Rangamati District Research Articles

Cultural adaptation in the era of climate change: An ethnographic study on the resilience of indigenous people at Chittagong Hill Tracts area in Bangladesh

Climate change has gained global recognition as one of the most urgent challenges in recent decades. Many indigenous people attempt to overcome great challenges in their lives by adhering to their cultural customs and traditional knowledge. This is especially true for those who live in isolated, hilly places and are dependent on natural resources. The aim of the paper is to critically investigate the cultural facets of indigenous people's adaptation to and resilience to climate change in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), namely in the Rangamati Sadar sub-districts of the Rangamati districts, in Bangladesh. This paper also examines how cultural components in indigenous community are changing and influencing the adaptation process in adverse situations. This study used a critical ethnography technique in conjunction with participant observation, in-depth interviews (N ​= ​55), and focus group discussions (N ​= ​5, 45 participants) during a one-year period (October 2019 to October 2020). According to the study's findings, climate change-related risks have significant adverse effects on indigenous people. However, they develop their strategies to adjust to the adverse environment, like building different kinds of houses, changing cultural customs, relying less on natural resources, and adhering to their indigenous knowledge. They also strengthen their prayers and ceremonial practices, which reinforce their communal ties and allow them to become more resilient against challenges in their community. The popular belief that Indigenous people are stupid, poor, and helpless while they wait for outside help is challenged by this study. It also refutes the discourse that indigenous strategies and knowledge are not undervalued and can be an effective instrument for the adaptation process and combating hazards.

Prevalence and determinants of antibiotics self-medication among indigenous people of Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesSelf-medication with antibiotics (SMA) contributes significantly to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), especially in low-income countries including Bangladesh. This study aimed to generate evidence on the self-reported prevalence of...

Landslide Risk Assessment and Preventive Measures of Selected Locations in the Rangamati District, Bangladesh

Detecting landslides and unstable slopes is one of the most crucial responsibilities in the emergency response to resist landslides. Having a wide range of hilly terrines in the southeast region of Bangladesh, the risk of landslide disasters is becoming a critical issue. In Chittagong, especially in the Rangamati hill tracts, there have been several losses of life and property due to landslides in the recent past. This research attempts to evaluate the landslide risk in Rangamati hill tracts and provide suggestions to mitigate the landslide hazard by modifying the hill slope. Soil specimens from different hill locations were collected from three areas in the Rangamati district. Several laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the soil properties, and 2D slope stability analysis using Bishop's simplified method was used to evaluate the landslide potential. Different preventative measures, for example, soil nailing, anchors, and cutting slopes like stairs, are also implemented to mitigate the landslide potential by increasing the slope stability was assessed and suggested. Weighted Overlay Model (W.O.M.) was implemented for the Landslide Susceptibility Analysis in ArcGIS to confirm the potential hazard in the study areas, and hazard maps were suggested based on the slope stability results and current slopes in Rangamati. The slope stability analysis of the three spots showed that spot 3 is the most vulnerable spot, which had a low factor of safety value. Even with different mitigation techniques, spot 3 showed a lower factor of safety value, which was verified with the Weighted Overlay Method. It was also seen that among the mitigation techniques, anchoring the slopes is the most effective one that drastically increases the factor of safety value.

Unmet Need for Contraceptive among Tribal Married Women of Rangamati District, Bangladesh

Background: The unmet need for contraceptives refers to the discrepancy between some women's objectives towards conception and their use of contraception, which has been a central indicator for monitoring the progress of family planning programs. Objective: This study set out to identify and evaluate the unmet need for contraceptives among married tribal women between the ages of 15 to 49. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out between January 2022 to December 2022 in Belaichari Upazilla of the Rangamati district. Two hundred and six married indigenous women (15–49 years old) were surveyed house–to–house. Data on the characteristics of contraceptive uses, unmet needs, and correlations were collected by interviewing the participants using a pre-designed, semi-structured questionnaire. Results: The mean age of the participants was 28.07 ± 6.09 years, and most were Buddhist (63.6%). The contraceptive prevalence rate was found to be 41.3%. Overall, unmet need for family planning was 16.5%, and the age of the woman, religion, and profession of the husband were found to be significantly associated with the unmet need for contraceptive. Apprehension of side effects and difficulty in using were reported as two common reasons for unmet needs. Conclusion: Contraceptive services should place priority on improving the information and counseling they provide and the range of methods they offer. All sexually active women need information about their risk of becoming pregnant and about the choices of methods that could meet their needs.

