Application of criteria and indicators in community based sustainable mangrove management in the Sunderbans, India

Management of mangroves in a sustainable ecological as well as economic way is a difficult proposition and needs multi-disciplinary intervention. This paper highlights the importance of criteria and indicators to evaluate the status of performance of communities in managing their mangroves sustainably. The framework developed on the basis of 6 principles, 12 criteria, 36 indicators and 47 verifiers had been applied for assessment of Eco-Development Committees of the Sunderbans, India. Results show the presence of a highly positive correlation between performance of the committees and condition of the mangrove environment. Level of implementation of legal and institutional management strategies to protect mangroves proves to be the essential pre-condition in achieving sustainability. The study further demonstrates the effectiveness of the developed framework in the context of community forestry since the methodology was designed to be simple and flexible so as to apply it in forest management unit level without any major difficulty.