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Mobilizing
Costal Communities in Protection, Conservation and Management of Coastal
Fisheries Resources (CBFM) under Empowerment of Coastal Fishing Community
for Livelihood Security (ECFC) Project |
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Division :
Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction
Status :
Completed
Project
Title :
Mobilizing Costal
Communities in Protection, Conservation and Management of Coastal
Fisheries Resources (CBFM) under Empowerment of Coastal Fishing Community
for Livelihood Security (ECFC) Project Donor/Funder : UNDP Client : FAO/DOF
Project-In-Charge
:
B.M. Faruque Ahmed
Status
: On
going (Contract is made with FAO on yearly basis. First year activities
has completed and second year is going on) Project Description: Coastal communities comprises of a large part of the national population with livelihoods directly or indirectly related depending on fisheries resources in coastal and marine waters in Bangladesh. But due to over fishing, in absence of proper management and natural hazards the fisheries resources are being depleted and biodiversity is degraded. If measures are not taken, over-exploitation of the resource, depletion of the resource base and the degradation of biodiversity in the coastal ecosystem will result in increased risks and vulnerabilities as well as shrinking options to support livelihoods and improve the quality of living. On a wider plane, if the yield from coastal fisheries should decline as a result of this trend, the animal nutrition security (with 60% of national protein intake coming from fish) of the entire nation will be in jeopardy.
The Coastal fishing community are
mostly poor, assets less, unorganized and disadvantaged group of people in
the society. They depend on the advantaged group of people like the
boat/gear owner, money leader and exposed to manmade and natural hazards
including depletion of coastal resources on which they are depend for
their livelihoods. They do not have social, institutional and financial
capacity to address those issues for sustainability and security in their
livelihoods. They need to be organized and capacity built-up to address the vulnerability issues including involving themselves in protection, conservation and management of the coastal and marines fisheries resources. In view of the above a pilot project namely Empowerment of Coastal Fishing Community on Livelihood Security has been under take by the Government (DOF) with technical and financial support of FAO/UNDP for implementation in Cox’s Bazar district for period of 5 years from 2000. The project aims at empowering targeted fisherfolk communities through a multi-dimensional approach facilitated with multi-sectoral support. The overall theme is to initiate a process of change that enhances the targeted communities capacity (in terms of an increase in livelihoods assets, or reduction in the vulnerabilities challenging livelihood security. The specific objectives pursued under the project are: (1) Assist the communities to empower themselves to collectively address their problems and needs.
(2) Introduce
various economic and community welfare activities which are operated and
managed by their community organizations.
(3) Facilitate
sustainable conservation and management of coastal marine and estuarine
fisheries resources and habitats through strengthening of community-based management of the resources. In order to achieve the goals and objectives of the project the following services are envisaged to be provided under this project though different services provider (NGOs) in addition to expatriate and local experts /consultants of the project
Different NGOs /Agencies have been engaged by FAO as service providers (SPs) for implementing different component/services. BCAS and Bangladesh POUSH consortium has been assigned by FAO as service provider for the component of “Mobilizing communities in protection conservation and management of coastal fisheries resources” in 33 selected fishing villages in 4 Upazilas (Cox’s Bazar Sadar, Ramu, Ukhiya and Moheskhali) under Cox’s Bazar districts. In other 4 Upazilas CNRS is providing services for this component. Objectives of the project Component “Mobilizing Costal Communities in Protection, Conservation and Management of Coastal Fisheries Resources” (CBFM): ·To protect and restore the natural resource of coastal ecosystems through active participation of local communities’ ·To enhance the capacity of local resource users and stakeholders in ecological management of resources which they can largely manage themselves; ·To encourage the stakeholders for participatory protection and conservation of natural resource providing recognition/material support; ·To provide inputs for planners and policy makers for developing environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable resource management policies in the country for the coastal areas. Activities ·Building rapport with the fishers’ communities of the selected villages and conduct biophysical characterization of the fishing communities and the resource systems & sub-systems in the project areas through PRA exercises. ·Conducting planning workshops with the participating communities to develop consensual plan of action for potential interventions towards conservation, restoration and enhancement of resources. Possible interventions would include establishing marine reserves, setting wise use/sustainable fishing norms, rehabilitation of mangrove forest, rehabilitation of riparian vegetation, and conservation of coastal biodiversity including wildlife. However, the types, nature and extent of conservation interventions would be finalized at the planning workshops with the communities as well as negotiating with the PMU based available resources. ·Organizing fishers in to fisheries management organizations (FMOs) or groups by category of fisheries viz. organization of ESBN fishery, organization of gill net fishery and so on. Major focus of the forming the FMOs would be conservation or resources and other related activities. ·Building and strengthening community-based institutions for the sustainable management of coastal and marine resources in the form of FMOs, the Consortium Service Provider would initiate building the capacities of FMOs as strong local institutions for sustainable and equitable management of resources. ·Demonstrating conservation, restoration and enhancement measures would be implementation; pilot demonstration of mangrove rehabilitation would be rested in two suitable locations of Cox’s Bazar Sadar, Ramu, Ukhiya and Moheskhali Upazilas. Responsibilities
among experts, task manager and field team personnel for proper
implementation of the project activities delegated. The project activities are being implemented with field head quarter at
Cox’s Bazar and with a sub office at Moheshkhali upazila.