SEAWEED CULTURE, POST-HARVEST PROCESSING, AND MARKET GENERATION FOR EMPLOYMENT OF COASTAL POOR COMMUNITIES IN COX'S BAZAR

Seaweed farming is one of the aquaculture industries with the greatest growth rate worldwide, with an annual production of over 33 billion tonnes, and a value of USD$11.8 billion which is predicted to treble by 2024. The current study was conducted in the Bakkhali River estuary and set out to survey the seaweed cultivation, processing, marketing status of the seaweed farmers and evaluate its financial benefits. Gracilaria lemaneiformis and Ulva intestinalis were cultured using the rope methods. The yield of G. lemaneiformis and U. intestinalis was good (Ten 15 m long ropes were used in each of the 45 plots, produced 7770 kg of G. lemaneiformis in the first 15 days while using ten 15 m long ropes were in each of the plots of U. intestinalis produced 2300 kg). Water parameters viz. temperature, salinity, pH, DO and transparency were checked every 15 days. According to previous literature, winter was determined to be the most productive time for seaweed development in Bangladesh. Seaweed was processed by the sun drying method and sold to retail clients, neighborhood shops and markets, and representatives in Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachari district, where G. lemaneiformis attracting the higher price. The income of seaweed farmers has increased more than in the previous years to maintain their family. Most of the farmers used raw seaweed as traditional medicine for the treatment of gastric problem (80%), diabetes (5%), blood pressure (3%) and cancer (2%). They also used seaweed as an additive with other vegetables, mutton and chicken. Education for coastal people is very difficult, but after cultivating seaweed, about 60% of farmers can afford their children's education cost and about 85% of the households had electric fans, while the majority had mobile phones. The cost-benefit analysis demonstrated that seaweed cultivation is highly profitable.

Malaria hotspots and climate change trends in the hyper-endemic malaria settings of Mizoram along the India–Bangladesh borders

India has made tremendous progress in reducing malaria mortality and morbidity in the last decade. Mizoram State in North-East India is one of the few malaria-endemic regions where malaria transmission has continued to remain high. As Mizoram shares international borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar, malaria control in this region is critical for malaria elimination efforts in all the three countries. For identifying hotspots for targeted intervention, malaria data from 385 public health sub-centers across Mizoram were analyzed in the Geographic Information System. Almost all the sub-centers reporting high Annual Parasite Index (> 10) are located in Mizoram’s districts that border Bangladesh. Getis-Ord Gi* statistic shows most of the sub-centers located along the Bangladesh border in the Lawngtlai and Lunglei districts to be the malaria hotspots. The hotspots also extended into the Mamit and Siaha districts, especially along the borders of Lawngtlai and Lunglei. Analysis of terrain, climatic, and land use/land cover datasets obtained from the Global Modelling and Assimilation Office and satellite images show Mizoram’s western part (Lawngtlai, Lunglei, and Mamit districts) to experience similar topographic and climatic conditions as the bordering Rangamati district in the Chittagong division of Bangladesh. Climatic trends in this region from 1981 to 2021, estimated by the Mann–Kendall test and Sen's slope estimates, show an increasing trend in minimum temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, and the associated shift of climatic pattern (temperate to tropical monsoon) could facilitate malaria transmission. The quasi-Poisson regression model estimates a strong association (p < 0.001) between total malaria cases, temperature range, and elevation. The Kruskal–Wallis H test shows a statistically significant association between malaria cases and forest classes (p < 0.001). A regional coordination and strategic plan are required to eliminate malaria from this hyper-endemic malaria region of North-East India.

An objective absence data sampling method for landslide susceptibility mapping

The accuracy and quality of the landslide susceptibility map depend on the available landslide locations and the sampling strategy for absence data (non-landslide locations). In this study, we propose an objective method to determine the critical value for sampling absence data based on Mahalanobis distances (MD). We demonstrate this method on landslide susceptibility mapping of three subdistricts (Upazilas) of the Rangamati district, Bangladesh, and compare the results with the landslide susceptibility map produced based on the slope-based absence data sampling method. Using the 15 landslide causal factors, including slope, aspect, and plan curvature, we first determine the critical value of 23.69 based on the Chi-square distribution with 14 degrees of freedom. This critical value was then used to determine the sampling space for 261 random absence data. In comparison, we chose another set of the absence data based on a slope threshold of < 3°. The landslide susceptibility maps were then generated using the random forest model. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves and the Kappa index were used for accuracy assessment, while the Seed Cell Area Index (SCAI) was used for consistency assessment. The landslide susceptibility map produced using our proposed method has relatively high model fitting (0.87), prediction (0.85), and Kappa values (0.77). Even though the landslide susceptibility map produced by the slope-based sampling also has relatively high accuracy, the SCAI values suggest lower consistency. Furthermore, slope-based sampling is highly subjective; therefore, we recommend using MD -based absence data sampling for landslide susceptibility mapping.

