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Bangladesh Forest Department

department · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Md. Amir Hosain Chowdhury
Role
Chief Conservator of Forests
Annual budget
—
Staff
—
Established
1971
Legal basis
Forest Act, 1927 (amended 1989 and 2000); Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012; Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995; Rules of Business 1996

Executing the BNP government's 25-crore tree plantation programme (first phase: 5 crore trees by end-2026) with Rangpur district inauguration in April 2026; leading the third national Faunal Red List update (2,200 species, IUCN contract signed January 2026); administering the most recent Sundarbans tiger census result of 125 tigers (2024 survey, 9.65% increase since 2018, 2.64 per 100 km² density); implementing the newly enacted Wildlife Conservation and Protection Bill, 2026 (passed April 10) replacing the 2012 Act; managing Bangladesh's 6,017 km² Sundarbans portion and an ongoing coastal mangrove plantation programme targeting 200 hectares of new plantation in FY2026.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

Forest Department established 1870 during British Raj; Bangladesh assumed stewardship post-independence 1971. Legal basis is the Forest Act 1927 (as inherited and amended 1989, 2000), which remains the primary operative statute; the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Bill passed April 10, 2026 replaces the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012 and gives BFD updated enforcement tools -- it is not yet gazetted as an Act. Head office: Mohakhali, Dhaka. Chief Conservator of Forests Md. Amir Hosain Chowdhury appointed March 25, 2020 (confirmed in role as of January 2026 per IUCN contract signing). The 25-crore (250 million) tree pledge is a BNP election manifesto commitment now government policy under Environment Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo; the Forest Department is the implementing agency. Most recent Sundarbans tiger census (2024 survey, published October 2024): 125 adult tigers at 2.64/100 km² density, up from 114 (2018) and 106 (2014); a new 2026 census is reportedly being planned by Indian Sundarbans authorities but no Bangladesh BFD 2026 survey was confirmed in sources as of May 2026. Mangrove plantation programme: BFD has planted >200,000 ha cumulatively since 1960s; FY2026 targets 200 ha new coastal char plantations. Annual budget for BFD alone not found in public sources; parent ministry MoEFCC FY2025-26 allocation is Tk 2,144 crore per the ministry JSON already in this dataset. staff_count: not published in any accessible source as of verification date. CITES national authority: the Forest Department is the designated Management Authority for Bangladesh under CITES.

Sources