COMMUNITY BASED FLOODPLAIN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Sustainable Environment Management Programme (SEMP)

Implementing Partners: Nature Conservation Management (NACOM) and Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) Project Period: October 1998- December 2005 Funded by: MoEF and UNDP

INTRODUCTION

Bangladesh is located in the delta formed by a few of the world’s major river systems. The largest river systems flowing through Bangladesh are the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna. Floodplains are distinct, complex and diverse sub-systems of these three major rivers, providing numerous lotic and lentic habitats for flora and fauna. Floodplains offer temporary storage of excess water from the main river channels during monsoon (4-5 months of the year), enhancing the fishery productivity of the riverine systems manifold. Yields are often closely related to the extent and duration of this seasonal flooding. During the wet season, the floodplain environment offers dramatically increased living space for the aquatic fauna and availability of resources. It is during monsoon again that spawning activity of most migratory fish species occurs in the floodplains. Floodplains are equally important and productive as well during the winter for boro rice cultivation. The floodplains of these major river systems have, of late, been under threat due to population pressure and reckless resource harvesting, which have caused the ecosystem to degrade significantly. The main causes of such degradation are over-harvesting, siltation, unwise extraction of floodplain resources, erection of embankment and other anthropogenic interventions. The Community Based Floodplain Resource Management Project is being implemented by IUCN Bangladesh with support from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and UNDP in three well-defined degraded floodplains of the Padma-Jamuna, Brahmaputra and Madhumati rivers. The major focus of the programme is to involve the community people in the planning and implementation of the project activities for the best management of the natural resources with a view to maintaining biodiversity and human well being in a sustainable manner.

OBJECTIVES

The broad objective of the project is management of degraded floodplain ecosystems through sustainable management and wise use of the natural resources. The specific objectives of the participatory ecosystem management are:

Prevent and reverse the trend of floodplain degradation in selected areas Ensure use of floodplain resources in a sustainable manner Promote sustainable development of communities through natural resource management and livelihood enhancement Ensure people's participation in the formulation and implementation of sustainable management plan. Improve quality of life with special focus on women and through capacity building for wetland ecosystem management.

PROJECT SITES

Initially, two sites in the degraded and semi-degraded floodplains of Bangladesh had been selected in Manikganj (Jamuna-Padma) and Gopalganj (Madhumati) districts. Based on the successful implementation of the project interventions at those two sites, the UNDP and the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) provided additional funds in October 2000 to extend similar activities at other sites in the Brahmaputra floodplain, in Mymensingh and Gazipur districts.

APPROACH

Community based participatory approach is being followed for implementation of the project. The natural resource management options and strategies have been largely based on the existent biophysical and socio-economic conditions pertaining to specific sites. Participatory action plans were developed, involving the representatives from all occupational and stakeholder groups of the community as well as the concerned government officials of the respective upazillas. For implementation of the programme activities, village level resource management committees have been formed in accordance with the guidelines formulated by the stakeholders. The community groups have been so formed as to ensure their being as broad based as possible with a view to effecting necessary consensus building among all stakeholders of the wetland systems on crucial issues. Also, the gender issues have been actively considered in the planning and implementation of the project.

THE MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS:

Bio-physical and socio-economic characterization of the project areas and documentation of the existing resource system and use patterns; Designed participatory action plan involving multi-stakeholders, representatives of Union Parishad and concerned government officials at Upazilla level; Conducted some 135 nos. of training sessions for the stakeholders and involved CBO/Women Groups with a view to developing their capacity to assess, plan and implement natural resource management efficiently and established 5 Wetland Management and Training Centres (WMTC) to localize and institutionalize the training efforts on wetland conservation; Organized more than 850 community awareness programmes with school students, fishers, women, general community people to share natural resource related concerns and effect mobilization for sustainable management; Established demonstrations on sustainable agricultural practices, biogas plants (32 nos) turtle rearing ponds, compost pit, vermi compost and IPM in the community level ; More than 700 Fuel Saving Earthen Oven distributed among women of the community for promotion of the use that may lead to reduce pressure on the extraction of fuel wood from natural resource bases; Developed wetland afforestation plan and demonstrated 80km strip plantation along roadsides and river banks; in addition, restored floodplain reeds and native flora of shrines, schools and religious institutions for restoring typical floodplain species; Demonstrated more than 140 medicinal plant plots of different sizes in the homestead and village level for both in-situ and ex-situ conservation; Baira (Floating farming) demonstrated in the Chanda beel area to enhance income of community people monsoon during monsoon for improved livelihood option; Three canals of about 5 km and beels or pools (5 nos.) of floodplains rehabilitated for restoring connectivity among water bodies and environmental flow in the ecosystem; Organized 76 of groups (mostly women) for demonstrating alternative livelihood options from the environment fund disbursed under project scope; Formed 5 Floodplains Resource Management Committee (FRMC) as apex body for management of the floodplains involving the representatives from a total of 73 Village Committees (VCs) and 76 Women/Men Groups; Enabling capacity made for local communities for managing floodplain ecosystems sustainably; Collecting post-intervention data on the ‘biophysical and socio-economic characteristics’ of the project areas for comparative analysis under various project reports and publications.

IMPACTS

Community people have been sensitized towards sustainable natural resource management. Enhanced abundance and species diversity of fish perceived in the beels, canals and fish sanctuaries in the project areas. Fish migration routes as well as refuges for fish and other aquatic living organisms during the dry season re-established. Afforestation enhanced the habitats for threatened wildlife including Pallas’s Fish Eagle, Ring Lizard etc in the floodplain areas . Installation of biogas plants in the community level reduced pressure on floodplain ecosystems substantially through reduced extraction of fuel wood. Vulnerable women groups provided with environment fund as grant led to benefiting them financially from alternative income/employment options.

For further information, please contact:

Country Representative IUCN – The World Conservation Union Bangladesh Country Office House # 11, Road # 138 Gulshan – 1, Dhaka – 1212, Bangladesh Tel: 880-2- 9890395, 9890423, Fax: 880 –2 - 9892854 E- mail: nishat@iucnbd.org Web: www.iucnbd.org