An ethnographic study on the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on indigenous people and their coping strategies in Bangladesh

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented suffering to the lives and livelihoods of indigenous people across the country, especially in the south-eastern parts of Bangladesh, but the situation has rarely reported by the mass media and academic literature. This study was an attempt to find out the impacts and vulnerabilities of COVID-19 on the indigenous Chakma community at Rangamati sadar (sub-district) of Rangamati (district) in the Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) area, Bangladesh. It also aimed to investigate how indigenous people respond to the pandemic and how they can develop resilience to adapt to the adverse situation. For conducting this study, a critical ethnographic approach was adopted, along with participant observation, in-depth interview, and focus group (FGs) for collecting data in the study area. The findings of the study indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic severely affects the traditional way of life, mythology, culture, food security, economic activities, and educational activities, along with increasing health risks for the people of the indigenous community. However, indigenous people respond to this pandemic in their own ways, involving their ancestors’ works, avoiding dependence on market systems, keeping faith in traditional medicines, building close relation to nature, along with following some health guidelines announced by government. This work refutes the existing mainstream discourse that indigenous people are unwittingly vulnerable and docile in their waiting for outside assistance.

Community Climate Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA) to Climate Change of a Hilly Area of Rangamati District in Bangladesh

The global challenge of Climate change poses a significant threat to humanity, with its impacts already being felt in various parts of the world through unpredictable and severe weather events leading to property damage and loss of life (IPCC, 2014). Community resilience is vital in reducing the losses caused by climate change, and it depends on an understanding of perceived risks, vulnerabilities, and local efforts to mitigate them. The Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh is one of the regions that is particularly vulnerable to climate change, due to its geography, degradation of forests, sensitivity of livelihoods, and low capacity in comparison to other parts of the country (World bank 2018).Although vulnerability assessments to climate change have been conducted previously, there remains a gap in involving indigenous communities residing in hilly areas of Bangladesh. The recognition of climate change risks as perceived by local communities could serve as a foundation for developing locally-led adaptation plans aimed at building local resilience.The Basonto Mon watershed is located in Rangamati district of Bangladesh, with GPS coordinates of 22˚ 40.218"N 92˚ 16.620" E (GPS coordinates derived from Google Earth) and an elevation of 390 feet above sea level. The area comprises of five villages from varying elevations and is primarily inhabited by the Chakma community. There are 269 households in the region, primarily relying on Jhum cultivation, agriculture on fringe lands, and seasonal labor for their livelihoods, with an average annual household income of BDT 96000 (approximately US$ 1132). About 76% of the community consider themselves under serious threat from the effects of climate change, while 24% have limited understanding of the issue. Approximately 20% of the respondents believe that their livelihoods will be mostly affected by climate change, while 78% identified multiple impacts including health, disaster intensity, family workload, and more. The region is also facing severe soil erosion caused by deforestation, incorrect agricultural practices, and the monoculture of forest species such as teak. The community is at risk from agricultural drought, flash floods, landslides, cyclones, among other things, with the most impacted months being March to August.Climate drivers in the area include erratic rainfall, sudden heavy downpours, increased number of rainless days, and rising temperatures. Acute water scarcity caused by the drying of streams is another major concern for the community and has a widespread impact on women and their families. The most vulnerable sectors identified are the forest and ecosystem, livelihoods, and water security.Approximately 75% of the population is literate and has access to educational institutions and health clinics. However, the environment is fragile. To address this, there are three main priorities: 1) preserving the forests through cooperative efforts, reforestation, and public education, 2) promoting sustainable and climate-resistant agriculture, as well as alternative livelihoods and market access, and 3) improving access to clean water and preserving water sources through community-led management. Key stakeholders, such as the CHT institutions and local government bodies, are crucial in supporting the community in becoming more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Socio-economic condition of the indigenous fishermen in and around an artificial lake for Bangladesh

