Forest Dependent Indigenous Communities’ Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change through Local Knowledge in the Protected Area—A Bangladesh Case Study

Abstract

Forest-dependent indigenous communities rely on natural resources for their livelihoods, but those are currently under threat due to many factors, including the adverse impact of climate change. The present study looks into climate change-related perception and adaptation strategies of three forest-dependent indigenous communities, namely, Khasia, Tripura and Garo in the Lawachara National Park of Northeastern Bangladesh. Household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and observation methods were used to unveil the climatic events, impacts and related adaptations. The events include the change in temperature and rainfall patterns, landslide, soil erosion and flash flood, heavy cold and fog, and natural calamities. Moreover, livelihood problems emanating from these events are the drying up of streams and wells, irregular rainfall, increased dieback and mortality of seedlings, pests, diseases, and the attack of crops by wild animals. Likewise, the reduction of soil moisture content, growing season and crop productivity, landslides, damage of roads and culverts, and increased human diseases are common. This study recognized 29 adaptation strategies and divided them into six management categories, drawing on their local knowledge of the natural resources and other technologies. The study reveals that, although adaptation strategies through land use and land cover changes are not enough to sustain their livelihoods, the tactics help them to reduce the risk of, and increase food security and community resilience against, climate change.

Are Protected Forests of Bangladesh Prepared for the Implementation of REDD+? A Forest Governance Analysis from Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary

“…Project (2013Project ( -2017 aims to better manage and conserve the country's natural resources and biodiversity by keeping pace with climate change through the involvement of local stakeholders in forest management [37].…”

“…The present study was conducted to answer some questions on forest governance related to future REDD+ project implementation in Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary (RKWS)-a protected area (PA) of northeast Bangladesh. The RKWS was among the four pilot PA sites for co-management projects implementation for forest management in 2004 [37] and showed better outcomes in terms of reducing deforestation and forest degradation rate, increased community conservation awareness, forest protection and better forest management than another pilot PAs [38,39]. Accordingly, the government has a top most priority to select the sanctuary as a well-suited pilot site to test and demonstrate approaches for policy implementation of REDD+ in Bangladesh.…”

Assessing Coping Strategies in Response to Drought: A Micro Level Study in the North-West Region of Bangladesh

“…Climate change (CC) is continuous and it is an issue of great concern for scientists around the world [1]. Increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [2] have been attributed to rising temperatures resulting in increased variability of precipitation and extreme climatic events such as droughts, floods, and shifting of seasons [3].…”

Perceived synergy between deforestation and/or forest degradation and climate variability and change in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality, Ghana

“…Aside from the economic, environmental and sociocultural benefits derived from forests (BLAY , the fight against climate change is greatly enhanced when the forest ecosystem is preserved (CANADELL & RAUPACH, 2008;RAHMAN & ALAM, 2016). Globally, terrestrial forest ecosystems sequester nearly 3 billion tons of anthropogenic carbon every year (CANADELL .…”