MSc International Master of Environmental Sciences

Outgoing 2018

To the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)

Research topic: Managing the Sundarbans World Heritage Site - A comparative study on community involvement and sustainability in Bangladesh and India.

Hello, my name is Abul Polas and I am a Master Student at the University of Cologne, Germany. My study program is International Master in Environmental Sciences. I am from Bangladesh. 

My research topic deals with the World Heritage Site of the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world divided between Bangladesh and India.

The main objective of my study is to research the actual practices in sustainable forest management in the Sundarbans in India, and to identify the major differences between India and Bangladesh.

The specific objectives are:

i) to identify the main factors influencing and guiding the management activities.

ii) to assess the national and international forest management policies affecting esp. the local communities and other stakeholders.

iii) to evaluate in which respect these heritage sites are seen as new commons und which solutions could solve the problems towards a proper community involvement.

Methodologically, qualitative interviews will be central for the planned field work in India. Primary data collection will be through expert interviews and focus group discussions or individual interviews with local community members. Comparable field research has already been done in Bangladesh in 2017. The study of research literature and relevant legal and administrative documents has been started already last autumn, mainly for Bangladesh, and shall be expanded for India now. After the collection of primary and secondary data, a constructive comparison will be done concerning both countries.