Ahmed Gias:
How indispensable the tamarisk tree for Coxs Bazar sea coast ? The research on ‘ what are the ideal models of a solid Bio shield to protect the sea coasts during the tidal bores ,cyclones and storms ‘ has never been taken place by the environment scientists in this country so far .

In the meantime , as my research says that , merely 1 level of Bio shield is made by planting the tamarisk trees in Coxs Bazar.

How fit and solid this kind of Bio shield is? Questions remain to the mass people and among the scientists .

How much role did the Bio shield of tamarisk trees play in the cyclone of 1991 or how much are they protecting the erosion of the sea right now ?

We noticed that , the tamarisk trees were rooted down in the cyclone of 91 , later in 99/2000, a series of tamarisks trees had been planted which had been grown up on the naked beach of the sea. But surprisingly the erosion’s increased many fold , and the blame goes to climate change .

As a result , the plantations of tamarisk trees increased ,not only that, this year the forestry department has decided to plant more tamarisk trees on the beach .

The matter of fact is that , once these lands possessed the tamarisk trees and but all were destroyed by the sea erosions .

The reality is , the stalwart tamarisk tree is the 3rd or 4th level of the plant.

The interesting fact is , the dunes are gone and the erosions are frequent for such kinds of tamarisk trees .

The swift winds coming from hundreds miles away are barred by this stalwarts tamarisk trees and forced get back to down, as a result the pressures are created and the sands of the dunes are removed .

You will be able to understand this theory, if you walk by the paddy field after a cyclone hit .

The paddy field is situated by the road side where many big trees are available , you will see that ,the paddy plants are protected but the trees are rooted away .

This kind of incidents take place frequently , because the paddy plantations in our agriculture do not follow the roles of Bio shield .

Same thing happened in the Cox’s Bazar sea beach .

The truth is, a blue economy can be made by creating an ideal Bio shield .

It is believed that, the sea breeze is good for health , but it is not true always . Some time breeze with bad odor blows over the sea .

Then people get sick , and the cyclones destroy the homes ,injure the people ,damage the trees .

To defend this attack , the nature automatically creates a barrier by itself ,which is called the natural Bio shield .

But the debate continues among the scientists as there are almost 400 definitions of environmental science .

I have taken some initiative to give an idea of an ideal Bio shield , my expectations are , in the future , some scientist or experts might ponder about it and bring the facts in to the attention of respected authorities . my ideal Bio shield is as follows.

1* Snail and Oyster play an important role to create a solid beach which is known as the eco system engineering.

These creatures are the first elements of Bio shield. The oyster which is called the ‘ guard of the sea ‘ and’ water cleaner ‘ cleans almost 24 to 95 gallons of water in a single day .

It absorbs the niters and ammonia of the water and paves the way for other animal to live . Moreover it contributes a lot in protecting the decay of the soil and it builds the bank of the sea.

This is why the importance of an oyster cannot be described in words. It would have been not possible for other animals to survive if there were no existences of oysters .

There are habitations for oysters from the Bakhakali channel to Saint Martin island . The pearls can be grown from it as well .

A study of an era ago, suggests that, there were 142 kinds of sea oysters and 159 kinds of snails .

Among them ,the pearls can be collected from 30 different kinds of oysters. Economically, a pearl cultivation is possible from 3 kinds of oysters .

At the end of the spring ,the oysters lay the eggs and it breeds on August . Every female oyster lays 7,5 million to 200 million eggs in her life time , but out of that, only 1000 live .

But recently, indiscriminate collection of oysters , environment degradation and change of the habitats ,the oysters are on its ways to extinction .

A temperate climate is suitable for the existence of oysters , it goes almost 80 meters below the sea level . The oysters are important for both human and sea creatures .

Oyster also cleans the heavy metal , It combines the food chain to many aquatic plants . This is why oysters hunting harms the natural environment .

It is an urge from all of us , natural lovers , to ask the authorities to come forward to banning the oysters hunting in no time . Then it will be possible to create an ideal Bio shield in the long run.

2 * Rail road vine is known as the safeguard of the sea that helps to create the dunes too . The rail road vine protects the decays of the soil .

It is the engineering architect of building the dunes and it is the dune that saves the bank from tidal bores and cyclones .

But the dunes are no more visible , they all are almost lost due to man-made and natural disasters . In last 3 decades the size of 500 meters of land an average swept away by the sea .

In the research institution of United States of America and Australia showed us, how the rails road vine can be saved and that leads the way to protect the dunes .

In Dariya Nagar of Coxs Bazar, our test and experiment also proved it right by planting the rail road vine . The juice of rail road vine is the remedy of the disease called sting in modern medical science.

The ancients fishermen and the people from the coastal areas have indigenous knowledge about the medical benefits of the rail road vine .

If the jelly fish bites , the fisherman puts the juice of rail road vine on the wound , then the pain disappears , otherwise the wound would l infect.

3* in this 3rd label. I propose to make the fences around with the plants, such as vitex negundo , Screw pine, Lantana Camera , which can be grown up to 13 feet high .

This fences can be built by the fruit producing tree like plum .

There are 16 remedies of medicine can be found from Screw pine that includes diabetes , cancer and epilepsy .

Vitex negundo is also a therapeutic medicine , it contributes a lot and secures top place in the making of 119 kinds of medicines from 90 different species in the country .

This is also a remedy for diabetes , amnesia ,fever etc.

Its leaves can be used to remove the swollen glands , if the leaves are steamed and given to the patients, his fever disappears . It is also cancer and typhoid resistant .

Beside Vitex Negundo , Camera can be grown alongside . Locally it is known Mogkera and Moggula, the flowers of 3 various colors are bloomed all through the year. As a result , butterflies are attracted on it .

The juice of Camera can be used as an antiseptic for the treatment of leprous , itching and on injured wound .

it’s root and trunks are being used for the treatment of fever , bronchitis , asthma ,malaria , uterus related problem, typhoid and dental care, headache , goneria , inflammation ,leukemia etc.

Tea can be made from its leaf ,it has both economical and environmental virtues . So almost after 70 or 100 feet , these above mentioned 3 kinds of plants can be grown to create the Bio shield in the beach .

4* After the 70 feet of Bio shield my proposal goes with the cultivation of coconut trees for the 4th Bio shield. The coconut trees will give us a huge financial supports if we are able to plant those in 3 rows continuously .

It is estimated that , some of 60 thousand coconut trees can be planted and that will make almost 200 million taka in a year alone .

All the labels of Bio Shields from first to forth are related with environmental protection and economical benefits .

If the Oysters and Snails are in abundance or plenty , its ornaments and souvenirs will produce many hard cash , these can be used for the animal foods too .

An ideal Bio shield will generate a good amount of revenue in a country . And if the agricultural and tourism follow the success of Bio shield ,it will boost the economy massively .

Moreover the coastal areas will be intact during the cyclones and tidal bores. The 4 stages of Bio shield will pave the way for eco tourism also . For an instance ,

1* The area between the first and second Bio shield is for the tourist to walk on it, depending on the tides .

2* The area between 3rd and 4th Bio shield can be used to make the tents for the travelers .

3* Constructions can be made as high as 17 feet between the areas of 3rd and 4th Bio shield .

4* Behind the coconut trees , the 3 storied mansion can be built . But we have to wait until we can use the surface water by not putting pressure down the earth for using the water.

Till then I think. it will be an unwise idea to permit the construction of 6 storied or 60 feet high building near the sea areas.

Translated by Muhammad Max.