TITLE:
The Dependency of Coastal Livelihood on Forest Resources, and Alternative Options in the Periphery of the Sundarbans Reserve Forest, Patharghata, Bangladesh
AUTHORS:
Abdul Alim Shaikh, Mousumi Halder, Mohammad Badrul Alam Talukder, Sk. Mohibullah, Sanjoy Saha
KEYWORDS:
Forest Resource Dependency, Biodiversity Conservation, Sundarban Reserve Forest, Coastal Livelihood
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Forestry,
Vol.11 No.4,
October
28,
2021
ABSTRACT: Dependency on forest resources poses a threat to the environment in Patharghata,
Bangladesh. Therefore, this study explores the role of forest resource in the
life and livelihood of coastal people as well as to understand the effectiveness
of forest and status of forest dependency in and around south-central coast in
Patharghata, Bangladesh. We collected data randomly from 105 household heads
through both open and close-ended questionnaire. To investigate the forest
dependency and people’s perception regarding alternative solutions, Microsoft
excel software program has been applied. The findings reveal that usage of
fuelwood in cooking, housing structure, fish catching, honey & fodder collection
significantly contributes to household dependency on forest resources, while
other variables seem to be insignificant. Our study amplifies that the share of
forest income to the total household income was only 19% while other earning
sources provided 81% income. The result shows that respondent people collect forest
resources primarily for cooking purpose with a share of 71% where 9% forest
resources are collected as fodder followed by 8% forest resource collection as
food and sheltering purposes. Moreover, the study found that using alternative
cooking system, artificial instruments, declaring the forest as tourist spot,
changes in housing structure, occupation are some effective options to reduce
forest dependency. The study concludes that these alternative options need more
financial and other support from the government, non-government and other civil
society organizations to cut down forest resource dependency.