TIGblogs - Shiplu

Jahanara Begum and her husband are in a dilemma about how to sustain their family of five.

On one hand, they have come to realise that the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, must be saved from destruction to maintain biodiversity, which in turn calls for a stop to cutting down trees.

On the other, the realisation has put their survival in doubt as they're deeply worried about finding an alternative source of income to sustain their family. Jahanara's husband was a wood-cutter.

"He used to cut trees in the Sundarbans. Now, he does not," Begum told bdnews24.com on Sept 28 in Sharankhola when this correspondent visited the remote areas with some Bangladeshi and American officials.

"All of us, through the IPAC activities, have realised that we can save the Sundarbans. However, the realisation is forcing us to go hungry as we don't have any alternative means of livelihood," said Jahanara, who did not mention her husband's name.

She was referring to the Integrated Protected Area Co-management, a project being funded by the USAID for the protection of the Sundarbans and its rich biodiversity.

Jahanara said the people of Kuriakhali, her village under Sharonkhola union in Bagerhat, now cooperate with the forest department officials and refrain from illegal logging and fishing.

"Give us work. Otherwise, we will be forced into our previous practices. Should we starve to death for being conscious?" questioned Jahanara, who was one of the villagers assembled at the Sharonkhola range to meet Ertharin Cousin, the US ambassador to the UN agencies in Rome.

Cousin visited the remote area to witness the progress of the IPAC project in the Sundarbans that was launched around seven months before.

Marjina Begum, another villager, voiced a similar demand.

"We don't have the means for even a single meal without foraging in Sundarbans for honey, fish or wood," Marjina told bdnews24.com.

She said that the recent awareness created due to the programme has persuaded the villagers to release a deer which made its way into the village one week ago.

"Before the project, we would have just eaten it," she added.

"People in the surrounding areas are becoming jobless. The IPAC cannot succeed if alternative livelihoods are not made," Mozammel Hossain, president of co-management committee at the Sharankhola range, told bdnews24.com.

He suggested that the people could be trained for alternative income generations such as tailoring, embroidery, poultry and other jobs.

According to the government figures, about five million people are directly dependent on the Sundarbans, which covers 140,000 hectares of Bangladesh's South Western region, for their livelihood.

Ambassador Cousin agreed that the local people need alternative income.

"We are working on it. We have just started the activities. This [alternative income generation] is on our agenda," Denise Rollins, USAID mission director in Bangladesh, told bdnews24.com on Thursday, adding, "It will take time."

"We are observing positive changes in the attitude of the villagers after the launch of the IPAC. I am hopeful that the forest can be saved with the help of the locals," Akbar Hossain, the conservator of forest in the Sundarbans range, told bdnews24.com.

However, the forest conservator went on to say that alternative sources of income for the locals are a must to maintain the project's success.

Every two years, the forest department forms a co-management committee with the villagers through vote. At the same time, it manages the village conservation committee which is the lowest tier of the co-management committee.

So far, two co-management committees have been formed. Two more 29-member co-management committees will be formed in two other forest ranges, Utpal Dutta, the IPAC's governance specialist told bdnews24.com on Friday.

Dutta said the project earmarked 76 villages under 17 upazilas surrounding the Sundarbans.

Reported by Kamran Reza Chowdhury, senior correspondent of bdnews24.com
Dhaka, 02 October 2010