Contribution of Mangrove Ecosystem Services to Local Livelihoods in the Indian Sundarbans

Piyali Sarkar; Saon Banerjee; Saroni Biswas; Sarathi Saha; Dolgobinda Pal; Manish Kumar Naskar; Sanjeev K. Srivastava; Dhananjay Barman; Gouranga Kar; Sharif A. Mukul

doi:10.3390/su16166804

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Contribution of Mangrove Ecosystem Services to Local Livelihoods in the Indian Sundarbans

Journal article

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Contribution of Mangrove Ecosystem Services to Local Livelihoods in the Indian Sundarbans

Piyali Sarkar, Saon Banerjee, Saroni Biswas, Sarathi Saha, Dolgobinda Pal, Manish Kumar Naskar, Sanjeev K. Srivastava, Dhananjay Barman, Gouranga Kar and Sharif A. Mukul

Sustainability, Vol.16(16), pp.1-17

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su16166804

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Abstract

mangrove ecosystem

Sundarbans

ecosystem services

ES ranking

livelihood dependency

Mangrove forests, apart from their carbon sequestration and coastal protection benefits, provide a wide range of ecosystem services to people in tropical developing countries. Local people living in and around forests in the developing tropics also depend heavily on these mangrove ecosystem services for their livelihoods. This study examines the impact of mangrove ecosystem services on the livelihoods of people in Indian part of the Sundarbans—the largest contagious mangrove forest on earth. To achieve this objective, a household survey was undertaken to gather data on the diverse range of provisioning and regulating ES local people derived from mangrove forests living near the Indian Sundarbans. Surveys were carried out in nine villages across the Kultali, Basanti, and Gosaba blocks, involving over one hundred respondents. Our study reveals the active participation of locals in gathering various ecosystem services, with fishing and crab collection being the most common in the area. Due to numerous challenges in the agricultural sector, such as soil salinity and frequent extreme weather events, people increasingly depend on non-farming incomes, particularly fishing. A questionnaire was used to assess the dependence of local people on different ecosystem services. Some villages, such as Amlamethi, Satyanarayanpur, Mathurakhand, Vivekananda Palli, and Second Scheme, demonstrated a higher reliance on forest ecosystem services compared to other villages. The study indicates that the contribution of ecosystem services sometimes surpasses traditional activities like farming and daily contractual work. River transportation emerged as the most crucial service, followed by freshwater, food, and fiber. While certain resources like fuel, natural medicine, and genetic resources may not be prioritized, they still hold significance within the community, contrasting with ornamental resources, which are considered the least important. Our findings underscore the importance of preserving natural services in the Sundarbans forest, highlighting the need to conserve the mangrove ecosystem services to ensure the long-term well-being of local communities.

Details

Title: Contribution of Mangrove Ecosystem Services to Local Livelihoods in the Indian Sundarbans
Authors: Piyali Sarkar - Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Saon Banerjee (Corresponding Author) - Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Saroni Biswas - Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Sarathi Saha - Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Dolgobinda Pal - Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Manish Kumar Naskar - Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Sanjeev K. Srivastava - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Dhananjay Barman - Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres
Gouranga Kar - Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres
Sharif A. Mukul (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Publication details: Sustainability, Vol.16(16), pp.1-17
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2024
DOI: 10.3390/su16166804
ISSN: 2071-1050
Copyright note: © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Data Availability: Data are contained within the article.
Grant note: The study received partial support from the Asia Pacific Network (APN) for Global Change Research (Japan) under the project—“Protecting ecosystems and livelihoods of the Sundarbans, a World Heritage site: Assessing the impact of natural hazards on forest-based ecosystem services” (project code: CRRP2020-08MY-Srivastava).
Organisation Unit: Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991054376902621
Output Type: Journal article

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