Community Development Through Promoting Ecotourism in Mangrove Areas of Bangladesh

Abstract

Ecotourism is the useful method of community engagement. All factors related to ecotourism support community livelihoods towards sustainability. The study was conducted with the view to know the possibility of community development through ecotourism in the mangrove areas of Bangladesh. The community participation in ecotourism was assessed significantly with the perception and common interest on natural heritage and environmental conservation and sustainability of the enterprise. The community can contribute and engage themselves by preparing and supplying local foods including organic production and wild foods (aquatic) that enhance the degree of ecotourism through community development. It was elicited that women can work in the prospective enterprise by adding new dimension of handicrafts business using local inputs and forest-based available raw materials. The host communities are the central notion of ecotourism for sustainable development in the study area.