The Dependency of Coastal Livelihood on Forest Resources, and Alternative Options in the Periphery of the Sundarbans Reserve Forest, Patharghata, Bangladesh

Abstract

Dependency on forest resources poses a threat to the environment in Patharghata, Bangladesh. Therefore, this study explores the role of forest resource in the life and livelihood of coastal people as well as to understand the effectiveness of forest and status of forest dependency in and around south-central coast in Patharghata, Bangladesh. We collected data randomly from 105 household heads through both open and close-ended questionnaire. To investigate the forest dependency and people’s perception regarding alternative solutions, Microsoft excel software program has been applied. The findings reveal that usage of fuelwood in cooking, housing structure, fish catching, honey & fodder collection significantly contributes to household dependency on forest resources, while other variables seem to be insignificant. Our study amplifies that the share of forest income to the total household income was only 19% while other earning sources provided 81% income. The result shows that respondent people collect forest resources primarily for cooking purpose with a share of 71% where 9% forest resources are collected as fodder followed by 8% forest resource collection as food and sheltering purposes. Moreover, the study found that using alternative cooking system, artificial instruments, declaring the forest as tourist spot, changes in housing structure, occupation are some effective options to reduce forest dependency. The study concludes that these alternative options need more financial and other support from the government, non-government and other civil society organizations to cut down forest resource dependency.