INTEGRATED PROTECTED AREA CO-MANAGEMENT (IPAC) - BIDS

Figure 2.5: Per capita district GDP of the SIZ districts
Per capita district GDP
25,000
23,135
20,000
15,000
16,839
12,936
13,936
16,901
15,929
18,198 18,269
10,000
5,000
0
Bagerhat Khulna Satkhira Pirojpur Barguna SIZ district Costal
district
Bangladesh
Figure 2.5: GDP per unit area of the SIZ districts
GDP per unit area
25
21.8
20
15
10
5
10.39 10.2
5.61
7.01 6.16
8.5
14.38
0
Bagerhat Khulna Satkhira Pirojpur Barguna SIZ districts Coastal
distirct
Bangladesh
2.1.5 SIZ Livelihoods
The main characteristic of the SIZ which differentiates from the other areas is its complexity.
This complexity is manifested in the diversity and dynamic nature of the livelihoods of the
people especially the poor. Although agriculture is still the mainstay of the economy in the
region, the SIZ provides varied sources of livelihood which are not commonly available in other
parts of Bangladesh. For example, more than half a million people live on by collecting fish,
honey, wax, wood and leaves of trees from the Sundarbans. In the SIZ, 30 percent of the people
or nearly four times that of the share of national figure earn their living by fishing (Table 2.7).
The discussion from the previous section (e.g., per capita income level), however, shows that
people, in general, are just surviving at subsistence level. Since soil conditions vary considerably
because of various hydrological conditions, the cropping intensity also varies accordingly. In
general, the SIZ has experienced low cropping intensity, 134 percent as a whole. But non-saline
tidal flood plain has a good agricultural land than that of saline tidal flood plain. Pirojpur has the
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