The Role of NGOs Activities with forest conservation for sustainable development: Experiences from Bangladesh

: In Bangladesh, many NGOs have been launched with involving local people in managing livelihood enhancement with forest resource conservation for sustainable development. The study was conducted to assess the capability of NGOs ongoing programs towards species richness and biodiversity conservation in a sustainable way of rural households in Chattogram and Moulavibazar covered by evergreen and semi-evergreen forest area, Tangail and Sherpur covered by Sal forest area and Satkhira covered by Mangrove forest area during 2014 to 2019. Data were collected from 330 IGA participating forest-dependent farmers, who were the member of different NGOs viz. World Vision Bangladesh, Arannyak Foundation, Caritas Bangladesh, Bangladesh Pallidaridro Foundation, and BRAC. The assessment was done using multistage random sampling. A total of 131 plant species were identified adjacent twenty villages of evergreen and semi-evergreen forest, Sal forest and Mangrove forest areas of which 43 species were fruit-producing, 41 timber species, 29 fuelwood and ornamental species, 18 medicinal and species of spices. Most of the farmers (33%) preferred to plant fruit tree species for future plantation followed by timber species (31%). Diversity and abundance of fruit species were found higher in all homestead. Seven livestock, seven poultry, and two pet animal species were recorded. A total of 46 species of cultured fish species were recorded. Besides, analysis of existing management period indicates that farmers lack scientific information, almost every household presently follows traditional management systems. Finally, homestead species scientific obtaining training and support from government and NGOs, found highly demandable by this study.


Introduction
Bangladesh is situated at the complex interface of the Himalayan and Southeast Asian Biogeographic Regions, and historically was well endowed with very diverse complements of terrestrial and aquatic flora and fauna. The tropical forest is regarded as the richest in Plant Diversity. But Bangladesh has only 5 to 6% forest area (Bashar, 1999). It has 15.4 million homesteads occupying 0.3 million hectares of land and is providing major requirements of food, fruit, vegetables, timber, and fuelwood (Abedin & Quddus, 1990). Wide ranges of plant biodiversity for timber and food crops were found in the homesteads (Bashar, 1999).
The Government of Bangladesh has been implementing wider programs including Afforestation, cattle, goat, poultry rearing, fish farming, handicrafts, small and cottage industries, etc. The government has been paying much attention and channeling more money towards the community programs since the early 1980s, taken as an approach to poverty alleviation and environmental amelioration. Along with the government programs more than 100 national and international NGOs are also engaged in homestead/community forestry programs as part of their strategy for environmental development and poverty reductions.
The NGOs sector has grown to serve the rural poor, especially after the respective governments adopted the economic reform policies. Most of the NGOs have proved themselves capable of interacting with rural poor and this has been well recognized by the government. However, only some of the NGOs adopt a holistic approach to poverty alleviation programs for forest dependant people. The Caritas Bangladesh, BRAC, World Vision Bangladesh, Arannak Foundation, and Bangladesh Palli Daridro Bimochan Foundation and several other NGOs have been working with the government as a development partner in a different sector. Both GO and NGOs activities have been playing a significant role in engaging forest dependant farmers in income generation activities, which were considered to assist them in having a more significant role in the family, especially with regards to improving the livelihood and homestead/forest resource conservation.

Materials and Methods
Chattogram and Moulavibazar covered by evergreen and semi-evergreen forest area, Tangail and Sherpur covered by Sal forest area and Sathkhira covered by mangrove forest area were the locales of this study. The study was conducted among forest dependant farmers of the study area and was considered as the population of the study. Multistage purposive and random sampling procedures were followed to obtain the desired sample. Having a minimum of three years of membership in different NGOs and took facilities to implement IGAs from aforesaid organizations. A sample from 330 forest dependant farmers constituted the actual sample of the study IGAs participation out of 3,330 poor households was selected following a random sampling procedure. Data were collected through a pretested interview schedule. In addition, focus group discussion (FGD), scored causal diagrams (SCDs), key informant interview (KII), interview schedule, and direct field observation were also employed to obtain necessary information. Data were collected from forest dependant farmers, who were the member of different NGOs (Caritas Bangladesh, BRAC, World Vision Bangladesh, Arannak Foundation and Palli Daridro Bimochan Foundation) selected by multistage random sampling procedure during May 2015 to July 2017. The collected data were cross-checked finally in a group meeting at every village involving people at various levels. In the present study, homestead biodiversity was evaluated considering mainly the plants, domestic animals, and fishes. The following measures were used in determining biodiversity.
i. Species richness (S) = The number of species within a homestead ii. Relative Prevalence (RP) = Population of the species per homestead X % homesteads with the species. iii. Interspecies diversity: Simpon's Species Diversity Index (D) Where Pi is the proportion of total individuals in the ith species.
Pi=n/N, n is the number of individuals in the i th species and N is the total number of the individuals of all species in the community, D=Diversity index number, ∑= is a summation sign, S=Total number of species, D can range from 0 to 1. i.
Species evenness: The most frequently used measures, which covers large samples (Peet, 1974) are:

Results and Discussion
The existing biodiversity in the rural homesteads of evergreen and semi-evergreen, sal forest and mangrove forest areas are described underi) Species richness, ii) interspecies diversity and iii) Species evenness as follows:

Species richness in the rural homesteads
Almost all the homesteads of the study areas contained mixed vegetation of various annual and perennial plants including trees and shrubs. There were different types of domestic and pet animals and also fishes in the ponds. The findings of the study showed that there was a wide variety of plant and animal species in homesteads and their number varied from one homestead to another and also varied among the three study areas.

