Parvin Sultana

Distributional and Social Impacts of Flood Control in Bangladesh

The losses and suffering of the rural poor of Bangladesh during floods are frequently in the attention of the world media. This is despite a considerable investment in flood protection over the past three decades. This paper reports on distributional and socio-economic impacts of selected flood control projects which were subject to multidisciplinary evaluations using both rapid appraisal and sample survey methods. Flood protection has disadvantaged some groups, notably fishermen and boatmen, but has generally had a limited impact on work opportunities, partly because some projects had little impact on agriculture. One consequence of differential impacts is new conflicts over the management of water inside projects. Where there were benefits these accrued mostly to larger landowners, but labourers and small farmers did also benefit. There is little evidence that flood protection has stabilized the economic condition of households. In four out of five projects studied in detail flood losses were higher in the 1988 flood inside the project compared with unprotected control areas. Embankment failure (owing to erosion and deliberate embankment cuts associated with conflicts) is a serious hazard, although embankments also act as refuges in peak floods.

Effects of flood control and drainage on fisheries in Bangladesh and the design of mitigating measures

Inland capture fisheries (open-water systems where naturally occurring fish are caught) are one of the main sources of animal protein in Bangladesh, and are an important sector of the economy. There is growing concern that flood control and drainage (FCD) projects have severely reduced fish stocks by reducing wetland areas and by blocking fish migration and dispersal routes. Results of surveys in 17 projects completed between 1970 and 1989 were consistent with this trend and show that projects with serious effects on fisheries may not be economically viable. However, a general decline in catches resulting from overfishing may also be a factor. The Bangladesh flood action plan forms a framework for accommodating mitigation of FCD effects on fish in the planning of future projects. Controlled flooding provides an opportunity to manage capture fisheries. Two types of measures are discussed: protecting wetlands within projects by building bunds to retain water during the dry season; and designing regulators that are operated to let adults of the commercially important but declining major carp escape to reach their spawning grounds, and which allow the passage into the projects of the surface layers of water containing spawn and fry of the same species during the monsoon peak. Projects can be planned and designed to be ‘fish friendly’ using such measures, but this will only be effective if they are managed and operated in ways that are consistent with this objective. This requires the active involvement of local fishing communities, and reconciliation of conflicting interests between farmers and fisherfolk.

Local institutions for floodplain management in Bangladesh and the influence of the Flood Action Plan.

Institutional arrangements are a key issue for sustainable natural resource management. Recent water and fisheries management projects in Bangladesh have established new local institutions for floodplain management based on community organizations. Although the Flood Action Plan (FAP) was the culmination of an earlier emphasis on technical and structural ‘solutions’ to managing floods and water in Bangladesh, the expected large engineering works were never built. One legacy of FAP lies in a contested process that accelerated emphasis on public participation, smaller scale hazard adjustments and maintaining a wider range of floodplain resource values including conserving and restoring fisheries. This paper compares institutional arrangements and outcomes in two fisheries and two water management projects taken up after FAP. Local organizations appeared generally successful in sustaining themselves and continuing floodplain resource management. Facilitation, the extent of consensus among different stakeholders, and fit between institutional arrangements and scale of resource were all important influences on effectiveness. Local organizations have sustained in smaller floodplains, but in larger areas co-management bodies were a key to effective coordination and troubleshooting among a series of linked community organizations. Local leaders tend to dominate after projects end, especially where planning was less participatory and organizational structures were determined from above. Participants stressed that for continued success formally recognized well-run organizations are needed with accountable and adaptable decision-making processes and good leaders. This process built on participatory guidelines from FAP but the local institutions have not addressed hazard risks. Community resource management institutions could develop a more integrated approach that internalizes the interactions between water, land and fishery management. So far, local planning for floods has been a notable gap in the activities of community institutions, but the enhanced social capital could be a basis for adaptation to climate change. For this, an enabling policy environment is needed, which could be facilitated by the open high-profile debate on floodplain issues that characterized FAP.

The impact of major floods on flood risk policy evolution : Insights from Bangladesh

Abstract Building on conceptual work conducted within the UK, the authors examine the incremental and crisis‐driven nature of changes in flood risk mitigation policies in Bangladesh since the 1950s. They highlight the key factors which have influenced the incremental and catalytic changes in policy, noting in particular the role and attitudes of international agencies and donors. By exploring incremental changes as a function of coalitions, the authors illustrate the importance of these external forces in their changing alignment with key national‐level actors; firstly through an ‘engineering coalition’ and more recently through an ‘environmental coalition’. The extent to which floods act as ‘catalysts’ for changing policy is then evaluated using the four most significant inland floods, or series of floods, in Bangladesh during the time period under investigation. The findings from which endorse many of the conceptual findings in the UK, the main exception being that in Bangladesh factors unconnected with floods continue to be the dominant forces of change ‐ not least significant of which is institutional and political change, resource constraints and the international donor community. In addition, major floods have the capacity to delay policy changes, whilst simultaneously accelerating policy debate, and to destabilise established coalitions.

