Sharif Ahmed Mukul

Allelopathic effects of Lantana camara on germination and growth behavior of some agricultural crops in Bangladesh.

An experiment was conducted to understand the growth inhibitory effects of aqueous extracts derived from Lantana camara L. (a globally recognized invasive alien weed) on six popular agricultural crops of Bangladesh. The test was conducted in sterilized petridishes with a photoperiod of 24 hours and an average temperature of 29°C. The effect of different concentrations of L. camara leaf extracts were recorded and compared with control (i.e., distil water). Result showed different concentrations of aqueous leaf extracts caused significant inhibitory effect on germination, root and shoot elongation and development of lateral roots of receptor crops. Bioassays also indicated that the inhibitory effect was proportional to the concentrations of the extracts and higher concentration had the stronger inhibitory effect whereas the lower concentration showed stimulatory effect in some cases. The inhibitory effect was much pronounced in root and lateral root development rather than shoot and germination.

Local peoples' responses to co-management regime in protected areas: A case study from Satchari National Park, Bangladesh

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is a rather recent and widely promoted, and hence, accepted paradigm for managing protected areas in most developing countries. Protected area managers in Bangladesh face challenges because of the complex sociocultural and political dynamics that result from the high population densities and extreme poverty of people living in or near lands designated for conservation. In recent years the government of Bangladesh, with active support from international aid and conservation agencies, has tried to develop a holistic approach to protected area management involving forest communities and user groups. This study seeks to explore the initial response to such intervention in a newly declared protected area in order to gain insights about wider implications in other parts of the country. The study was conducted between January 2006 and January 2007 in four villages located in or near Satchari National Park. Results suggest considerable change took place in household forest resource collection patterns, and peoples dependency on non-forest income increased significantly during the project implementation period. The study also indicated that although changes occurred slowly, they brought improvements to the livelihoods of those relying on local forests.

Integrating livelihoods and conservation in protected areas: understanding the role and stakeholder views on prospects for non-timber forest products, a Bangladesh case study

Protected areas (PAs) represent a key global strategy in biodiversity conservation. In tropical developing countries, the management of PAs is a great challenge as many contain resources on which local communities rely. Collection and trading of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is a well-established forest-based livelihood strategy, which has been promoted as a potential means for enhanced conservation and improved rural livelihoods in recent years, even though the sustainability or ecological implications have rarely been tested. We conducted an exploratory survey to understand the role and stakeholder views on conservation prospects and perceived ecological feasibility of NTFPs and harvesting schemes in a northeastern PA of Bangladesh, namely the Satchari National Park. Households (n = 101) were interviewed from three different forest dependency categories, adopting a stratified random sampling approach and using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study identified 13 locally important NTFPs, with five being critically important to supporting local livelihoods. Our study suggests that collection, processing and trading in NTFPs constitutes the primary occupation for about 18% of local inhabitants and account for an estimated 19% of their cash annual income. The household consensus on issues relating to NTFPs and their prospective role in conservation was surprisingly high, with 48% of respondents believing that promotion of NTFPs in the PA could have positive conservation value. The majority (71%) of households also had some understanding of the ecological implications of NTFP harvesting, sustainability (53%) and possible management and monitoring regimes (100%). With little known about their real application in the field, our study suggests further investigations are required to understand the ecological compatibility of traditional NTFP harvesting patterns and management.

Tropical secondary forests regenerating after shifting cultivation in the Philippines uplands are important carbon sinks.

In the tropics, shifting cultivation has long been attributed to large scale forest degradation, and remains a major source of uncertainty in forest carbon accounting. In the Philippines, shifting cultivation, locally known as kaingin, is a major land-use in upland areas. We measured the distribution and recovery of aboveground biomass carbon along a fallow gradient in post-kaingin secondary forests in an upland area in the Philippines. We found significantly higher carbon in the aboveground total biomass and living woody biomass in old-growth forest, while coarse dead wood biomass carbon was higher in the new fallow sites. For young through to the oldest fallow secondary forests, there was a progressive recovery of biomass carbon evident. Multivariate analysis indicates patch size as an influential factor in explaining the variation in biomass carbon recovery in secondary forests after shifting cultivation. Our study indicates secondary forests after shifting cultivation are substantial carbon sinks and that this capacity to store carbon increases with abandonment age. Large trees contribute most to aboveground biomass. A better understanding of the relative contribution of different biomass sources in aboveground total forest biomass, however, is necessary to fully capture the value of such landscapes from forest management, restoration and conservation perspectives.

A journey towards shared governance: status and prospects for collaborative management in the protected areas of Bangladesh

Establishment of Protected Areas (PAs), in the face of rapid deforestation, forest degradation and climate change has been one of the key efforts in conservation of biodiversity worldwide in recent times. While Bangladesh has gained a degree of prominence in the world for its successful social forestry programs, the concept of collaborative protected area management is rather new in the country, initiated in 2004 by the Bangladesh Forest Department in five PAs with financial assistance from USAID. Based on empirical evidence from three of the pilot PAs, we examined the achievements and associated challenges and prospects for co-management. Our fieldwork revealed a number of challenges faced by co-management institutions: (1) institutions were dominated by the elite group, overshadowing the voice of the community people; (2) mutual trust and collective performance are key to good governance but had not taken root in the PAs; (3) encroachment onto forest land and subsequent conversion to agriculture remained a serious problem that discouraged forest-dependent people from participating actively in co-management initiatives; (4) legal provisions (including acts, rules and policies) were not clearly and adequately disseminated and understood at the community level; (5) there remained a degree of ambiguity regarding the roles and responsibilities of forest department (FD) and co-management committees (CMC) in field operations, and this was not enhancing transparency and accountability of the overall initiative; (6) the long-term sustainability of co-management institutions was another major concern, as the local intuitional structure was still in a nascent stage, and provisioning of resources (either internally or externally) remained somewhat uncertain. We offer recommendations for improvement.

