TRADITIONAL HONEY COLLECTION OF THE FOREST FRINGE PEOPLES IN THE SUNDARBAN TIGER RESERVE (STR), INDIA

Sundarban is famous for mangrove forests and its world-renowned Bengal tigers. The locals who live close to the forest are engaged in major NTFP (non-timber forest product) collections, like fish, crab, prawns, honey, and bee wax, for their own consumption and subsistence. Among all of these professionals, ‘honey collectors’ are the most vulnerable. Moulis encounters numerous difficulties throughout their journey to collect honey. The gathering of honey is a very dangerous activity because it involves attacks by man-eating tigers. Bees construct hives in the mangrove forest. Pure honey from the Sundarbans is in high demand both inside and outside of India. This paper aims to inventory traditional wisdom, rituals, experiences, and practices regarding the collection of honey and wax from the deep forest, including challenges and uncertainties, using traditional techniques and contemporary rules and regulations by the Forest Stewardship Council. It examines traditional knowledge, its transmission, and its evolution through generations. Along with the social structure, which segregates people based on gender, there is also a marketing and political system between the forest guards and the local Mahajan. Sundarban honey collection is crucial in ecological, economic, and social dimensions and contributes to the goal of traditional honey extraction knowledge.