The present study assessed the socio-economic circumstances of the fishermen of Kaptai lake, situated beside the Rangamati Sadar in the Rangamati district. The present study found that 4 categories of cast fishermen are engaged in fishing or fisheries-related activities. Moderate literacy rates were found among the tribal fishermen as only 15% of people were entirely illiterate, and 6% were above higher secondary education. The tribal fishermen in the surveyed area were mainly poor; their annual income ranged closely between Tk. 24000 and Tk 38400. Around 49% of houses were made of bamboo fences, whereas 27% were found to be made of mud, and only 6% of brick was built. 51.5% of the fishers' families had no adequate sanitation system, whereas earthen and sanitation latrines were found at 40% and 8%, respectively. About 45.5% of the tribal fishermen had little access to pure drinking water. The tribal fishing community suffers from various problems such as extortion, lack of fishing gear, inadequate credit facilities, ineffective marketing system, etc. Finally, it may be concluded that the socio-economic condition of the tribal fishermen is not indifferent to other traditional fishermen of Bangladesh.

Climate Change Induced Landslide Susceptibility Assessment - for Aiding Climate Resilient Planning for Road Infrastructure: A Case Study in Rangamati District, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

Climate change induced extreme hydro-meteorological conditions have increased the prevalence of landslides in the hilly and geologically fragile region of Chittagong Hill Tract districts (including Rangamati) in Bangladesh. These landslides have attributed to significant damages to transportation infrastructures such as roads and bridge. In this study, we investigated the susceptibility of landslides due to extreme rainfall events under different climate change scenarios in Rangamati district. We developed high-resolution 1km x 1km downscaled extreme rainfall projections under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios for baseline period 1976-2005 and for future time horizons 2030s, 2050s, and 2080s. Based on these extreme rainfall scenarios, the combination of the Frequency Ratio (FR) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) techniques were applied to map and analyse the landslide susceptibility maps. Nine multi-variate factors contributing to the landslides were considered including terrain slope, aspect, elevation, lithology, soil, distance from the lineaments, distance from the stream, land use and mean annual rainfall in four different time periods for scenario RCPs. Further, an Area Under the Curve (AUC) approach was used to evaluate the quality of the model A total of seven landslide susceptibility maps were developed and classified into five susceptible classes. The models were validated using the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (ROC) approach, which showed a satisfactory result of 80-86 percent accuracy.

Landscape of Zoonoses Clusters in Bangladesh from 2001 to 2016: Impact to National Health

It remains unclear how human diseases are distributed spatially and temporally in Bangladesh. A retrospective epidemiological study was conducted using Bangladesh National Health Surveillance Data from 2000 to 2016, examining the risk factors, transmission mode, and treatment of viral dengue fever (DF), Nipah virus encephalitis (NiVE), rabies, zika, protozoan malaria, and bacterial anthrax in Bangladesh. Morbidity and mortality rates for dengue were 375 to 6132 cases and 0 to 2.5%, respectively, with the major hotspots in urban areas of Dhaka, Khulna, and Chittagong. It was reported that all four causative virus serotypes were present. It was estimated that Nipah morbidity/mortality ranged from 4 to 44 cases and 25 to 92%. The highestburden was to be found in the Northwestern and Central districts, with 31 geographical clusters. Despite being an emerging disease, Zika remains an underreported problem. Dhaka and its surrounding regions saw an increase in rabies cases caused by dog bites. Rabies was associated with a morbidity/mortality rate of 0 to 100,000 cases and 0 to 3.61%, respectively. Mortality and morbidity from anthrax were 0 to 607 cases and 0 to 0.0164%, respectively. The disease was prevalent in Sirajganj and its surrounding areas. Most cases were attributed to butchershandling infected cattle-meat. There were 3864 to 84690 malaria cases, with a mortality rate of 0.03 to 0.54%. 28.6 to 95.2% of the cases were caused by the protozoa P. falcifarum. Malaria is hyper-endemic in the Khagrachari, Bandarban and Rangamati districts. Since the beginning of the 2000s, advanced diagnostic, preventive, and treatment methods have been introduced to combat malaria. In order to control the spread of zoonotic diseases in the future, public health officials must take intensive interactive preventive measures.

