Resident’s Awareness Towards Sustainable Tourism for Ecotourism Destination in Sundarban Forest, Bangladesh

Abstract

Nature-based tourism is increasing throughout the world. Most are based in national parks and restricted areas. UNESCO has declared 28% of the world‟s largest contiguous mangrove forest, the Sundarban, as a world heritage site in 1987. Sundarban is the largest mangrove forest in the world, which is facing various kinds of threats. More than millions of people depends on cutting the tree, hunting animal other sources that are related with Sundarban. Negative natural and anthropogenic impacts and over-exploitation of natural resources have caused severe harm to the ecosystem. A growing human population with few different support opportunities poses a significant threat to the mangrove forest. There is an illegal increase in the reduction of trees and woods in the Sundarban. Deforestation is taking an increase in most of the areas of Sundarban which will ultimately lead to the loss of diversity. The problem of overfishing has placed the surroundings below great pressure. The stock of the fish is decreasing due to the combination of overexploitation and environmental condition changes. The density of the fish in shallow waters reduced enormously. Because of the excessive demand for the prawn product, the native people dropped the normal fishing practices and adopted the prawn seed culture. Earlier traditional agricultural strategies were practiced. But today, people are adopting the techniques of using pesticides and chemicals that are affecting the flora and fauna of the region. The dumping of various industrial and domestic wastes into the river systems also possesses a threat to the environment. This forest ecosystem conjointly has become at risk of pollution, which can have modified the ecosystem. This paper suggests that nature-oriented tourism destination Sundarban can achieve sustainability through public awareness. Well-planned sustainable tourism and residence awareness could provide economic and long-term incentives for conservation and could bring additional benefits to local communities and regional economies. The paper focuses on how to increase residence awareness.