Lobby and Advocacy Meeting at Dacope, Khulna- MFCCL Project

On December 18, 2024, Shushilan conducted a lobby and advocacy meeting at the stakeholder level at the Livestock Office Hall Room in Dacope Upazila. The vice-President of Dacope-Koyra CMC, President of Kalabagi VCF, members of CMC, VCF and CPG, union ward member and journalists are present at the meeting. The chief executive of Shushilan, Mostafa Nuruzzaman, presided the meeting and the Deputy Director Shahina Pervin hosted the meeting. The participants engaged in discussions about the livelihood challenges of forest-dependent people, exploring ways to improve their standard of living and secure their rights to the resources of the Sundarbans forest. The discussions underscored the urgent need for coordinated efforts and practical solutions to support forest-dependent communities, ensuring their livelihoods are safeguarded and their rights to forest resources are recognized and protected. The vice-president of CMC Dacope-Koyra Range said that they try to raise their voice for allocating 50% of the annual revenue for the betterment of forest-dependent people, but this is not fully implemented here. The Union ward member said that he has already proposed in different meetings to allocate a minimum of 1% of the revenue for developing alternative livelihoods for vulnerable forest-dependent people, which can improve their economic condition and ensure the sustainable use of forest resources. The Kalabagi VCF president stated that many people were displaced from isolated islands to the Kalabagi mainland this year and are living vulnerable lives. As a result, he has tried to express the difficulties of forest-dependent people in various events, but nobody responds to these people. The chief executive of Shushilan proposed creating an advocacy group and described the roles and responsibilities of the group to identify and mitigate the problems of forest-dependent people.