Development initiatives of the Sundarban of Bangladesh

The Sundarban is the world famous largest single tract of mangrove forest in the world located in the southern part of Bangladesh. With its array of trees and wildlife the forest is a showpiece of natural history. It is also a centre of economic activities. For its outstanding universal value, three wildlife sanctuaries of Sundarban were designated as World Heritage Sites. The Sundarban in Bangladesh also has been designated as Ramsar Site. The flagship species, Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris) is the heritage of the Sundarban. Sundari (Heritiera fomes) is the principal and dominant tree species after which the forest is named. Over the years the natural mangroves have been protected and mangrove afforestation has been carried out. Approximately four million people live in small villages surrounding the Sundarban and it provides a livelihood at certain seasons of the year for an estimated 300,000 people. Felling of trees has been banned in the forests since 1989 and management activities have been intensified to adapt the impacts of climate change. In other words, sustainable ecosystem management strategy has been adopted instead of the sustained yield principle. Many donor aided development programmes have been launched for the conservation and development of the forest. To reduce high dependency of people in the adjoining localities on the Sundarban, a co-management system involving the local community and stakeholders and provision of alternative income generation activities of the forest dependent people have been introduced