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Economics of Extraction of Products from Sundarbans Reserve Forest

K M Nabiul Islam
Senior Research Fellow, BIDS (nabiul@bids.org.bd).

K M Nabiul Islam2 Md Nazrul Islam3
Research Officer, BIDS (nazrulislm@yahoo.com).

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The Sundarbans has a tremendous impact on the ecosystem of this country, region and the world as a whole. It provides livelihoods to the local and national economy. The Paper demonstrates that poverty levels of Sundarbans Impact Zone (SIZ) areas, compared to non- SIZ areas, are quite high. Naturally, the issue arises as to why the SIZ population is living in poverty and whether issues related to Sundarbans Reserve Forest (SRF) extraction activities have any bearing on this poverty situation. This Paper is an attempt to explore this through undertaking value chain analysis. The study on which this Paper is based aimed to understand and, where possible, quantify the economics of extraction and sale of products marketed from the Sundarbans. The Paper suggests that there are more than one million people directly involved with the resources extraction from the SRF. About 28% of the population in the impact zone are dependent on the SRF, and in future this dependence will increase, which is likely to aggravate the existing pressure. The increased population with few alternative livelihood opportunities poses a serious threat to the Sundarbans which is the main cause of mangrove destruction. The people and the community especially that of the bottom layer actors in the value chains, tend to fall in the process of pauperization. The income distribution appears to be highly skewed in the SIZ area. While the bottom half (Deciles 1 to 5) of the actors have 15 percent of the total income, the top half (Deciles 6 to 10) of the actors accounts for as much as 85 percent of the total income, with Gini coefficient for the SIZ area estimated as 0.52, as compared to 0.46 for Bangladesh, as a whole. Intuitively, given the existing economic situation, SRF extraction is deepening poverty levels, which may help widen the income gap between rich and poor in the SIZ area. The Paper raises issues that are crucial in terms of return and equity, conservation and co management, and suggests specific policy interventions in respect of, among others, improving the value chains and poverty situations of SRF actors (particularly of bottom layer actors), improving terms of trade and marketing system, conservation of the SRF and capacity of the FD, in order to help ensure improved and collaborative management of SRF and sustainable use of its resources.

Keywords: Economics,Products,Sundarban,Extraction

Location: The Sundarbans

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Non-commodity: Income generation

Objectives:

To identify interventions that can improve the overall total value generated along the chains.

Methodology:

The study carried out using a structured questionnaire apart from adopting standard PRA tools and approaches e.g. Focus group discussions (FGDs), key-informant interviews, community survey, problem analysis and case studies. The principal stages are described below: The survey area The periphery of the SRF includes the areas assumed to be within a 20 km band surrounding the SRF5. This is what can be called the Sundarbans Impact Zone (SIZ)6. The SIZ vis-à-visThe SRF products are broadly divided into five major categories: timber, non-timber, fish, aquatic, and non-aquatic resources. The timber category consists of sundori and other trees, followed by non-timbers consisting of goran, golpata, grass and hantal, fish consisting of gura fish, sada (large) fish, hilsha, shrimp, and shrimp fry, aquatic resources consisting of crab and mollusc, and non-aquatic resources consisting of honey. However, not all the items investigations have been carried out in details. Of these, for various reasons, the products such as sundori or goran (banned items), grass, hantal, shutki and mollusc (small sample size) have not been covered for detail level analysis in this report. However, the type of associated actors and flow chains of the above product list are contemplated.The study identified 159 markets, 138 primary centers (landing places) and 21 secondary markets across 5 districts and 10 upazilas for the SRF products. These primary landing places for various SRF products were the sampling units. The sampling was adopted considering the following criteria: (1) 5 districts (2) 10 upazilas (3) 5 district towns (4) 45 Primary markets (Landing places) (5) 12 SRF products and (6) 7 Actors. Efforts were taken to make the sampling as representative as possible. The ultimate sample size was 237. A total of 47 FGDs was conducted across upazilas and activities. The sampling was constrained because of, among others, seasonality characteristic of the activities concerned Mapping of actors and flowsThe following steps are involved in the present analysis: - Mapping for core steps in a value chain - Mapping for actors - Mapping for number of actors and jobs - Mapping for volume of products - Mapping for geographical flows, and finally - Mapping for the values at different levels of the value chain. The theme of the present study was to map the monetary value throughout the chain. For simplicity, the study assumes no export activities in the process. In other words, only indigenous and local actors are under the purview of the present investigation.

Source of Information: Bangladesh J. Agric. Econs. XXXIV, 1&2 (2011) 29-53

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The paper suggests that there are more than one million people directly involved with the resources extraction from the SRF. About 28% of the population in the impact zone are dependent on the SRF, and in future this dependence will increase, which is likely to aggravate the existing pressure. The increased population with few alternative livelihood opportunities poses a serious threat to the Sundarbans which is the main cause of mangrove destruction. The people and the community especially that of the bottom layer actors in the value chains, tend to fall in the process of pauperization. The income distribution appears to be highly skewed in the SIZ area. While the bottom half (Deciles 1 to 5) of the actors have 15 percent of the total income, the top half (Deciles 6 to 10) of the actors accounts for as much as 85 percent of the total income, with Gini coefficient for the SIZ area estimated as 0.52, as compared to 0.46 for Bangladesh, as a whole. Intuitively, given the existing economic situation, SRF extraction is deepening poverty levels, which may help widen the income gap between rich and poor in the SIZ area. The paper raises issues that are crucial in terms of return and equity, conservation and comanagement, and suggests specific policy interventions in respect of, among others, improving the value chains and poverty situations of SRF actors (particularly of bottom layer actors), improving terms of trade and marketing system, conservation of the SRF and capacity of the FD, in order to help ensure improved and collaborative management of SRF and sustainable use of its resources.

Knowledge Management: Journal