Mangrove forest management and its influence on forest-dependent communities : a case study in the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest World Heritage and Ramsar Site, Bangladesh

Abstract

The livelihoods of the majority of the inhabitants of the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest are directly dependent on its natural resources. Non-timber forest products such as fish are a major source of income for these communities and a major source of revenue for the Sundarbans Forest Department. The Department is responsible for the management of the forest, including the harvesting of non-timber forest products and associated revenue collection, and controlling illegal harvesting and the activities of pirates which are increasingly extorting financial gains from the areas fishermen. This research project explores the current management system of the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest and the impacts on the areas fishermen communities. Under the current forest management system, a fishing ban has been imposed over the core area of the Sundarbans. As a result, approximately 40% of this areas former fishermen are now unemployed and approximately 50% have had to obtain other labor-based employment. The fishermens previous average annual income from fishing in the core area was approximately EUR 2,625 but this has now fallen to approximately EUR 511. The affected fishermen community and the core area of the Sundarbans subject to the fishing ban have been mapped. The fishing ban areas cover 24 rivers and 4 islands. Identification of these fishing ban areas has been based on the fishermens indigenous knowledge and past fishing experience in the core area. At present, the fishermen community is facing numerous challenges to their livelihoods. The fishing ban has strained local businesses and resulted in a loss of foreign income to the region. This has affected many fishermens ability to provide for their childrens education and is also adversely impacting the communitys religious and other traditional customs. The research also explores the critical issues that the current forest management raises for the buffer areas fishermen in the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest. These fishermen are in an economically disadvantaged position due to the high costs of unofficial extra royalty payments to the forest revenue collectors, and additional illegal payments that must be made to both the forest patrols and pirates. The Forest Department collects extra unofficial revenue from the buffer areas fishermen that amounts to approximatelyEUR 320,349 (EUR 29,916 for BLCs plus EUR 290,433 for royalties) per annum. The forest patrols are also extorting approximately EUR 2.3 million each year in illegal payments from the fishermen, while pirates also receive approximately EUR 2,318 per fisherman each year. The total annual amount illegally obtained from the fishermen by the pirates and forest patrols is approximately EUR 25.61 million. This is approximately 21 times higher than the current annual budget for the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest (Sundarbans Forest, West Division) and approximately 427 times higher than the annual legal revenue collected from the fishermen by the Forest Department. This situation is a major issue in the current management of the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest that is impacting on the livelihoods of the buffer areas fishermen. The research recommends numerous potential solutions to the problems occurring in the current management of the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest. These include modifying the forest patrols and revenue collection systems to ensure that monitoring and protection activities are more effective and transparent.