Representatives from the wood collectors (Bawali), Golpata harvesters, honey and beeswax collectors (Moual) and fishermen (Jele) communities said this at a workshop on 'Customary use of biodiversity and traditional practices in the Sundarbans' in the city's LGED auditorium.

Abdul Majid, a Bawali (wood collector), said "Why should we destroy the Sundarbans? What will our children do if the forest disappears? The forest saves us from flood".

The seminar was focused on Article 10 (c) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that provides a strong basis for recognition of the connection between local and indigenous communities and conservation and use of biological resources and the workshop was organised to make the policymakers aware of this truth.

Nijera Kori, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Environment Lawyers' Association (Bela), Forest People's Programme, UK and Unnayan Onneshan jointly organised the workshop.

Dr Chowdhury Sajjadul Karim, adviser for Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock, Environment and Forest, said it will not be possible to save biodiversity in Sundarbans impact zone only by imposing restrictions on the 3.5 million people, rather they can be sensitised not to exploit beyond sustainable level.

While presenting his case study on CBD article (c), Dewan Muhammad Humayun Kabir said the present policies are not equipped to achieve the goal of protecting biodiversity and the lives and livelihoods of different communities in the Sundarbans.

"Due to hostile institutional attitude, the provisions of the Forest Act, 1927 fail to give any protection to the customary rights of the ethnic communities,” he added.

Stressing the involvement of ethnic communities, Dr Maurizio Farhan Ferrari of Forest People's Programme, UK said indigenous people and local community represent 95 percent of the world's cultural diversity and cultural diversity is threatened by the loss of biodiversity and vis-à-vis.

"In Thailand the forest people make a bamboo case to keep the umbilical cord and placenta and tie it to the sacred trees, they never cut that tree. This is symbolical the relation between nature and man", he said, adding, "you recognise that relation too- you bury the umbilical cord and placenta in the soil".

Dr Ainun Nishat, country director of World Conservation Union (IUCN), said the community must get the access to resources and they should be strongly involved in natural resource management.

"The communities possess indigenous knowledge and sharp instinct, they have very good understanding of this inhospitable and hostile environment", he added.

However, he expressed concern over the increasing level of salinity, saying the Sundari trees are getting rot in the top and dying. There will be an ecological disaster in the largest and unique mangrove forest, he alleged.

Munda community members presented a solidarity song while S Rizwana Hasan of Bela discussed the legal issues regarding biodiversity. Khushi Kabir, coordinator, Nijera Kori, chaired the session.