| dc.description.abstract | Sal forests of Bangladesh have been severely damaged due to encroachment,
over exploitation, uncontrolled commercial logging, illegal felling, overgrazing
and collection of fuel wood as a source of energy by the people living in and
around the forests. So, forest management with a strategy to include local
people so as to improve Sal forests condition and livelihoods of local
communities is the demand of time. In this connection, Integrated PA Comanagement (IPAC) project was launched by the Forest Department (FD) with
the assistance from United States Agency for International Development
(USAID). The aim of the project was to improve the livelihood of forest
dependent community through greater access and control over local forests.
Hence, the study was undertaken to identify the impact of co-management
system on the livelihood of forest dependent community of Singra National
Park (SNP) situated in northern Bangladesh. The data were collected through
quantitative and qualitative methods. The finding indicates that comanagement approach has brought changes on the livelihood of forest
dependent community and most of the changes have positive impacts on
livelihoods. Now their livelihoods are stable, as most have substantial sources
of securing income. The livelihood has improved due to the alternate income
generating activities (IGA) like cow-rearing, vegetable farming, pig rearing,
small grocery shops, handicrafts etc. provided to the community. However,
the communities have experienced severe antagonistic relationships with
forest officials. This factor affects their livelihoods. So, there is an immediate
need to empower local participants, by which they can easily play the inner role in decision making and governing all the forest management activities for
their sustainable livelihood. | en_US |
