182
Views
4
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Community perceptions and responses on bamboo spread in native forests: a case study from Sri Lanka

, , &
Pages 240-249 | Received 21 Sep 2019, Accepted 13 Dec 2019, Published online: 23 Dec 2019
 

ABSTRACT

Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss. expands rapidly in native forests in the dry and intermediate climatic zones in Sri Lanka, raising concerns among environmentalists in recent years. No studies have been undertaken so far to evaluate ecological and socio-economic perceptions of the local communities on this issue. In landsenses ecology, physical senses of the community play a critical role in land-use planning and sustainable management. Thus, a survey was conducted using 78 villagers live in three hamlets bordering native forests where B. bambos shown a high prevalence. The study community is a typical rural population with an agriculture-centered existence. Despite low income, their commercial dependence on forest resources was minimal. The villagers are well aware of the bamboo spread and its ecological consequences, though their overall perception on the issue was highly divided. However, their perceptions changed depending on the distance to nearby forests from their abodes. Higher the distance from where they live to bamboo-rich forests, their perception on B. bambos become positive and vice versa. The heightened fire incidences and increased presence of elephants following the bamboo spread have contributed decisively on their negative perception, suggesting the importance of physical senses in planning land-use interventions. The study concludes that any future management interventions to mitigate some of the ecological and social impacts caused by the B. Bambos spread need to consider the community’s perceptions and views as well as their active partnership to reap successful outcomes.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Council Sri Lanka [NRC 2016-054].

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 235.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.