Co-management approach and its impacts on social, economic and ecological developments: Lessons from Lawachara National Park, Bangladesh
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Farjana Ferdous*
Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2, Canada *E-mail: ferdousf@myumanitoba.ca ABSTRACT: Illegal forest activities are one of the major challenges to forest management and conservation in tropical developing countries. In order to prevent this, the Government of Bangladesh, with support from some national and international organizations, has taken the initiative of community based forest management in some protected areas of the country. Lawachara National Park is one of the pilot sites where several co-management interventions, namely Nishorgo Support Project, Integrated Protected Area Co-management and very recently Climate Resilient Ecosystems and Livelihoods (CREL) program have been undertaken. This paper highlights the initial goals and objectives of two of these programs and impacts of co-management on social, economic and ecological aspects of the park and people in the area. Both programs positively influence species richness and abundance in the park area, encourage people for forest conservation through economic incentives, and ensure local participation in park governance. Inadequate support from the project, lack of coordination among different stakeholders, and limitations of the Forest Department, however, controlled the development of co-management projects in the area. Key words: governance, rural livelihood, stakeholders, protected area, Bangladesh Subject areas:, Co-management, Bangladesh, Forest conservation Recommended citation: Ferdous, F., 2015. Co-management approach and its impacts on social, economic and ecological developments: Lessons from Lawachara National Park, Bangladesh. International Journal of Research on Land-use Sustainability, 2(1): 91-98. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3911.8807. |
Received:
May 15, 2015 Accepted: June 27, 2015 Communicated by: Dr. A. Z. M. Manzoor Rashid Shahjalal University of Science & Technology Bangladesh Download: |
