The Influences of Ethnicity and the Distance of Settlements from Forests on Homestead Production Systems and Ecosystem Services

Abstract

Forest degradation is a major problem on the Teknaf peninsula where forest resources have shown a significant decline in recent years. A homestead in Bangladesh is made up of various components, including timber, fruit, vegetables, poultry, and livestock species. A homestead ecosystem has the potential to provide various services and products. Four distinct ethnic communities live in and around forest areas on the Teknaf peninsula, and homestead production systems and ecosystem services may vary across these communities. Moreover, ecosystem services may differ between forest and non-forest villages. This chapter presents the findings of an investigation of homestead production systems and ecosystem services within different ethnic communities. Variations in ecosystem services across forest and non-forest villages were also compared. The homesteads of households belonging to the Rakhine ethnic group were found to be relatively older, whereas those within the Chakma community were larger. Incomes generated from homesteads were higher for Chakma households, followed by those of households within the Bengali and Rakhine communities. Plant diversity was higher within Rakhine homesteads. The two forest villages in the study had large numbers of fruit species, whereas the density of timber species was high in the two non-forest villages. Native plant species predominated in the forest villages, whereas exotic species had been planted in homesteads in the non-forest villages. A conclusion of the study was that, because homesteads on the Teknaf peninsula supply various services and products such as fruit, timber, vegetables, meat, and eggs, designing a new homestead production system could maximize the ecosystem services provided by a homestead.