Legal framework for community participation in governance : the role of co-management in the forest protected areas management of Bangladesh

The co-management of protected areas (PAs) have been developed and supported in many countries through international and national approaches and practices as well as legal, policy and institutional frameworks. Many international standards, guidelines and best practices are non-binding principles (soft law) in international regimes, yet they have become embedded in national legal and policy frameworks in forest and PA management. Sustainable development (SD) requires livelihood support, capacity building of the stakeholders, widespread community participation and effective local governance. International law and policy particularly related to these attributes have been promoted through the Rio Declaration, Agenda21, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Forest Principles. The research questions addressed in this thesis seek to identify the scope, problems and the challenges of implementing co-management in the forest PAs of Bangladesh. The main focus of research and analysis in this thesis is investigating whether co-management is an appropriate governance approach to contribute to sustainable development goals, particularly in context of community participation, livelihoods, tenural rights and capacity building for devolution of power (to communities) in the long term. The long-established role of Community Forestry (CF), Social Forestry (SF) and Community-Based Environmental Management (CBEM) as participatory governance approaches for forest PAs in Bangladesh is critically reviewed. Through a case study of the Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS), the implementation of co-management regimes in Bangladesh is explored with particular regard to the needs and perspectives of community partners, other key stakeholders and the institutions through which they govern the sanctuary. This enables a deeper understanding of the strengths and weakness of the existing co-management regimes in Bangladesh.As co-management in Bangladesh evolves from these examples, experiences, ad hoc case studies and pilot projects, developing supportive legal, policy and institutional frameworks will become increasingly important. Therefore, existing Bangladesh regimes for participatory governance and co-management are reviewed with the objectives of identifying the problems and challenges of the concept of co-management and to integrate them with best practices (internationally and nationally) in participatory governance of PA's that incorporate SD principles in a developing country context. This then provides the basis for making recommendations for improvements and identifying future governance through co-management that reflects the needs and aspirations of forest-dependent communities