Attitudes towards current and alternative management of the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest, Bangladesh to achieve sustainability

Abstract

This paper examines the challenges of achieving sustainable management of the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans (SMF) in Bangladesh. During the past two decades, conflicts between mangrove maintenance and the pressure to provide economic livelihoods to forest-dependent communities (FDCs) have emerged and persisted. The SMF is currently managed by the Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) under a state property rights regime. This study explores an alternative property rights regime which includes participatory approaches and co-management with FDCs to achieve sustainability, both economically and environmentally. Focus group discussions and a survey were the methods used to assess the prospects. The study finds that the absence of a management partnership between the BFD and FDCs is mainly responsible for the policy failures to achieve sustainable management of the SMF. However, evidence is presented that a 'co-management' property rights regime cannot be established until FDC capacity is enhanced through the formation of community level institutions.

Are private defensive expenditures against storm damages affected by public programs and natural barriers? Evidence from the coastal areas of Bangladesh

“…As our results indicate that households in mangrove-protected areas invest more in self-protection but less in self-insurance, a government could also encourage mangrove restoration combined with publicly constructed embankments as part of its public storm-protection programs. In addition, policies could promote the plantation of trees other than mangroves, as evidence from coastal Bangladesh reveals that dense plantations of coconuts, beetle nuts and banana trees around the house can also provide some protection against storm damages (Paul and Routray, 2011; Roy and Gow, 2015).…”

An investigation into the major environment and climate change policy issues in southwest coastal Bangladesh

“…A focus group discussion was arranged with local inhabitants aged between 30 and 60 years with 25 per cent female participants. Following Roy and Gow (2015), their livelihood patterns, local knowledge and experience in conservation were considered for participation in the discussion. The participants were about 51 per cent literate and belonged to the lower economic group.…”

Harnessing Complexity: Integrating Remote Sensing and Fuzzy Expert System for Evaluating Land Use Land Cover Changes and Identifying Mangrove Forest Vulnerability in Bangladesh

“…Vulnerability assessment plays a crucial role in simplifying complex and interconnected parameters into a more manageable and understandable form, thereby serving as an effective tool for management (Nguyen et al, 2016). Recent research has explored various aspects related to the Sundarbans, such as historical LULC changes using remote sensing techniques (Abdullah et al, 2019;, forest co-management documentation (Begum et al, 2022), mapping of mangrove erosion and progradation (Bhargava et al, 2021;Chowdhury & Hafsa, 2022), mangrove recovery after natural disaster like tsunami and coastal subsidence (Prabakaran et al, 2021;Ramakrishnan et al, 2020), mapping forest degradation (Dalagnol et al, 2023), remote sensing review for mangroves (Wang et al, 2019), mangrove forest phenology analysis (Pastor-Guzman et al, 2018), hazard induced vulnerability analysis (Rehman et al, 2021) and alternative management scenarios (Roy & Gow, 2015). Many studies have incorporated the coastal vulnerability index (CVI) into their assessments of mangrove vulnerability and degradation in Bangladesh's Sundarbans (Mondal et al, 2022;Mahmood et al, 2020;.…”