Assessment of the Community Participation in and Attitudes Towards Co-management Programs in Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the extent of local participation in the co-management activities of Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary, Bangladesh and the local communities' attitude towards it. The study showed that there is the participation of local Forest User Groups in different stages of the program, but in varying degrees, mostly dominated by passive way. All the respondents had the knowledge about the goal of the ongoing co-management project. Majority (about 82 %) of them had access on the trainings on livelihood options although they had no contribution on its choice. It resulted in the divergence between the right needs and the trainings received. Although a considerable portion of the community (76.2 %) had the freedom to express their opinion in the monthly meeting with the project authority, only a few (36.1 %) of them thought that their opinions/suggestions were valued properly. However, almost all the respondents (91.7 %) expressed their satisfaction with the activities of the Forest Department, the project implementation authority. Although a varying level of attitude was noticed on various perceptions, overall a favorable attitude of the respondents was explored. Attitudes also varied according to the respondents' categories based on village position, village stake level, ethnicity and gender. Increase in annual income resulted from the augmented skills by trainings on AIG activities, and getting agricultural lands leased from the Forest Department contributed significantly to the variation in respondents' conservation attitudes. It is suggested that eliminating inequity and inequality in incentive distribution, discovering and launching training on more need-based livelihood activities, and liberalizing the restriction of resource extraction by fixing the harvesting limit would encourage the community to involve more cordially in the conservation efforts of the sanctuary. For the local participation to really work, it is recommended that long-term relationships, faiths and commitments are required between both parties: the community and outside agents.