1. Study on Forest and People in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh
Study Location: Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)
- 2 districts: Bandarban and Rangamati

2. Study Context Area of CHT: 13,274 sq. km (3 districts) Climate:
- tropical monsoon
(Summer/ Pre-monsoon: March- May, Rainy/ Monsoon: Jun-Sep, Pre-winter: Oct- Nov, Winter/ Dry: Dec- Feb)
- Rainfall: mm/yr
Forest: hilly semi-evergreen forests
Surveyed villages: 14, Total population: 4,385
Households surveyed: 216, Av. people per HH: 4.8
(quarterly Q1-4 focused on 60 HH here, 49 complete)
Sub-dimension criteria: ethnicity (6 different ethnic communities studied), NTFP trade activities.

3. Household income sources

4. Income sources and seasonality
Oct- Dec
Jan- Mar
Apr- Jun
Jul- Sep

5. Key forest and environmental products
Total net direct forest income: 4,52,533 Taka
Total net forest derived income is 18,630 Taka
Total net income from fish is Taka and all of them from choto mach category.
Forest subsistence goods were priced based on the respondent’s estimation and ideas about the market price of the same good or similar one and then crosschecked in markets.

6. Income composition and poverty

7. Other patterns
34% households used forest products to cope with crisis.
Extra casual labor (31% of HH), harvest more forest products (15% of HH) and Spending cash savings (14% of HH) were most coping strategies.
Closeness to road or market does not show much influence on forest income or high extraction.
Coorelation between net direct forest income (DFI) an distance
Variable
Net DFI
Net_DFI income 1
Distance to road
0.224
Distance to district market
0.122
Dist to market where forest products are sold
0.123
Coorelation between net forest derived income (FDI) and distance
Variable
Net FDI
net_fdi_inc 1
Distance to road
0.211
Distance to district market
0.09
Dist to market where forest products are sold
0.075

8. Policies and overall findings
Land tenure and policy change in CHT
Mass migration of outside Bangali people to Hill Mass migration of outside Bangali people to the hills.
Peace treaty in 1997, but not effective implementation
Hydroelectricity dam in 1960
Karnaphuly paper mill and bamboo extraction
Forest Policy, laws and management attitude
Findings:
-forest income larger than agri. crop income (49 HH)
-timber and fuelwood deriving most forest income
- will be interesting to see the access of the poor to timber and non-timber
-distance and forest income or extraction is not strongly related
- Smiling is another way to hide the curse of poverty!!!

9. Most important NTFPs Broom grass/ Fuljharu Menda tree bark Bamboo
Wild vegetables
Medicinal plants

10. Major NTFPs Contd… Rattan/ Cane Wild fruits Jungle meat Fish Honey
Wild flowers/ orchid
Sun grass
Wrapping leaves (Paitya pata)
Cotton
Sand
Stone