Management Strategies for Sustainable Forest Biodiversity Conservation in Protected Areas of Bangladesh: A Study of Bhawal National Park, Gazipur

Abstract

Bhawal National Park (BNP) is one of the biologically historic and rich habitats in Bangladesh. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the current management strategies of BNP for sustainable biodiversity conservation along with investigations focusing underlying causes of deforestation and biodiversity losses. A structured questionnaire survey, interview, focused group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KII), and literature survey were used as research tools. The results reveal some threats to the sustainable park management, such as its proximity to urban areas, encroachment, abundance of private land within its boundaries, and the pressure of rapid industrialization. It is found that extensive fuelwood collection, industrial setup, agricultural activities, forest fire, forest land encroachment, wood collection are significant causes for deforestation and biodiversity loss. Moreover, number of species of plants and wildlife has decreased roughly by one-third and one-half, respectively. The findings of this study are valuable for sustainable forest biodiversity conservation and management apart from formulating relevant strategies, planning, and policies for the protected areas of Bangladesh.

Impacts of Industrialization on Plant Species Composition, Diversity, and Tree Population Structure in Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest in Bangladesh

“…Geographically, it stands at 24 °02 to 24 °11 °N latitude and 90 °21 to 90 °28 °E longitude (Figure 1) in the Gazipur district of the Dhaka Forest Division. It is located 40 kilometers north of Dhaka on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway [24]. It is one of Bangladesh's most enormous belts of tropical moist deciduous forests.…”

Spatiotemporal Variations of Land Surface Temperature and Vegetation Dynamics Impacts on Landslide Intensity in Chattogram Hill Tracts Region of Bangladesh

“…Therefore, the consequence of climate change and associated phenomena have great impacts over regional weather conditions, especially, on land surface temperature and rainfall, plant growth, photosynthesis, etc. (Alauddin et al, 2020;Ghosh et al, 2020;Islam and Ma, 2018;Islam et al, 2019;Zhu et al, 2020). The appropriate level of vulnerability can be estimated if the climatic variables and their effects on surface temperature, rainfall, and vegetation dynamics could be simulated by numerical models (Ciccarelli et al, 2008;Diffenbaugh et al, 2013;Giorgiand Lionello, 2008;Islam and Ma, 2018;IPCC, 2014;Lo Presti et al, 2015;Turco et al, 2015).…”