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Student Advising M. Shah Alam Khan |
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Name of the student: MOHAMMAD MAZHARUL HAQUE KHAN Program: M.Sc. (WRD)
Title: IMPACT OF EROSION AND SHORELINE CHANGE ON TOURISM AT KUAKATA BEACH
Background and the Present State of the Problem:
Kuakata is one of the major tourist attractions in Bangladesh. Its natural beauty and one's ability to view both sunrise and sunset from the beach have been increasingly attracting tourists to this site. Additional attractions include the nearby "Rakhain" settlement, and its proximity to the Sundarbans. The increasing influx of tourists has created opportunity for investment in various tourism related businesses that are likely to generate livelihood for the local people. The Government of Bangladesh has formulated development plans for Kuakata since this site is a potentially major revenue contributor to the tourism industry.
The Kuakata beach has been threatened in the recent years by erosion and degradation of the beach sand (Islam and Ahmed, 2003). The shoreline has shifted inland and several tree plantations have been damaged by erosion (Rahman, 2003). The deteriorating beach conditions may render the beach unattractive to the tourists and severely retard the growing opportunities. Unplanned growth of the beach-related tourist areas and facilities also may adversely affect beach tourism (Hossain and Lin, 2001).
Objectives:
1. To study characteristics of the beach materials and shifting of the shoreline. 2. To assess the effect of beach tourism on local people's livelihood. 3. To assess attractiveness of the beach area to the tourists.
Possible outcome:
This study is expected to provide information on the present beach conditions, the role of beach tourism in livelihood generation, and how the tourists rate different aspects of the Kuakata beach.
Methodology:
Sand samples will be collected from several locations on the beach for laboratory analysis. Results of analysis will be compared to those of a previous study (Rahman, 1999). Changes in shoreline location will be estimated from maps and satellite images. Primary data will be collected from local people and tourists through questionnaire survey. Tourists' perception of the beach conditions will be assessed based on scoring of a set of selected parameters following a simplified methodology adopted from beach scenario classification of Ergin et al. (2003).
References:
Ergin, E., Karaesmen, E., Williams, A.T., Micallef, A., Karakaya, S.T., and Dedeoolu, M.R. (2003), Coastal scenery evaluation: application of fuzzy logic mathematics at Turkish sites, Proc. Sixth International Conference on Coastal and Port Engineering in Developing Countries, 15 - 19 September, 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Hossain, M.S., and Lin, C.K. (2001), Land Use Zoning for Integrated Coastal Zone Management: Remote Sensing, GIS and RRA Approach in Cox's Bazar Coast, Bangladesh. ITCZM Monograph No. 3, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.
Islam, M.M., and Ahmed, M.M.J. (2003), Personal Communication, Institute of Water Modelling.
Rahman, A. (2003), Kuakata sea beach faces erosion of Bay, Available from http://www.weekholiday.net/270603/cont.html [Accessed 24th December, 2003].
Rahman, M.M. (1999), Analysis of the Beach Materials at the Kuakata Coast, M.Eng. Project, Department of Water Resources Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
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