Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) with support of the Compass program arranged a virtual webinar on September 20, 2020 on Forest Ecosystem Valuation in presence of Ziaul Hasan ndc, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoE,F&CC) as Chief Guest. Md. Amir Hosain Chowdhury, Chief Conservator of Forests, Bangladesh Forest Department presided over the webinar while John Smith-Sreen, Director, Economic Growth Office of USAID and A. Shamim Al Razi, Additional Secretary (Development Wing), MoE,F&CC were present as Special Guests.

Dr. Carlos Muñoz Piña, Universidad del Medio Ambiente, Mexico, shared the experience from Mexico on forest ecosystem valuation to highlight international examples. Participants from various ministries, departments, agencies, academia, and NGOs ensured collective suggestions on approaches, modalities etc. to be considered by the Bangladesh Forest Department for their capacity building in local context. Md. Zaglul Hossain, Ph.D., Deputy Chief Conservator of Forests, Planning Wing, Forest Department; Justin Green, Program Manager, USFS-IP,  and Abu Mostafa Kamal Uddin, Ph.D Team Leader, Compass Program spoke on the webinar. Professors from four renowned universities also clarify various issues related to ecosystem valuation. In the webinar, participants expressed their thanks to the Bangladesh Forest Department, USAID, and USFS for taking this capacity-building activity as the sustainability of all development initiatives are highly dependent on proper valuation of forest ecosystem.