Forest Management for Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh

Abstract

Tropical forest management has a vital role to play in improving local adaptive capacity to climate change. Although forests are themselves often vulnerable to the consequences of climate change – such as the increased risk of fires or sea level rise – concerted management can also enhance the resilience of local communities to climate change-related events such as storm surges, coastal erosion, and landslides. This chapter explores the many ways that strategic forest management plays a role in climate change adaptation in Bangladesh, reviewing recent initiatives for conservation of the Sundarbans Reserve Forest, coastal afforestation, and reforestation of hill tract forests. Community-based social forestry, livelihood diversification, as well as disaster management are also key components of many of these programs. However, because baseline data and continual monitoring have been sparse, important uncertainties concerning long-term project effectiveness remain. Additional research is therefore necessary to evaluate the successfulness of forest-based adaptation in Bangladesh.