Influence of humanitarian assistances on ecosystem services in Bangladesh coast

Author:- Md. Nurul Amin 1 , Shahedul Islam, Md. Saidur Rahman and Shaila Sharmin Snigdha
Category:- Journal; Year:- 2021
Discipline:- Forestry & Wood Technology Discipline
School:- Life Science School

Abstract

The coastal ecosystem of Bangladesh is diverse and the life and livelihood of the people are largely dependent on ecosystem services (ES). The frequent natural disasters negatively influence coastal ecosystem services and consequently interrupt human life and resources. Government and non-government organizations provide humanitarian assistance to the local community to recover damages induced by disasters in coastal areas. In this research, we used participatory workshops (n=4) and face-to-face questionnaire surveys (n=131) to study the influence of humanitarian assistance on ecosystem services on the Bangladesh coast. Our study revealed prominent ecosystem services in the study area; those were provisioning services: crops, livestock, capture fisheries, freshwater; regulating services: erosion regulation, climate regulation, natural hazard regulation; cultural services: recreation and tourism, boating to the Meghna coast, migratory birds watching. The livelihood of people was heavily impacted by the disasters; however, training support guided them to manage their income by selling their commercially produced animals (e.g., cattle, goats and poultry) before disaster seasons. Humanitarian assistance for supplementary nutrient supply, sanitation and drinking water facilities influenced the unwanted extraction of natural resources from the fragile ecosystems after the disaster. Our study suggested that future research should focus on the influence of one-to-one humanitarian assistance, to what extent ES improvement through this assistance is achievable for natural disaster protection on the Bangladesh coast.

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