Md. Shawkat Islam Sohel

Coping with Climate Change by Using Indigenous Knowledge of Ethnic Communities from in and around Lawachara National Park of Bangladesh

Abstract Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious threats and its impact is felt by the most vulnerable world’spoorest countries including Bangladesh. In particular, ethnic communities, whose livelihoods depend on the use of natural resources, are likely to bear the brunt of adverse impacts. A case study was conducted in a fragile ecosystem of Lawachara national park of Bangladesh, to know the indigenous knowledge of the ethnic communities, how they adapt with the climate change impact by using indigenous knowledge. They use various IK to protect their crops from climate change impact. Thus, government should design policies which will be helpful to make them more resilience to face climate change impact.Key Words: adaptation, indigenous knowledge, climate change, ethnic communities, Bangladesh Received: February 22, 2013. Revised: July 12, 2013. Accepted: July 22, 2013.Corresponding author: Sayma AkhterSchool of Environment, Natural resources and Geography, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2UW, United KingdomTel: 447448830982, Fax: 447448830982, E-mail: sayma_sust@yahoo.com

A new estimate of carbon for Bangladesh forest ecosystems with their spatial distribution and REDD+ implications

In tropical developing countries, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is becoming an important mechanism for conserving forests and protecting biodiversity. A key prerequisite for any successful REDD+ project, however, is obtaining baseline estimates of carbon in forest ecosystems. Using available published data, we provide here a new and more reliable estimate of carbon in Bangladesh forest ecosystems, along with their geo-spatial distribution. Our study reveals great variability in carbon density in different forests and higher carbon stock in the mangrove ecosystems, followed by in hill forests and in inland Sal (Shorea robusta) forests in the country. Due to its coverage, degraded nature, and diverse stakeholder engagement, the hill forests of Bangladesh can be used to obtain maximum REDD+ benefits. Further research on carbon and biodiversity in under-represented forest ecosystems using a commonly accepted protocol is essential for the establishment of successful REDD+ projects and for the protection of the country’s degraded forests and for addressing declining levels of biodiversity.

Ecohydrology: A New Approach to Old Problems for Sustainable Management of Aquatic Ecosystem of Bangladesh for Ecosystem Service Provision

Aquatic ecosystems of Bangladesh have crucial importance as majority of the people of Bangladesh are dependent on this sector. Recently this ecosystem is under constant threat due to increase of population, intensive agriculture, overexploitation, pollution, poorly planned infrastructures, climate change, water diversion by India, lack of proper policy and directives. These threats results degradation of this aquatic ecosystem which have deleterious impact on human livelihood and agro-environmental practice. Taking this into consideration, this review article describes the importance of aquatic ecosystem; causes and effects of degradation of aquatic ecosystem as well as the existing management practices are highlighted and based on this discussion probable solution are proposed for aquatic ecosystem management by focusing ecohydrological approach.