1 research outputs found
Tree diversity and management of Village Common Forests in Bandarban
Village Common Forests (VCF) are used sustainably for water source conservation,
livelihoods and other biomass needs ofethnic communities in the hilly areas of Bangladesh.
The current forest degradation rate warrants the importance and potentiality of VCF for
sustainable natural resources management. This study was conducted in two VCF of Lama
and RumaUpazila at Chimbuk hill range in Bandarban district to explore the indigenous
management techniques and tree species diversity. To identify tree species diversity,
eighteen plots (9 plots from each VCF) were selected at different hill position (top, middle
and bottom) by stratified random sampling method with the dimension of 20m×20m per
plot. Shiner-winner and Simpson index were used to calculate the tree species diversity.
According to the analyses, it was found that diversity was higher in top of the hill, but
species density (stem/ha) was higher in the valley. It was also found that 23000
seedlings/ha regenerated naturally and among the 31 identified families, Moraceae was
dominant where the density was 354 stems/ha with basal area 52.63 m2/ha. The dominant
species were Schleicher oleosaand Anisopterascaphula and important non-timber species
were Melocannabaccifera and Calamusgurubagrowing abundantly in the study areas. It
was observed that the VCF were managed by ethnic Mro community with two different
committees (customary and executive) who made some rules for natural forest
conservation. This management practice is not only conserving hill forests, but also
helping to improve degraded forest and create new habitats for biodiversity in the study
area