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Indigenous Knowledge in Natural Resource Management by the Hill People: a Case of the Mro Tribe in Bangladesh

Mohammad Shaheed Hossain Chowdhury
Forest Policy Laboratory, Department of Forest Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, 8304-521 Minamiminowa-Mura, 399-4598 Nagano-Ken, Japan

Md. Abdul Halim
Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, School of Agriculture and Mineral Sciences, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh

Nur Muhammed
Forest Policy Laboratory, Department of Forest Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, 8304-521 Minamiminowa-Mura, 399-4598 Nagano-Ken, Japan

Masao Koike*
Forest Policy Laboratory, Department of Forest Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, 8304-521 Minamiminowa-Mura, 399-4598 Nagano-Ken, Japan

Shampa Biswas
School of Environmental Sciences and Management, Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB), Baridhara, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) region of Bangladesh, covering a considerable portion of ‘hill forest type’ of the country, is rich in biological diversity; in terms of flora, fauna and ethnicity. A number of aboriginal and tribal communities enrich the cultural heritage of the region. Thanchi upazilla (sub-district) of Bandarban district in the CHTs is the remotest forested area where some tribal groups still lead their subsistence life depending fully on natural resources. This exploratory study was conducted to document indigenous knowledge (IK) employed by the Mro tribe in their everyday activities, highlighting traditional utilization of forests and other natural resources. A total of 36 farms were assessed using different participatory appraisals through semi-structured questionnaire. The respondents were peasants who live on the hilltops in a pristine environment, inside the high ranges of hills and dense forest almost totally beyond the eye-sight of the outer civilized society. They developed IK of their own in practising shifting cultivation (Jhum) and other land use systems along with the utilization of natural resources. In most cases, such IK has become key factors in the sound management of their forest resources with sustainable utilization of biodiversity. But most of the wealth of their IK is being threatened by the settlement of the non-tribal people in the CHTs region. The life style and ethno-forestry perception regulated by IK governing the daily activities of the ethnic communities need to be explored in order to conserve them and to assess the possibilities for conserving the forest resources by utilizing such traditional indigenous concepts.

Keywords: Ethno-forestry, Forest resources, Jhum, Sustainability

Location: Bolipara union in Thanchi upazilla (sub-district) of Bandarban district, Bangladesh over a period of five months from October 2005 to February 2006.

Start Date: 00-10-2005

End Date: 00-02-2006

Program Area: Knowledge Management

Non-commodity: Management

Objectives:

This study was undertaken to ascertain and document the natural resource management system of the Mro tribe and their impact on the sustainability of the natural resources in the Bandarban region of the CHTs, Bangladesh.

Methodology:

Study Site: The study was conducted at Bolipara union in Thanchi upazilla (sub-district) of Bandarban district, Bangladesh over a period of five months from October 2005 to February 2006. Thanchi upazilla occupies an area of 1020.82 sq km including 680.55 sq km forest area. It lies between 21° 15' and 21° 57' north latitude and between 92° 20' and 92° 41' east longitude (BBS, 1992). Thanchi, about 55 km southeast of Bandarban is the remotest and perhaps, one of the most inaccessible upazillas of Bangladesh (Haque, 2000b). 90% of the area is hilly; rivers and marshes make up 4% and only 6% is suitable for intensive agriculture (Khisa, 1998). The upazilla consists of 4 unions, 12 mauzas and 82 villages. In the upazilla, there are 2885 households of which 2661 are tribal. 98% of the main houses are made of straw/bamboo, the remaining 2% being of a combination of different materials including cement. The upazilla has a total population of 18,000 of which Mro number 3,738 (some 20%). Methods Multi-stage, partly random sampling was used in the study. Out of seven upazillas of Bandarban district, the Mro are concentrated in the hilly areas of Thanchi, Alikadam, Lama, Ruma and Naikhyangchari upazillas (Drong, 2001). A list of these five upazillas was arranged alphabetically and Thanchi was selected randomly from the list. Mostly the Mro inhabit at Balipara union of this upazilla. So this union was selected purposively. A list of the Mro hamlets was collected from the office of Caritas Bangladesh, an international NGO working locally for the development of the Mro tribe. Three hamlets out of 17 were finally chosen at random from the list. From each of the three hamlets, 12 households were selected randomly. Thus a total of 36 households were selected from the study area. A preliminary discussion was carried out at the local office of ‘Caritas Bangladesh’ with its officials, members of the local Union Council, the headmen of the respective hamlets (locally called Karbari) and the members of farmer groups (beneficiaries of Caritas) before the household sampling began. The objective of the discussion was to provide information on the work intended and to select research assistants. Four assistants were recruited of whom one was from Caritas Bangladesh and the remaining were the headmen (Karbaris) of the three respective hamlets. Interview techniques were employed to elicit information and IK on the management of shifting cultivation; daily life activities; collection, processing and management of forest produces and other resources. An open-ended semistructured questionnaire was used for the survey. Since this research was mainly qualitative, emphasis was given to information concerning the utilization of natural resources in the community’s own way. The main questions covered: what resources do they collect from forest, how do they process the raw products, how do they manage their main crop production system (shifting cultivation) and so on. Side by side, physical observations of practices embodying some IK were also made by the first author when living in the community. Household heads were the main respondents in the interviews, helped by other members of the family when necessary. Ambiguities arising from the use of local terms were clarified by the research assistants. The information gathered was arranged systematically and documented as ‘qualitative descriptions’.

Source of Information: Forests, Trees and Livelihoods, 2009, Vol. 19, pp. 129–151

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The dependence of the Mro tribe on forests was so intense that they constituted one of the integral components of the forest ecosystem. They use many of the components of the forest in every aspect of life for survival and sustenance. These uses reflected their possession of extensive ethno-biological indigenous knowledge (IK) of their own. Over the past few decades, the importance of farmers’ IK in managing their natural resources has gained increasing recognition from the scientific community (Teklehaimanot et al., 2001). Ethno-botany and IK have important roles to play in the management of forest resources and watersheds as well as in the conservation of biodiversity and traditional cultural diversity. Miller and Nair (2006) recognized that IK acts as the basis for the today’s practice of agroforestry by the farmers in Amazonia, and has potential to contribute to the development of other improved systems in future. The IK-based practices of the Mro tribe that ensure the sustention of biological diversity should become key elements in the sound management of forest resources. But the day by day increase in settlement of the non-hill people in the CHTs may pose a threat to the traditional practices of the indigenous people, and even to their existence. The reduction of the population of native tribes in Amazonia due to the upheavals occurring in colonial times shows that this can happen (Miller and Nair, 2006). Nevertheless, ethno-botanists can play very useful roles in documenting all these hereditary IKs and, combining them with their scientific knowledge, explore better options for dual purposes – the management of forest resources in the hill ecosystems and the conservation of indigenous wisdom as a part of living cultural-ecological systems. The policy makers may get some clues from the findings of present study in designing ethnicity-specific development projects for the CHTs compatible to the traditional beliefs of the inhabitants living there.

Knowledge Management: Journal