|
Division :
Fisheries
Status :
Field Work, Coding and Tabulation of data
completed. Report writing is ongoing and supposed to be completed by
February 2006.
Project
Title: Impact of Development
Interventions on the Wetlands and Livelihoods of the people (Chanda Beel
and Chalan Beel)
Donor/Funder: CARITAS
Bangladesh
Partner: BCAS and CARITAS
Bangladesh
Project-In-Charge:
Md. Liaquat Ali, Senior Fellow, BCAS
Description of Project:
Wetlands are valuable
component of the environment and biodiversity in
Bangladesh
. The important costal and inland wetlands encompass the vast floodplains
and delta system of the Ganges, Meghna and
Brahmaputra
rivers. The total area of the wetlands in the country is estimated 7 – 8
million hectares, or 50% of the total land surface. Wetlands in
Bangladesh
have great ecological, economic, commercial and socio-economic importance.
They contain about 5,000 species of flowering plants and 1,500 of
vertebrates in the country, up to 300 plant species and some 400
vertebrate species Wetlands provide habitats for a variety of resident and
migratory waterfowl, and a large number of commercially important ones.
Wetlands are amongst the most fertile and productive ecosystems and
important breeding grounds and growing area for fisheries. Millions of
people depend on the resources of the wetlands for their livelihoods. But,
ironically, wetlands have been perceived as wastelands associated with
disease, difficulty and danger and ignored their importance for ages.
Number of development interventions like construction embankments, dams,
hydraulic structures, roads, etc. have been undertaken since 1960’s for
country’s economic development particularly for increased agriculture
production and improved road communication. These have both positive and
negative impacts. The unplanned development interventions as mentioned
above have led to wide damage/verge extinction of the wetland ecology and
resources causing significant negative impacts on the livelihoods of the
people dependent on its resources. The importance of wetlands is now being
increasingly recognized and has been a concern for wise management of its
resources globally after the Ramsar Convention in May 1992.
Bangladesh
has taken into consideration the management of the wetland resources. NGOs
are also working with this view. BCAS and Caritas
Bangladesh
, considering inadequate knowledge of people of the crucial role and
importance of wetlands, unplanned interventions by the Government and
other agencies have taken the wise management into consideration for
protection of the wetland resources as a serious concern. So, Caritas
through its Development Extension Education Services (DEEDS) program and
BCAS have jointly undertaken this study to find out the impact of
different development interventions on the wetlands, wetland resources and
the livelihoods in two important wetlands of Bangladesh namely (i) the Chalan Beel in
Pabna district and (ii) Chanda Beel in Gopalganj district.
The objectives of the study are to know
the socio-economic situation/livelihoods of the inhabitants
of the wetlands, the existing bio-diversity situations of the wetlands and
its extent; to assess the impact of development interventions on the
Biodiversity and Environmental issues of Wetlands; identify use of
wetlands by its types, know the indigenous knowledge of local people with
regard to wetland resources management and practices; suggest a people
oriented sustainable mechanism for wetland resources management to enhance
its contribution to the livelihoods of the wetland inhabitants with
special emphasis to the poor and identify and suggest advocacy issues for
the wetland resources at local, regional and national level for its
sustainable development.
The activities of the project include collection of data and information
through FGD, interviews, meeting etc. from different concerned
organizations and local people; analyzing data and preparing report.
Time
Period : 6 months (from September 2005 to February 2006)
Expected
Outputs: A Study Report
For Further
Information :
|