Identification of ectoparasites from domestic pigs of rangamati district

Ectoparasite infestations have direct and indirect negative impacts on its host. Ectoparasite fauna of pigs of Bangladesh is not well documented. Our objective was to detect the ectoparasite fauna among the pigs in Rangamati district of Bangladesh. We examined, 480 pigs from 104 households by close inspection and detected one species of louse (e.g., Haematopinus suis), three species of ticks (Amblyoma testudinarium, Haemaphysalis bispinosa, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus), and one species of flea (Ctenocephalides canis). Pathology and economic losses due to the detected ectoparasites in Rangamati district need further investigation for the betterment of the local pig industry. Bangladesh J. Agri. 2022, 47(1): 88-94

Landslide susceptibility mapping of Rangamati District of Bangladesh using statistical and machine intelligence model

Landslide susceptibility mapping of Rangamati District of Bangladesh using statistical and machine intelligence model

Land use / land cover changes monitored by NDVI index in Rangamati, Bangladesh for the last four decades

The study of land use/land cover dynamics has been increasingly important in the research of earth surface natural resources. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is a widely used method for observing land use/land cover change detection. The surface land resources are easily interpreted by computing their NDVI. This study aimed at analyzing Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) changes between 1977 and 2019 in the Rangamati district, Bangladesh using reclassify the NDVI values of the Landsat satellite image and identifying the main drivers to change LULC by household survey. Five different years of Landsat images were used to extract the NDVI values January of 1977, 1989, 2000, 2011 and 2019. The NDVI values are initially computed using the user define method to reclassify the NDVI map to create land use land cover map and change detection. The highest NDVI value was found in 1977 (0.88) which indicates healthy vegetation at that time and thereafter it followed a decreasing trend (0.79 in 1989, 0.74 in 2000, 0.71 in 2011 and 0.53 in 2019) which shows a rapid vegetation cover change in the study area. Analysis of the household survey revealed that population growth, migration from plain land, rapidly urbanization, Kaptai Dam, migration policy of government, high land price, unplanned development, development of tourism industry, firewood collection and poverty have been identified as the major drivers of LULC changes in the study area. Furthermore, analysis of NDVI confirms that the forest vegetation area is being decreased and settlement area and sparseness of vegetation are being increased. The accuracy of the NDVI-based classified images is assessed, using a confusion matrix where overall classification accuracy and Kappa coefficient are computed. The overall classification accuracy was 84% - 90% with corresponding Kappa statistics of 80% - 88% for TM and OLI-TIRS images, respectively. The study serves as a basis of understanding of the LULC changes in the southeastern part of Bangladesh. Bangladesh J. Agri. 2019-2021, 44-46: 127-140

Impact of Land Use/Land Cover Change on Landslide Susceptibility in Rangamati Municipality of Rangamati District, Bangladesh

Landslide susceptibility depends on various causal factors such as geology, land use/land cover (LULC), slope, and elevation. Unlike other factors that are relatively stable over time, LULC is a dynamic factor associated with human activities. This study evaluates the impact of LULC change on landslide susceptibility in the Rangamati municipality of Rangamati district, Bangladesh, based on three LULC scenarios—the existing (2018) LULC, the proposed LULC (proposed in 2010, but not yet implemented), and the simulated LULC of 2028—using artificial neural network (ANN)-based cellular automata. The random forest model was used for landslide susceptibility mapping. The model showed good accuracy for all three LULC scenarios (existing: 82.7%; proposed: 81.4%; and 2028: 78.3%) and strong positive correlations (&gt;0.8) between different landslide susceptibility maps. LULC is either the third or fourth most important factor in these scenarios, suggesting that is has a moderate impact on landslide susceptibility. Future LULC changes will likely increase landslide susceptibility, with up to 14.5% increases in the high susceptibility zone for both the proposed and simulated LULC scenarios. These findings may help policymakers carry out proper urban planning and highlight the importance of considering landslide susceptibility in LULC planning.

