Why this constant onslaught on nature?

It's frustrating to see the total indifference of those in charge of saving our forests, hills and rivers when, one by one, these irreplaceable natural elements are being ravaged or degraded. Over the years, we have published countless reports showing how we are losing nature's precious gifts to human greed. Sadly, such reports did little to stir the conscience of the relevant authorities. On Tuesday, this daily again published a picture in which a hill in Chinipara of Bandarban's Chimbuk area is seen being ravaged by local influentials to build a road to carry illegally felled trees. One crime is being committed to enable another. We must ask: how can people so openly destroy hills and trees despite there being departments responsible for them?

Politically powerful quarters across the country are similarly involved in all kinds of illegal businesses that are directly affecting our nature. What's more shocking is how many government projects have been undertaken over the years without the slightest consideration for nature. Building a residential training facility in Khuniya Palong of Ramu, Cox's Bazar or a road through Ramu reserve forest are just two among many examples of state-led onslaughts on forests. If this trend continues, the government can hardly expect to fulfil its COP commitment of stopping deforestation and increasing forestland by 25 percent by 2030.

Besides destroying forests, hill cutting has also remained rampant. We have seen how vested quarters cut hills in Chattogram's Lohagara upazila for constructing houses, and how many small and medium-sized hills in Tangail were cut to fill up low-lying areas and wetlands. Again, all of these were done without any consideration for the environment or the ecosystem of the areas involved. In many cases, the local administration was allegedly complicit in such crimes, while the Department of Environment (DoE) also completely failed to do its job.

But whatever the reason, nothing can justify hill cutting or forest destruction. Those who are destroying our environment and those responsible for them must understand that unless we stop such practices, the environmental cost would soon be unrecoverable.