Inhibitory effects of Albizia lebbeck leaf extracts on germination and growth behavior of some popular agricultural crops

An experiment was conducted to observe the inhibitory effects of the leaf extracts derived from Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth. on germination and growth behavior of some popular agricultural crops (receptor) of Bangladesh. Experiments were set on sterilized petridishes with a photoperiod of 24 h at room temperature of 27–30°C. The effects of the different concentrations of aqueous extracts were compared to distil water (control.). The aqueous extracts of leaf caused significant inhibitory effect on germination, root and shoot elongation and development of lateral roots of receptor plants. Bioassays indicated that the inhibitory effect was proportional to the concentrations of the extracts and higher concentration (50%–100%) had the stronger inhibitory effect whereas the lower concentration (10%–25%) showed stimulatory effect in some cases. The study also revealed that, inhibitory effect was much pronounced in root and lateral root development rather than germination and shoot growth.

The use of medicinal plants in healthcare practices by Rohingya refugees in a degraded forest and conservation area of Bangladesh

People in developing countries traditionally rely on plants for their primary healthcare. This dependence is relatively higher in forests in remote areas due to the lack of access to modern health facilities and easy availability of the plant products. We carried out an ethno-medicinal survey in Teknaf Game Reserve (TGR), a heavily degraded forest and conservation area in southern Bangladesh, to explore the diversity of plants used by Rohingya refugees for treating various ailments. The study also documented the traditional utilization, collection and perceptions of medicinal plants by the Rohingyas residing on the edges of this conservation area. We collected primary information through direct observation and by interviewing older respondents using a semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 34 plant species in 28 families were frequently used by the Rohingyas to treat 45 ailments, ranging from simple headaches to highly complex eye and heart diseases. For medicinal preparations and treating various ailments, aboveground plant parts were used more than belowground parts. The collection of medicinal plants was mostly from the TGR.

Small-scale Agar (Aquilaria agallocha Roxb.) Based Cottage Enterprises in Maulvibazar District of Bangladesh: Production, Marketing and Potential Contribution to Rural Development

Globally, trade in agar-based products is growing rapidly due to their recent adoption as an ingredient in the cosmetics and pharmaceuticals sector. In Bangladesh, people living in some north-eastern districts have been engaged in the production, processing and trading of such products for several decades. These practices, which they consider as the lifeblood of their existence, have been inherited from their ancestors. This paper reports a case study carried out in Maulvibazar district exploring the production and marketing, and industry problems, of agar-based enterprises and their potential contribution to socio-economic development. An exploratory survey was undertaken over 30 randomly selected agar-based factories during December 2005–April 2006, with entrepreneurs of the factories personally interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The majority of the factories of the area were found to depend on local sources of raw materials to produce agar-based products. About 514 full and part-time workers are employed in the factories. Average annual expenditure, revenue and net annual income per factory for three consecutive years 2003–2005 of the study were estimated as Tk 63,980, Tk 111,414 and Tk 47,435, respectively, being highest where attar (agar oil) of superior grade was produced for export. There appears to be a sustainable source of raw materials, availability of technical and financial assistance and opportunity for expansion of market facilities to secure the maximum benefit achievable from this highly promising industry.

Community attitudes toward forest conservation programs through collaborative protected area management in Bangladesh

Abstract The formulation of conservation policies with options for creating protected areas is significantly influenced by the social factors of the surrounding communities. Therefore, indigenous knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of the local communities need to be explored during the planning and implementation stages of conservation projects. A government-initiated experiment in co-management was conducted in the Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary, Bangladesh. This paper analyzes the attitudes toward conservation by members of local communities living in and around the wildlife sanctuary. Training incentives on alternative income-generating (AIG) activities and allotment of agricultural lands were distributed among the Forest User Groups. It is of interest to policy makers and resource managers whether this technique leads to improved attitudes on the part of local people. Although there were different attitudes toward protected areas and conservation, overall, a favorable attitude of the respondents was observed. The opinions of respondents also varied based on factors such as village position, village dependency level on forest resources, ethnicity and gender. Increase in annual income resulting 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 from the protected area by fixing the harvesting limit would encourage the community to be more cordially and actively involved in the conservation efforts of the sanctuary.

Effects of inorganic fertilizers on biological nitrogen fixation and seedling growth of some agroforestry trees in Bangladesh

The effects of different inorganic fertilizers (Urea and Triple Super Phosphate (TSP)) on seedling growth and nodulation capabilities of four agroforestry tree species (Albizia chinensis, A. saman, Acacia nilotica and Sesbania sesban) were compared. The nodulation of these seedlings were treated with different fertilizer treatments (at the rate of urea 40 kg·hm−2, urea 80 kg·hm−2, TSP 40 kg·hm−2, TSP 80 kg·hm−2, (urea+TSP) 40 kg·hm−2–and (urea+TSP) 80 kg·hm−2) after one month of seed germination. The results revealed that the seedling growth was enhanced significantly with moderate fertilizer treatment. In some cases, the higher levels of fertilizers reduced the seedling growth. The study also revealed that the nodulation in nodule number and size was significantly inhibited by the application of N fertilizer (Urea), while it was increased significantly with the application of P fertilizer (TSP). This study improved our understanding and provided insights that would be useful to the farmers in their efforts to amend the soil with inorganic fertilizers in order to enhance plant growth and biological nitrogen fixation.