Integrating biological conservation into management: community adaptive learning in the wetlands of Bangladesh

Abstract Wetlands in Bangladesh represent complex, dynamic natural environments rich in biological diversity and providing a range of ecosystem services to local people. Capture fisheries are a direct link between biodiversity and the poor, but have been declining from overexploitation and wetland degradation. Since 2007 a network of 250 community based organisations (CBOs) across the country has shown a growing interest in managing wetlands for the benefit of poor people, motivated to use their local knowledge and capabilities in collective action to manage wetland resources in ways that conserve biodiversity. Adaptive learning between CBOs has spread good practices to sustain biodiversity and thereby the livelihoods of the poor dependent on fish and other aquatic resources. By now, 59% of CBOs have created small fish sanctuaries, 10% have re-introduced scarce fish, a third of CBOs have banned hunting and a few have added a supplementary income from tourism. By developing and sharing their own knowledge of local ecosystem dynamics and related good practices, tangible ecological and developmental benefits have been derived, increasing the well-being of local people. In 91% of sites local people consider the CBO has improved access of the poor to natural resources. In many cases the main threats faced by CBOs have come from external factors: attempts by the powerful to take control of fisheries away from CBOs; pressure to pay government to lease waterbodies; and uncoordinated and unregulated development that blocks fish movement, drains and pollutes wetlands. As such, these are challenges of governance rather than management. The needs of the poor are represented by the CBOs (64% of members are poor, and almost all CBOs consult with the poor in decision making). By networking together, the CBOs are empowered to actively address these challenges and influence policy and practice to address conservation and poverty issues.

Impact of surface water management projects on agriculture in Bangladesh

Seventeen completed projects selected to represent the range of flood protection projects in Bangladesh were evaluated using both rapid rural appraisal (RRA) and formal sample methods. All but two projects achieved their intended objectives to some extent, but only nine would be economically viable under present public investment criteria for the Bangladesh water sector. RRAs proved effective in evaluating project impacts, even though a before-after comparison was necessary; the exception was where irrigation expanded generally after project completion. To be effective, RRAs need to have sufficient time and to comprise teams of well trained and experienced professionals from a range of disciplines.

Transforming local natural resource conflicts to cooperation in a changing climate: Bangladesh and Nepal lessons

ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, climate change impact discourse has highlighted potential for large scale violent conflicts. However, the role of climate stresses on local conflicts over natural resources, the role of policies and adaptation in these conflicts, and opportunities to enhance cooperation have been neglected. These gaps are addressed in this paper using evidence from participatory action research on 79 cases of local collective action over natural resources that experience conflicts in Bangladesh and Nepal. Climate trends and stresses contributed to just under half of these conflict cases. Nine factors that enable greater cooperation and transformation of conflict are identified. Participatory dialogue and negotiation processes, while not sufficient, changed understanding, attitudes and positions of actors. Many of the communities innovated physical measures to overcome natural resource constraints, underlying conflict, and/or institutional reforms. These changes were informed by improving understanding of resource limitations and indigenous knowledge. Learning networks among community organizations encouraged collective action by sharing successes and creating peer pressure. Incentives for cooperation were important. For example, when community organizations formally permitted excluded traditional resource users to access resources, those actors complied with rules and paid towards management costs. However, elites were able to use policy gaps to capture resources with changed characteristics due to climate change. In most of the cases where conflict persisted, power, policy and institutional barriers prevented community-based organizations from taking up potential adaptations and innovations. Policy frameworks recognizing collective action and supporting flexible innovation in governance and adaptation would enable wider transformation of natural resource conflicts into cooperation. Key policy insights Climate stresses, policy gaps and interventions can all worsen local natural resource conflicts. Sectoral knowledge and technical approaches to adaptation are open to elite capture and can foster conflicts. Many local natural resource conflicts can be resolved but this requires an enabling environment for participatory dialogue, external facilitation, flexible responses to context, and recognition of disadvantaged stakeholder interests. Transforming conflict to greater cooperation mostly involves social and institutional changes, so adaptation policies should focus less on physical works and more on enabling factors such as negotiation, local institutions, knowledge, and incentives.