Designing a Quintuple Helix Framework for Community-Led Jhum Soil Restoration in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

This conceptual research paper proposes a Community-Centred Quintuple Helix Interaction Architecture for jhum soil restoration in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. Drawing on the Quintuple Helix innovation model, socio-ecological systems theory, Indigenous ecological knowledge, and collaborative environmental governance, the paper examines how five interconnected subsystems; government, academia, industry, civil society, and the natural environment can contribute to community-led soil restoration.The proposed framework positions Indigenous community agency as a cross-cutting governance principle that shapes decision-making, knowledge exchange, institutional coordination, resource allocation, and accountability. It identifies six mechanisms of institutional interaction: participatory priority setting, reciprocal knowledge co-production, institutional coordination, collaborative resource mobilization, participatory ecological monitoring, and adaptive institutional learning. The study develops six theoretical propositions and an operational measurement framework linking institutional collaboration with three dimensions of restoration effectiveness: ecological integrity, livelihood viability, and institutional legitimacy. The paper contributes a context-specific theoretical adaptation of the Quintuple Helix model for Indigenous jhum-based agricultural systems. The proposed relationships and framework require future empirical validation. Research status: Conceptual research paper. This manuscript has not undergone formal peer review.