination amongst concerned ministries and governmental departments, patronization of private-sector, NGOs participation and contribution, enhancement of green awareness of citizen and ensuring their active participation and collaboration with donor agencies can accelerate the greening process through the UPFG conceptual framework in Dhaka as well as other cities of Bangladesh.