Community Dependency and Conservation Practices in Khagrachari, Bangladesh: A Study on Management of Village Common Forests (VCFs)

Abstract

Forest is one of the main sources of different resources where indigenous communities are mostly dependent on the forest for their sustainable management of life. Following the dependency of indigenous communities on natural resources and their conservation practices and development of Village Common Forest (VCF) in Chittagong hill tracts. Present study was conducted at Haduk Para and Hridoy Member Para VCF’s in Khagrachari, Bangladesh to understand the dependency and practices of villagers on the VCF for their livelihood and other resources. Among different types of products extracted from Haduk Para and Hridoy Member Para, the monetary value was highest (14700 BDT and 22400 BDT, respectively) for timber but fuelwood is the most extracted product (1930 Kg HH-1Yr-1 and 2470 Kg HH-1Yr-1, respectively) they have collected from VCF. Besides, to fulfill daily personal needs different plant edible products, fauna, and medicinal plants have been collected by the community people from both VCFs. In case of conservation purpose, Hridoy Member Para giving more priority for protecting the source of water resources where the majority from Haduk Para community replied that their priority was to avert natural calamities. However, both the VCFs community have taken some initiatives to reduce the pressure from the forest floor like enrichment planting, non-wood forest products cultivation, regional training for handicraft manufacturing and alternative income generation activities for the villagers. Therefore, safeguarding forest and biodiversity resources and at the same time improving the livelihood security for the indigenous communities, nowadays is mandatory to protect and manage these VCFs from being degraded.

Climate change impacts and adaptations on health of Internally Displaced People (IDP): An exploratory study on coastal areas of Bangladesh

“…Also, BCCSAP-2009 consists of 44 programs under six pillars and focuses on developing resilience of vulnerable communities by implementing the Community Based Adaptation (CBA) ( MoEF, 2009 ). Along with the adoption of new crop varieties, tree plantation, development of financial status, and homestead gardening as an adaptation to climate change, migration is also considered to have a significant potentiality in Bangladesh ( Hossen et al., 2019 ; Chowdhury et al., 2018 ; Alam et al., 2019 ). Improving the adaptive capacity is essential, and to some extent, migration is also considered as a way of adaptation to ensure a healthy life ( Black et al., 2011 ; Brouwer et al., 2007 ; Pachauri and Meyer, 2014 ).…”

Wildlife Ecological Spectrum: unveiling alpha (α), beta (β), and gamma (γ) diversity of the Kaptai National Park, Bangladesh

“…Its journey from a reserved forest to a contested protected area, and nally to a co-managed park, re ects ongoing efforts to balance human needs with ecological preservation. By involving local communities in management, the park aims to achieve a sustainable balance, ensuring the protection of its invaluable biodiversity while supporting the livelihoods of those who depend on its resources (Alam et al, 2019;Chowdhury et al, 2018;Rahman et al, 2020;.…”

Diversity and management of homestead resources: The case of Sandwip Upazila, Chittagong, Bangladesh

“…In addition, because of transportation difficulties with the mainland, people of the offshore island heavily depend on their homestead products. Although several studies were conducted in Bangladesh on homestead forests (Alam & Sarker, 2011;Alam et al, 1996;Das, 1990;Zaman et al, 2010), traditional uses of homestead agroforest (Alam et al, 1990;Millat-e-Mustafa, 1997b;Momin et al, 1990), and natural forest biodiversity (Chowdhury et al, 2018;Chowdhury et al, 2019;Alam et al, 2019;Rahman et al, 2020;Rahman et al, 2019), no study has been done on homestead forest resource management yet on Sandwip Upazila (sub-district) of Chittagong district, while there is a considerable possibility for developing homestead resources management approaches for conserving biodiversity and ensuring food and livelihood security. Following the background, this study was conducted to understand the diversity of homestead trees or vegetation species.…”