Livelihood resilience of the Indigenous Munda community in the Bangladesh Sundarbans forest

The Indigenous (Adivasi) Munda community in the village of Kalinchi in Shyamnagar upazilla (subdistrict), Satkhira of Bangladesh has undergone severe threats to livelihood due to the long-term effects of climatic disasters (such as: tropical cyclones, floods, salinity intrusion, famine, and heat waves). Kalinchi is situated adjacent to the riverbank of Dhojikhali near the Sundarbans Forest. This is the largest mangrove forest in the world, and it provides livelihood support to a large number of the coastal populations southwest of Bangladesh. The Adivasi Munda Community at Kalinchi has been traditionally earning a livelihood (such as harvesting honey, catching fishes and crabs in the forest surrounding rivers and channels, cutting trees and timbers) in the Sundarbans Forest. The earning of livelihoods was severely threatened, due to the severe Cyclone Aila on 9 May 2009. This chapter primarily considers the long-term socioeconomic and ecological impacts of Aila on traditional livelihoods in the Sundarbans. The current study then documents resilience with a particular focus on the human livelihood of the untouchable Adivasi Munda Community dwelling near the Bangladesh Sundarbans Forest. An autoethnographic approach combing both focus groups and face-to-face life story interviews has been utilized in this study.