Market Identification, Opportunities, and Profitability for the Selected Seasonal Fruits in the Chittagong Hill Tracts Area of Bangladesh

The study attempts to analyze suitable markets, market opportunities, and the estimation of the profitability of the selected seasonal fruits for the market intermediaries in Chittagong hill tracts of Bangladesh. The study was conducted at the CHT region such as; Bandarban and Rangamati district and some parts of the Chattagram region to document the socio-economic profile of the market actors of selected fruits and identify the suitable market opportunities and profitability of those fruits in the market. The chosen samples included 86 market actors. In the study area combined, 90% of Aratdar took formal education among all the market actors. In the case of education, 35% of market actors were found who have the level of education from primary to SSC, and 30% had primary education, 29% intermediaries were found to have finished their SSC level. The frequent and common variety sent to various markets was the Rangui variety of mango as the productions of other types were not more to supply. It was also observed that other fruits like jackfruit and litchi were sold more in the local market than supplying it to the distant market. When estimating growers' share, the study found the dominant channel for mango, jackfruit, and litchi to be the same (farmer- Faria-consumer), 64%, 38%, and 57%, respectively. The efficient marketing channel for mango (2.17) was (farmer-Bepari-Aratdar-retailer-consumer). For jackfruit, (farmer-Bepari-Aratdar-consumer) was found to have an efficient channel (1.27), and for litchi, (farmer-Faria-consumer) had the highest marketing efficiency (2.00).

Climate change and cultural responses of indigenous people: A case from Bangladesh

In recent decades, climate change has become a great concern all over the world and indigenous people especially those who live in remote area and depend on natural resources are most vulnerable to this extremity. This research project is an attempt to find out the key indicators of cultural responses of indigenous people for adaption in climate change extremity. For conducting this study, 25 in-depth interviews were adopted by employing semi-structured and open-ended questionnaire to indigenous people in Rangamati sadar of Rangamati district in Bangladesh. The findings of the study indicate that indigenous people have idea about climate change and they get this idea from different media i.e., television, FM radio, local newspaper, peer groups etc. and blame developed countries for the causes of climate change events. The findings also indicate that for adapting to climate change, local people develop their own strategies, like planting trees surrounding their houses, performing religious activity, rendering mutual help to each other, taking relief or financial support from others for investment, applying indigenous technology, changing occupations etc. in their community. Very few empirical studies were conducted on cultural adaption of indigenous people in climate change, so this project findings can help policy makers as well as government to formulate policy to uplift this community in near future.

Medical ethnobotany of the Marma community of Rangamati district of Bangladesh

The ethnomedicinal practices of Marma indigenous community of Bangladesh is considered rich. This study aimed to compile their medicinal plant usage to get fresh insights into newer ethnobotanical uses. Ethnomedicinal information was collected through open‐ended/semi structured techniques following field interview, plant interview and market survey from key informants. Documented data was further analyzed using different quantitative indices. The Jaccard index was also calculated to show the degree of similarity with previous studies conducted in Bangladesh and abroad. A total of 196 plants from 75 families belonging to 164 genera were documented in the survey. Gastrointestinal disorders epitomized the foremost complaints sort with the use of 72 plant species, followed by pain and inflammation (63 species). Leaves (42.8%) were the principal source of medication while trees were the major plant type used in the ethnobotanical practice. The original application of ethnomedicinal plants within our study was compared with 44 previous ethnomedicinal research studies and the Jaccard index (JI) ranged from 0.78 to 46.78. The highest similarity within the country was recorded with studies from the Bandarban district while the lowest was from the northern region. Similarly, the highest similarity with reports from neighboring countries was with Chanduali district of UP, India and the lowest with FATA, Pakistan. Importantly, our literature study exhibited that this study recorded 23 species with new ethnomedicinal uses. The Marma community still depends on plants to treat different complaints/diseases. This compilation may provide a future resource for further phytochemical and pharmacological studies.

Slope stability analysis of the Rangamati District using geotechnical and geochemical parameters

Landslide and human mortality have been a common phenomenon in the Rangamati district over the past several years. This study examined the geotechnical properties (e.g., grain size analysis, plasticity index, liquid limit index) and geochemical properties (e.g., erodibility index, weathering index, K factor value, redness rating) of the soil in order to determine the causes and vulnerability of the landslide. Three types of soils (sand, silt and clay) have been classified based on grain-size distribution for geotechnical and geochemical analyses. The geotechnical properties of the soils examined indicate that most soils are sandy loams, of poor quality and plastic in nature. Geochemical properties show that the weathering index is higher for the clayey soil which is about 3.65 and the erosion index is higher found in the silty soil of ~ 6.7. The stability index is very low (~ 0.06), and the K factor value is higher 0.046 for the non-cohesive sandy soil which indicates high susceptibility of landslide. Numerical analysis based on geotechnical properties of the soil indicates that the steep slopes are even stable at the dry condition, while it is in risk at wet condition. A bio-engineering approach was proposed which showed that local plants could withstand and render stable in the barred slope in a few years.