Overdependence on and exploitation of forest resources have significantly transformed the natural reserve forest of Sundarban, which shares the largest mangrove territory in the world, into a great degradation status. By observing these, a most pressing concern is how much degradation occurred in the past, and what will be the scenarios in the future if they continue? To confirm the degradation status in the past decades and reveal the future trend, we took Sundarban Reserve Forest (SRF) as an example, and used satellite Earth observation historical Landsat imagery between 1989 and 2019 as existing data and primary data. Moreover, a geographic information system model was considered to estimate land cover (LC) change and spatial health quality of the SRF from 1989 to 2029 based on the large and small tree categories. The maximum likelihood classifier (MLC) technique was employed to classify the historical images with five different LC types, which were further considered for future projection (2029) including trends based on 2019 simulation results from 1989 and 2019 LC maps using the Markov-cellular automata model. The overall accuracy achieved was 82.30%~90.49% with a kappa value of 0.75~0.87. The historical result showed forest degradation in the past (1989–2019) of 4773.02 ha yr−1, considered as great forest degradation (GFD) and showed a declining status when moving with the projection (2019–2029) of 1508.53 ha yr−1 and overall there was a decline of 3956.90 ha yr−1 in the 1989–2029 time period. Moreover, the study also observed that dense forest was gradually degraded (good to bad) but, conversely, light forest was enhanced, which will continue in the future even to 2029 if no effective management is carried out. Therefore, by observing the GFD, through spatial forest health quality and forest degradation mapping and assessment, the study suggests a few policies that require the immediate attention of forest policy-makers to implement them immediately and ensure sustainable development in the SRF.
The recreational behaviour of visitors to Karamjal Forest Station in Sundarban, Bangladesh, was determined by interviewing 150 visitors. The majority of visitors were locals from Bangladesh (90%); however, recreational behaviour varied significantly between local and foreign visitors. More than half of the visitors reported coming to Sundarban for the first time. Most of the visitors were travelling for recreation and derived satisfaction from watching wildlife, particularly deer and crocodiles, and the beauty of the forest. Foreign visitors expressed more satisfaction with boat journeys than local visitors, while less educated visitors expressed more dissatisfaction with boat travel than highly educated visitors. To the question, 'How would you describe the quality of the recreational benefits of nature-based tourism in Karamjal?' most visitors answered "poor" or "very poor". Visitor perception varied significantly by income level, and people of higher financial status were more satisfied than people of lower financial status with the recreational benefits of nature-based tourism in Karamjal.
The Sundarban Reserve Forest (SRF) of Bangladesh provides tourism services to local and international visitors. Indeed, tourism is one of the major ecosystem services that this biodiversity-rich mangrove forest provides. Through a convenient sampling technique, 421 tourist respondents were interviewed to assess their willingness to pay for the tourism services of the Sundarban, using the Zonal Travel Cost Method (ZTCM). The estimated annual economic contribution of tourism in the Sundarban mangroves to the Bangladesh economy is USD 53 million. The findings of this study showed that facilities for watching wildlife and walking inside the forest can increase the number of tourists in the SRF. The findings also show that the availability of information like forest maps, wildlife precautionary signs, and danger zones would increase the number of tourists as well. Thus, the government of Bangladesh should consider increasing visitor entry fees to fund improvements and to enhance the ecotourism potential of the Sundarban mangroves.
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