From the Back Cover
This book highlights the importance of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) and their crucial role in sustaining the livelihood of rural and indigenous communities in Asia. The authors depict how the preservation of forests and the associated major non-wood resources may provide an important avenue to reduce poverty.
The local practices and knowledge on harvesting NWFPs are often rooted in tradition, and vary from one region to the other. This made it difficult to develop and establish research focus on a greater scale in the past. Readers of this volume will gain an often-missed, broader perspective from these new studies. The authors put a special emphasis on the nexus between conservation and livelihood from an Asian point of view. This addresses a knowledge gap in the current literature and offers important clues on conducting similar research around the world. The volume provides a useful reference guide for the relevant researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
Dr. A.Z.M. Manzoor Rashid is a Professor in the department of Forestry and Environmental Science at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh. He led the School of Agriculture and Mineral Sciences as Dean and the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science as Head in the same university. Dr Rashid achieved substantial working experience with local community while working in the country's leading development organization named PROSHIKA. Dr Rashid achieved post graduate degrees in Forestry, Environment and Development and Environmental Science from University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Imperial College, UK and Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences (SLU), Sweden and PhD from Western Sydney University, Australia respectively. More than two decades of teaching and working experiences, Dr Rashid has enriched himself with contemporary issues and discourses of natural resources management (NRM) particularly focusing policies, protected area and NRM governance and community development. Several international competitive scholarships and research funds helped him in his research and academic career. His affiliations as researcher have contributed more than 40 articles in national and international peer reviewed journals, two books and 12 book chapters.
Niaz Ahmed Khan, Ph.D (Wales), Post doc. (Oxford) is Pro-Vice Chancellor, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB); Professor and former Chair at the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka; Senior Academic Adviser, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD); former Senior Program Coordinator-CHT, UNDP-Bangladesh; Distinguished Visiting Researcher, American University of Cairo (AUC), and Country Representative-Bangladesh, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He has published prolifically (more than 170 refereed publications including some 45 in Web of Science and/or Scopus indexed journals) on suchbroad fields as environment, natural resource management, and social/community development.
Dr. Mahmood Hossain is a Professor of Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline of Khulna University, Bangladesh. Currently he is the Vice-Chancellor of the same university. Dr. Mahmood is working for more than two decades on mangrove ecosystem, forest productivity, and nutrient cycling and has set up commendable footmark on mangrove ecology. Some of his applied perspectives have focused on the stress ecology of mangroves, biomass estimation, and carbon sequestration by the forests. He has published 105 scientific articles and 3 books covering different aspects of mangrove ecosystem, forest inventory and nutrient dynamics. Dr. Mahmood has obtained professional degrees from the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh (BSc. Hons. in Forestry) and University Putra Malaysia (MS Mangrove Ecology and Ph.D. Mangrove Ecology).