Activities on Cox’s Bazar Sadar, Ramu & Ukhiya are covered from
Cox’s Bazar sadar office other activities in Moheshkhali upazila is
covered from Moheshkhali field office. The Fisheries Biologist working as
Project Coordinator. Technical and management support are provided from
the BCAS Head Quarter, Dhaka. The team leader & respective consultant
of the project provide regular field level technical support. Project
expert and field staff: The
following manpower involved in the project Project
Experts and Management team: ·Mr. Liaquat Ali, Fisheries Expert, HQ, Dhaka (part time) ·Mr. Sarder Shafiqul Alam, Geographer & Field Monitoring Expert, HQ, Dhaka (part time) ·B.M. Faruque Ahmed, Programme Manager (Prog. & Admn), HQ, Project Manager (Part time, overall project in charge), HQ, Dhaka ·Md. Sanowar Hossain, President, Bangladesh POUSH, Dhaka (part time) Project Field Staff: ·Project Coordinator & Conservation Biologist/Trainer-1 (full time), Cox’s Bazar, Field office ·Sociologist-1 (full time), Cox’s Bazar, Field office ·Field Accounts Assistant/Computer Operator-1 (full time), Cox’s Bazar, Field office ·Field Trainer/ Conservation Assistant-3 (full time), Cox’s Bazar, Field office ·Office peon cum guard-1 (full time), Cox’s Bazar, Field office ·Additional two (part time) working as Fish Landing Centre
Data Collector Expected Output: ·Organization of fishers groups by fishery Fisheries Management Organization (FMO) are Organized ·Participatory Fisher Village Organizations (VOs) established in all villages ·Fisheries Management Advisory Committees established in all the Upazilas ·Action plan in each target areas developed for the sustainable management of fisheries ·Participatory Needs Assessments for all types of fishery (estuarine and marine) in all the targeted communities completed, identifying high priority fisheries and their need of management ·Consensus on arrangements to address destructive fisheries obtained for all Upazilas ·Links and responsibility sharing between the different levels of organizations (Upazila, District and National) and institutional set up discussed and negotiated ·Fishers are aware of their territorial rights and responsibilities ·Communities are increasingly aware of the importance of resource conservation ·Advocacy Strategy to control pollution, mitigation of damage, and rehabilitation of habitats in the coastal waters and conservation of coastal ecosystems agreed among targeted fisherfolk communities and other stakeholders in the project area; ·Communities take certain steps for the conservation and sustainable use of coastal fisheries resources. ·Guidelines on Measures to Encourage application of the Coastal Fisheries Management & Conservation Action Plans ·Guidelines for establishing and strengthening fisher folk and local communities participation in Coastal Fisheries Management ·Significant drop in use of destructive fishing practices / gears ·Critical areas and limitations are identified. Time Period : January 2003-December 2005 For Further Information: Almost all the activities have been undertaken as per plan of activities contained in the LOA and/or as suggested by the consultant and Team Leader of the project (PMU). However, institutionalization of organizations VOs, FMOs and FMAC could not be implemented, as the organizations were not enough organized and matured for government approval/ registration but the authority were diving to come forward to implement the activities as soon as possible for the sustainability of the organizations. Support for best performer (Fishermen) for NRs conservation activities could not also be undertaken this year because the community performance was not yet worthy to get award. Activities selection process has been initiated and it will be completed by the end of April 2004. A set of training module has been developed in the three days participatory workshop for the training of FMOs members and (best-selected activists) from the VOs member. The training would be conducted after finalizing the module. In terms sustainability of the project and sustainability of the FMOs, community and VOs maximum number of fishers should be enlisted in the VOs with the one objective of ECFC for Mobilizing Costal Communities in Protection, Conservation and Management of Coastal Fisheries Resources (CBFM).
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