Impact of Ecotourism on the Environment, Society and Culture of Ratargul Swamp Forest in Sylhet, Bangladesh

Aims: The aim of the paper is to know the type of ecotourism going on Ratargul swamp forest and its impact on the environment, society and culture of the area.

Study Design: This paper is a qualitative study and empirical research. It focuses on the change in the local environment and local people’s life due to ecotourism. For this purpose, interviews have been collected from people as a representative of the study population.

Place and Duration of Study: Ratargul Swamp Forest on Goainghat upazilla under Sylhet District, between August and September 2014.

Methodology: The respondent sample size was 100. Data has been collected from the local people by using structured observation, semi-structured interview and case study which were selected by stratified random sampling on the basis of education and profession.

Results: Observed evidence shows that foremost influence of ecotourism fall on economic aspect and environmental knowledge. Income level of 80% people has been increased after establishing ecotourism and 57% people have now changed their traditional occupation. Unplanned and unmanaged tourism may disrupt the life cycles of many aquatic biota that thrive there. Many tourists carry bottled water or juice, potato chips and other food stuffs while travelling the area and finally discard the resulting waste recklessly in the forest despite the use of warning signs by the forest department and other concerned authorities. More use of engine boats to carry the tourists in an undefined and multiple ways inside and around the forest also creating noise and polluting air and water there which are disturbing the life styles of the habitats inside the swamp forest to be settled like the previous stable and natural environment.

Conclusion: To save this swamp environment, government and forest department should make and implement some management policies which should be maintained strictly considering the opinion of the local people.