Climate change impacts on the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem services and dependent livelihoods in Bangladesh

Uddin, M. S., Shah, M. A. , Khanom, S. and Nesa, M. K. (2013) Climate change impacts on the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem services and dependent livelihoods in Bangladesh. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology, 2(2), pp. 152-156.

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Publisher's URL: http://www.ajcb.in/journals/full_papers_dec_2013/AJCB-Vol2-No2-Shams-Uddin%20et%20al.pdf

Abstract

The Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh provides ecosystem services having great importance for local livelihoods, national economy and global environment. Nevertheless, the Sundarbans is threatened by various natural and anthropogenic pressures including climate change. This paper presents the potential impacts of climate change on the ecosystem services of the Sundarbans and the forest dependent livelihoods. Both secondary information on climate change impacts and primary data on forest dependent livelihoods were used for the analysis. Recent study revealed that the suitable area of two dominant tree species ofthe Sundarbans - Sundri (Heritiera fomes) and Gewa (Excoecaria agallocha) may be decreased significantly by the year 2100 due to sea level rise (88 cm) in the Sundarbans compared to the year 2001, which may be reduce the timber stock of those trees. This indicates the potential loss of economic value of the key provisioning services of Sundarbans. Similarly, the other ecosystem services (e.g. fisheries, tourism, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, etc.) maybe affected by climate change. Consequently, the forest dependent livelihoods would be affected by the degraded ecosystem services of the forest. Further studies should quantify the impacts of climate change on all the ecosystem services and explore the potential loss and opportunities in future. A new paradigm of management should look forward considering climate change, ecological integrity, sustainable harvesting and ensuring continuity of the ecosystem services of the Sundarbans.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Shah, Dr Mohammad Aminur
Authors: Uddin, M. S., Shah, M. A., Khanom, S., and Nesa, M. K.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
Journal Name:Asian Journal of Conservation Biology
Publisher:The Turtle Conservation & Research Programme (TCRP)
ISSN:2278-7666
ISSN (Online):2278-7666

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