SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS, ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY AND CONFLICT MITIGATION

Project Site: Tanguar Haor
Project Period: April 2003 to December 2004
Funded by: IUCN Asia Region

BACKGROUND

As IUCN’s response to the recent all pervading increasingly broadening sense of global environmental insecurity, IUCN Asia Regional Office proposed to carry out a study of the relationship between rights to natural resources and livelihood security in two types of ecosystems, involving four countries in South Asia: wetlands in Bangladesh and Nepal; and forests in India and Pakistan.

The project is expected to contribute to remedying the lack of analysis by the developing country practitioners in the field of environment and security, working exclusively through institutions and experts in the four countries. It will focus on environmental security from the perspective of rights to natural resources and their impact on livelihood security—the ‘missing link’ between poverty, environmental degradation and conflicts.

OBJECTIVE

The long-term purpose of this initiative is to mitigate conflict and promote environmental security effectively by improving livelihood security through strengthening the rights of natural resource dependent communities to the resources on which their livelihoods are based.
The specific objective is to demonstrate the links between resource rights, livelihood security and environmental security and draw policy conclusions.

ACTIVITIES

• Phase-1: In this phase, the Bangladesh study team forwarded comments on the draft methodology developed by the CEESP working group, the Senior Technical Advisor and the project staff and circulated by the RELPA secretariat.
• Phase-2: The Bangladesh country study team sent representatives to the inception workshop held in Nepal on 10-13 Jun 2003 to finalize the methodology and guidelines for the country studies. During the workshop, the project partners also finalised a monitoring plan for the project.
• Phase-3: The country study team carried out documentary research and field trips at Tanguar in 2003. The draft country study report was first shared in January 2004. Subsequently, it was peer reviewed by two external reviewers.
• Phase-4: A sub-regional conference was convened in early August 2004, participated by a mix of stakeholders from the study countries with a view to discussing the project findings, drawing preliminary conclusions and providing input for the final analysis. The conference participants discussed the implications of the findings and conclusions, to suggest appropriate measures for implementing them nationally and sub-regionally. This conference was held in Kathmandu, Nepal.
• Phase-5: The country teams will now finalise their reports as per the feedback received from the conference. All the four country studies (final version) will be included in the project publication. Distribution of the publication will target institutions and individuals responsible for domestic land and natural resource policies in their home countries and at the South Asia sub-regional level.

OUTPUT

• The final report of the Bangladesh case study published.

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