Observations on Present Status of Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPS) of Bagmundi Block, Purulia and its Role in Livelihood Generation of Rural People

Abstract

The Purulia district of West Bengal, popularly known as Junglemahal, is endowed with rich ethnic culture as well as immense biological diversity. The district is mostly inhabited by the poorest of the poor rural and tribal communities and they constitute about 20% of the total district population. They still prefer to live in the remote hilly jungles or at their base. Biodiversity offers great subsistence value to these extremely poor rural and tribal communities. They have the choice to exploit a wide range of species in different ways rather than just a limited number of species exploited by the urban citizen. However, some of the NTFPs of Purulia district have vast commercial importance. Consequently, due to market pressure, unsustainable exploitation of these NTFPs have been taken place making some of the species vulnerable to extinction in the wild. The present communication intends to document the present status of NTFPs of the Bagmundi Block of Purulia district. The study reveals that, forest area of Bagmundi Block has more than two hundred non timber forest Products (NTFPs.), of which forty seven commonly traded forest products have been studied. Among these NTFPs ten species are vulnerable and six are endangered as per IUCN red list. A comparison between present status of NTFPs with the last decade is also been compiled in the present communication.