Implications of changing national policies on land use in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Thapa, Gopal B.; Rasul, Golam

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2005.12.002

Cited by 41 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…It is also assumed that a vital element for sustainability of village common forest is recognized acceptance of these areas to protect them, access and tenure regimes (Tiwari, 2003). Beside the forest department, ethnic groups also conserve the forest resources based on mutually agreed rules and regulation which also prevented forest encroachment by outsiders (Thapa & Rasul, 2006). For administrative convenience, the British Government divided the hill areas into a number of mouzas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree Diversity and Management of Village Common Forests in Bandarban

Kamrul¹,

Jashimuddin²,

Hossain³

2017

Environ. Earth Ecol.

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Village Common Forests (VCF) are used sustainably for water source conservation, livelihoods and other biomass needs ofethnic communities in the hilly areas of Bangladesh. The current forest degradation rate warrants the importance and potentiality of VCF for sustainable natural resources management. This study was conducted in two VCF of Lama and RumaUpazila at Chimbuk hill range in Bandarban district to explore the indigenous management techniques and tree species diversity. To identify tree species diversity, eighteen plots (9 plots from each VCF) were selected at different hill position (top, middle and bottom) by stratified random sampling method with the dimension of 20m×20m per plot. Shiner-winner and Simpson index were used to calculate the tree species diversity. According to the analyses, it was found that diversity was higher in top of the hill, but species density (stem/ha) was higher in the valley. It was also found that 23000 seedlings/ha regenerated naturally and among the 31 identified families, Moraceae was dominant where the density was 354 stems/ha with basal area 52.63 m2/ha. The dominant species were Schleicher oleosaand Anisopterascaphula and important non-timber species were Melocannabaccifera and Calamusgurubagrowing abundantly in the study areas. It was observed that the VCF were managed by ethnic Mro community with two different committees (customary and executive) who made some rules for natural forest conservation. This management practice is not only conserving hill forests, but also helping to improve degraded forest and create new habitats for biodiversity in the study area.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree Diversity and Management of Village Common Forests in Bandarban

Kamrul¹,

Jashimuddin²,

Hossain³

2017

Environ. Earth Ecol.

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“…The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh supports almost 80% of the country's total biodiversity [9] and is inhibited by people from 12 ethnic groups [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] who depend largely on forest commons to fulfill their basic subsistence requirements and cash income [10,12,17]. The wide variety of plants and animals of the hill forests has supported the livelihoods of the hill people including dwelling, food, clothing, health care, and festivals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree Species Composition and Regeneration Status of Shitalpur Forest Beat under Chittagong North Forest Division, Bangladesh

Nur

Nandi

Jashimuddin

et al. 2016

Advances in Ecology

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Biodiversity erosion particularly in developing countries is a matter of great concern to the global ecological community. Species composition and regeneration indicate the health of forest. This study explored tree species composition and regeneration of natural hill forest of Shitalpur under Chittagong North Forest Division through 27 sample plots of 20 m × 20 m for trees and 2 m × 2 m for regeneration. A total of 47 tree species belonging to 29 families and 17 regenerating species belonging to 15 families were recorded. The tree stem density, basal area, and wood volume were 0.49 m 2 /ha, 1425 stem/ha, and 189.9 m 3 /ha, respectively. Mean regeneration was significantly higher in bottom hill (14374 seedlings/ha) compared to top hill (9671 seedlings/ha). Toona ciliata was highest (4444 seedlings/ha) at the bottom hill compared to other hill positions. The result shows that only 36% of the tree species (17 out of 47) are regenerating in the study area, meaning majority of the tree species (64%) are not getting favorable conditions to regenerate. This might be due to absence of mature tree species as a result of overexploitation by local people. The findings may help in monitoring the species composition changes over time and adopting specific conservation programs for Shitalpur Forest.

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“…As Rasul (2006) has pointed out, polices and programs to promote alternative land use practices have largely failed; and while indigenous people are blamed for the problem, which is attributed to their conservatism and unwillingness to adopt alternative land use systems, Roy (2000) has pointed out that the dependence on swidden cultivation has-largely due to displacement-increased significantly during the political unrest of the 1980s and 1990s. Similarly, Thapa and Rasul (2006) have stressed that attempts to replace shifting cultivation with more productive types of sedentary agriculture have failed due to the absence of (a) secure land rights, (b) supportive trade policies, and (c) the required support services and facilities, including infrastructure. Hence, further improvements in these areas will also be useful for adapting to climate change.…”

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confidence: 99%