Local Level Forest Governance and Conservation Outcomes in a Co-managed Protected Area of Bangladesh

ABSTRACT Co-management of forest protected areas (PA) is considered as a viable option to improve the local-level forest governance. This study examined the state of local-level forest governance in Chunati wildlife sanctuary (CWS), a co-managed PA in south-eastern Bangladesh. Data on eight key principles of governance and forest conservation outcomes were collected by interviewing randomly selected non-state actors (n = 39) and state actors (n = 10) and four focus group discussions with the forest-dependent communities. We conducted a t-test to compare respondents’ perceptions regarding key governance principles and conservation outcomes. Results revealed that co-management governance in CWS assisted to improve the quality of forests in terms of tree and wildlife diversity, while illicit felling and land encroachment had reduced. Respondents’ overall perception on key governance principles showed a moderate-to-high score (mean 3.33 out of 5.00). Regarding forest conservation outcomes, the score was also moderate to high (mean 3.72 out of 5.00). Non-state actors showed fairly higher perception on overall key governance principles and conservation outcomes, while state actors (non-forestry officials) reported lower scores. Findings of this study would be useful to reshape the co-management policies that ensure good governance at local-level management of PA in Bangladesh and elsewhere.