Achieving sustainable development goals through participatory forest management: Examples from South‐Eastern Bangladesh

Abstract

Forests managed through peoples' participation can help to achieve a number of sustainable development goals (SDGs). This paper, drawing data from four participatory forest management (PFM) projects in south‐eastern Bangladesh, explored: (a) the factors that influenced the outcomes of PFM; and (b) contribution of PFM towards achieving selected SDGs. The research used observation, semi‐structured household interviews, group discussions, vegetation survey and Ostromʼs design principles for data collection, Divergent forest conditions and factors in four PFM sites have had differential contribution to SDGs. Heterogeneity of user groups, insufficient coordination, absence of motivation, and land tenure conflicts had affected the attainment of SDGs. The PFM helped to achieve 9–11 SDGs comprising poverty reduction (Goal 1), improving food security (Goal 2), maintaining health and well‐being (Goal 3), enhancing childrensʼ education (Goal 4), fair access to jobs and committees (Goals 5 and 10), sources of clean drinking water (Goal 6), affordable energy for cooking (Goal 7), increased household economy (Goal 8), climate change through carbon sequestration (Goal 13), forest conservation (Goal 15), and partnerships with relevant institutions (Goal 16). In order to achieve SDGs, PFM could be viewed as an integral part of government development strategies, which needs sectoral coordination and integration of relevant policies.

Floristic Composition and Life Forms of Plant Species in Nwamba Forest Reserve in Nigeria

“…3). This observation agreed with the findings of Hammond et al 42 , Aigbe and Omokhua 43 , Aigbe et al 44 , Adeyemi et al 11 , Salami and Akinyele 45 , and Burju et al 46 47 reported that timber trees are logged at 60-90 cm DBH depending on the species. Similar results have been reported by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan, Oyo state and on tree species composition in selected sacred forests in Nigeria by Christopher 48 and Daniel et al 49 .…”

Principles of people‐centric forest restoration projects in south‐eastern Bangladesh: implications for sustainability

“…Restoration of native flora by planting native species in mixed species plantations while facilitating agroforestry supports the findings of earlier studies (e.g. Budiharta et al 2014;Brancalion & Chazdon 2017;Nath et al 2020), where agroforestry is recommended for ecosystem restoration and conservation of genetic diversity. In highly degraded landscapes, forest land restoration can improve ecological functionality and agricultural productivity (César et al 2021) by limiting pressure on the remnant natural forests and augmenting landscape connectivity with nearby forests.…”

“…Since the 1970s, the government of Bangladesh has undertaken a number of research and development projects aimed at restoring forests through community participation. The Betagi-Pomra agroforestry project (1979) and the community forestry project (1981) in the country's south-eastern and northern regions, respectively, are the two most notable (Khan 2016;Nath et al 2016aNath et al , 2020. Based on promising results, the trend has since continued in the forms of social forestry (1980s to the end of the 1990s), comanagement of protected areas (since 2004), and contemporary collaborative forest management (Nath et al 2022).…”

Influence of Circular Economy Phenomenon to Fulfil Global Sustainable Development Goal: Perspective from Bangladesh

“…In the energy sector, various renewable energy sources are used and studied to ensure sustainable energy production and distribution in Bangladesh [66][67][68][69]. In the forestry sector, several studies are conducted to uphold SGDs in Bangladesh [70][71][72][73]. Islam et al [74] and Islam and Shamsuddoha [53] studied marine fisheries in Bangladesh with a view of sustainable conservation and management of coastal and marine fisheries industries.…”