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Recognizing the significance of medicinal plants for rural livelihoods and primary healthcare, this paper attempted to analyze institutional interplays in medicinal plants management in Bangladesh. It assessed the governing process of natural resources by identifying cross-scale linkages of the institutions involved with managing medicinal plants. The study intended to delineate the interactional patterns and dynamics between existing formal and informal organizations toward exploring prospects of new medicinal plants governance institutions. Employing case study and participatory approaches to empirical field investigation, two intervention cases of the Livelihood and Agro-Forestry (LEAF) and Sustainable Environmental Management Program (SEMP) were assessed in two different social-ecological settings of the country. Involving 45 respondents in each site, Focus Group Discussions were carried out, and a total of 26 Key Informants were interviewed. The findings have revealed that undefined roles and responsibilities, inadequate coordination, and weak linkages among the cross-scale institutions resulted in ineffective management and relatively poor performance. Institutions with direct or indirect involvement in the process of managing medicinal plants interacted haphazardly, without much focus on the subsector and its local producers. Addressing the weaknesses, this study calls for formulating a national sub-sectoral approach focusing on strengthening and sustaining local producers and value addition to OPEN ACCESS Resources 2015, 4 94 producer levels. Finally, this research offers a framework for developing a multi-stakeholder forum to govern medicinal plant resources coherently and effectively in Bangladesh.

Abstract:The objective of this research was to explore, both theoretically and empirically, the ecological impacts of small-scale entrepreneurial ventures in developing countries. To this end, six microenterprises in rural southwestern Bangladesh established using green-microcredit strategies were evaluated in terms of goals, operational procedures, economic viability, social contributions, and impact on local ecological sustainability. This research revealed that the majority of such enterprises are not only sustainable and comply with current ecological standards, but also contribute a considerable number of vital ecosystem services while simultaneously maintaining suitably high profit margins to promise long-term economic viability. These findings indicate that microenterprises given environmental guidance by developmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs)-especially NGOs microfinance institutions, NGO-MFIs-have the potential to make significant ecological contributions and address the issue of climate change from the bottom of the social ladder upwards.

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This chapter examines the social entrepreneurship potentials of community-based organizations (CBOs) linked to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the implementation of development programs. The conceptual framework of the study draws on the existing literature on social entrepreneurship and cooperatives. The study highlights the social and ecological roles and significance of CBOs in the creation of social value at the local community level. The research findings reveal that NGO-CBO partnerships help to transform CBOs into social enterprises by creating revenue generation streams. Such partnerships also catalyze social innovations and social learning outcomes. In this chapter, three case studies from Bangladesh are examined, which demonstrate how the social entrepreneurial roles of these CBOs have been instrumental in the management of local natural resources and in fostering social learning. The case studies reveal that institutional support and favorable public policies are crucial in sustaining social entrepreneurship by CBOs.

Building community resilience has been widely recognized as a learning process at multiple societal levels, yet few prior studies have examined the feedback loop between community‐ and policy‐level learning. Following a qualitative research approach, we document experiential and transformative forms of learning from coastal cyclones in Bangladesh that help local community and their institutions mitigating the impact of cyclonic shocks and recovering from disaster‐related losses, both in the shorter and longer term. This study discovers that such community‐level learning (when scaled‐up) as well as learning from policy failure significantly enhanced programmatic interventions, which in turn enhanced community resilience to cyclones and future disasters. However, this feedback loop can be attenuated by multiple factors, such as lack of attention to community‐level learning by policy/decision makers in non‐disaster settings and the presence of a strong vested interest group, may impede learning‐based policy instrumentation. Boundary spanners or organizations can significantly improve the feedback loop, thus enhancing community resilience and improving policy.

This chapter examines initiatives to conserve medicinal plants in Bangladesh and India. These initiatives formed part of development interventions seeking to improve livelihoods and primary healthcare services in poor rural communities. The intervention projects studied were carried out in two districts of Bangladesh and one in Odisha state, India. Case study and participatory field methods were adopted to gather data and information on the medicinal plants conservation components of those projects. The study found that the initiatives, which combine both healthcare and livelihood objectives, have been successful not only in conserving medicinal plant resources, but also promoting their status and use. As a result, threats to medicinal plant stocks are being redressed, better livelihoods are being created, and primary healthcare situations are being enhanced. This study also revealed that the most successful strategies for conserving medicinal plant species comprised of a mix of ex-situ, in-situ, and production system approaches.