Population Growth and Access to Natural Resources in Haor Areas: A Spatio-Temporal Approach

Abstract

The present research interprets the decadal population change in haor areas and assesses the impacts on natural resources in the study area. In the study, using on both quantitative and qualitative methods mainly primary data were collected from two selected upazilas (Tahirpur and Dharmapasha) of Sunamganj District. A total of 150 households were selected in nine villages for questionnaire survey. Four Focus Group Discussions were conducted with the villagers such as farmers, fishermen, day labors and local people of the study area. Moreover, eight Key Informant Interviews associated with the government, journalist, leaseholder and other organizations for collecting in-depth information were also carried out. Collected data were analyzed with SPSS. Secondary data were also collected from the relevant intuitions. Study results show that the study haor areas significantly contribute in the national economy being sources of a large number of fish species, flora, fauna and fertile cropland. Thus, the people of haor area immensely rely on these natural resources. People living in the study area are fully dependent on haor resources to sustain their lives. But over time, due to increasing population pressure, haor resources are over-exploited and being degraded. Results from both qualitative and quantitative analysis demonstrated that the population of the study area has increased manifold in the last few decades. Most of the local people involved in various haor related activities. Agriculture is the main source for their livelihoods through a significant part of them are involved in fishing during monsoon period. Thus poverty, illiteracy, lack of awareness, illegal fishing, hunting water birds, over harvesting, dewatering for fishing, over fishing, using chemicals and pesticides for agriculture, water logging, deforestation and shrinking of water birds are the major issues for degradation of natural resources. The land cover, vegetation and waterbody of the study area have also decreased due to over-exploitation. Therefore, proper implementation of existing policies and strategies as well as community participation in haor conservation is essential for the sustainable management of wetland resources. Thus, government and stockholders have important role in the sustainable management of natural resources in study areas.