Plant species richness in the homesteads
A total of 131 plant species were identified in the three study areas. Among the 131 plant species, 33% fruit species, 31% timber species, 22% fuelwood and ornamental plant species, and 14% medicinal species. The highest number (110) of species were found in hill forest area and lowest (105) in the Sal forest area (Table 1). Alam and Masum (2005) identified 142 plant species in the Offshore Island of Bangladesh.

The richness of animal species
Seven livestock species i.e cow, buffalo, goat, horse, sheep, rabbit, and pig were found in the homesteads of all three study areas. In the case of cattle, the exotic or crossbreed was found in many cases along with local breed. Black Bengal was the only species of goat (Table 2). Seven poultry species as chicken, duck, goose, Japanese quail, guinea fowl, turkey, and pigeon were available in the study villages (Table 2). Only two pet animals e.g. dog and cat of the local breed were found in homesteads of all study areas.  Among the animals found in the homesteads, species richness was high in the case of fishes. A total of 40 fish species were mentioned by the respondents which they observed recently in their ponds while catching fish. The highest number (40) of species was recorded at the Sal forest area and lowest (37) at mangrove and hill forest area. In this case, respondents were asked to mention different birds as they observed in their homesteads during the last one year. The highest number (32) of species was recorded at hill and Sal forest area and lowest (26) at mangrove forest area Table 2. Islam et al. 2017 found that 2 livestock species, 3 poultry species, 2 pet animal species, 28 fish species, and 21 bird species in the homestead of Gazipur district. Alam and Masum (2005) found that poultry was the major livestock component followed by goat and cattle as occurred respectively at 63.7%, 11.6%, and 10.6% of the households in Sandip Upazila.

Relative prevalence of species
A total of 131 plant species and 14 animal species were identified in the surveyed homesteads ( Table 3). The relative prevalence of different species was determined with species found in all the three study areas. However, the relative prevalence (RP) of species of fruits, timber, medicinal, fuel and ornamental spices, and domestic animals are as follows.  (7.446) and betel nut (6.620) was higher in Sal forest area; while mango (13.790), sapota (10.581), coconut (9.981), guava (9.972), date plum (7.363), litchi (6.123), lemon (5.733) banana (5.267), jujube (5.041) and drumstick (4.254) had a higher prevalence in the mangrove forest area. All forest Mango, litchi, jackfruit, guava, papaya were the five most prevalent fruit species in the study areas (Table-3).

Medicinal and spices:
Regarding the medicinal and species were recorded at three study areas, neem was the most prevalent species followed by basak, basil, black myrobalam, crown flower, Indian gooseberry and bay leaf (Table-3).
Fuel and ornamental: Based on mean dominance bamboo occupied the 1st position followed by wider/jiga, coral tree/maunder, china rose, ipil-ipil, cape jasmine, medlar, night flowering jasmine were relatively higher in the study area (Table-3).
Domestic birds and animals: the chicken was the most prevalent followed by duck, cow, goat, koel, sheep, rabbit, and buffalo at each of the three study areas. The RP value for swine, turkey, titir, goose, and the horse was very low in all the study areas indicating a low prevalence of these species (Table-3).

Interspecies diversity in the rural homesteads
The species diversity index was computed the following Simpson's Species Diversity Index (D). Results presented in   Total plant biodiversity was higher in Mangrove forest areas with an index value of 0.779577407 which gradually decreased in Hill forest and Sal forest as shown in Table 4.2.
The diversity index value against each plant and animal group in the Mangrove forest was higher than in the other two areas. The t-test indicated that there was a significant difference among Mangrove, Hill, and Sal forest with respect to the diversity of different plant and animal groups (M-H t=0.754), (M-S t=-.430) and (H-S t=-.373). However, considering the frequency of occurrence, the relative prevalence of different species, and the diversity index (D), it can be said that plant biodiversity is increasing significantly with increase NGOs activities as well as through massive plantations.

Conclusion:
The identification of the most prevalent and dominant fruit, timber, medicinal and other species is an important finding of the study. In this study, it is observed that the homestead plant composition, diversity, and species richness were medium level in the study areas. Therefore, there was a lack of scientific knowledge of the farmers, an absence of proper planning, and no specific goals. A comprehensive agroforestry planning, proper scientific management of plants using agroforestry cultivars are needed to promote plant and animal diversity. Government and NGOs should initiative a program for the conservation of forests at local levels.