International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management 2016; 1(3): 88-98 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijnrem doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.14 Analysis of Power Dynamics and Livelihood Assets in Participatory Forest Management: Experience from Bangladesh K. K. Islam 1, 2, * , Masakazu Tani 3 , Kazuo Asahiro 3 , M. Zulfikar Rahman 4 , Kimihiko Hyakumura 5 , Takahiro Fujiwara 5 , Noriko Sato 2 1 Department of Agroforestry, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh City, Bangladesh 2 Forest Policy laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka City, Japan 3 Department of Environmental Design, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, Fukuoka City, Japan 4 Department of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh City, Bangladesh 5 Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka City, Japan Email address: kamrulbau@gmail.com (K. K. Islam) * Corresponding author To cite this article: K. K. Islam, Masakazu Tani, Kazuo Asahiro, M. Zulfikar Rahman, Kimihiko Hyakumura, Takahiro Fujiwara, Noriko Sato. Analysis of Power Dynamics and Livelihood Assets in Participatory Forest Management: Experience from Bangladesh. International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management. Vol. 1, No. 3, 2016, pp. 88-98. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.14 Received: July 13, 2016; Accepted: July 25, 2016; Published: August 10, 2016 Abstract: Participatory forestry (PF) plays a significant role to involve local communities and different actors in resources management and livelihood improvements. However, the power of important actors to misuse the PF for their self-interest has been stated as a key obstacle to success. Hence, this study seeks to identify the most powerful actors and the extent to which they affect PF decision- making and also to measure and evaluate the livelihood assets of participants. Empirical data were collected from Madhupur and Teknaf PF sites of Bangladesh during the different time intervals. The actors’ power analysis found out that the forest administration evidenced itself as the most powerful and influential actors in PF. In the case of livelihood analysis, the overall results indicated that the total value of PF members’ livelihood assets were 0.82 and 0.75 for Madhupur and Teknaf study sites. Livelihood asset conditions were significantly different between the PF members’ and non-members’ (0.65 and 0.62 for non-members’). However, the development of social and financial assets did not reveal a notable increase considering natural, physical and human assets. Therefore, it is very important to pay more attention to accelerate social and financial assets through intensive training, establishing conflicts resolution mechanism and adopting proper tree-crop technologies, and also provide alternative livelihood approaches to the forest dependent people. In addition, there is an immediate need to empower local PF members, by which the general members play the central role in decision making and governing all of their development activities. Keywords: Actor, Power, Participatory Forestry, Livelihood Assets, Bangladesh 1. Introduction In recent decades, there has been growing recognition internationally of the shift in forests resource management away from top-down, traditional management towards a participatory approach, which integrates local communities and all stakeholders in decision-making [1, 2]. Many countries have already developed or are in the process of developing changes to state laws and policies, which institutionalize PF management approaches. However, the experiences of PF throughout the world have revealed that although decentralization and devolution policies yield benefits for local people, in reality there are also lots of limiting factors [2, 3, 4]. The PF is characterized by many stakeholders due to the economic, ecological and social functions and values that forests delivers. Besides the local communities, other groups at regional, national and international levels also have an impact on local communities/peoples’ access to forests [5].