Parvin Sultana

Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University

Evidence and Impact Research:

Community management of floodplain

and forest commons: incentives and

constraints on ecosystem services for

poverty alleviation

Aim

Understand the impact of community based natural resource governance and networks of community organisations in:

enhancing ecosystem sustainability, and

reducing poverty

Based on case studies and synthesis of over 10 years of research on community based floodplain management in Bangladesh and community forestry in Nepal

Context Community management of forests in Nepal

and floodplains in Bangladesh developed in 1990s and 2000s. Aims: empower local communities, restore natural resources, and deliver equitable benefits.

Bangladesh: 82% of households fishing for an income in freshwater wetlands are poor. About half of the population live in floodplain wetland ecosystems.

Nepal: community forestry involves almost 40% of the total population. Over 18,000 user groups manage a quarter of the country’s forest.

Evidence for positive interactions between poverty reduction and restored or sustained ecosystems was limited.

CBOs and networks

Typically CBOs are: Non-profit.

Registered with government as a legal entity.

Formed under programmes or projects, but have become independent.

Manage a specific area of floodplain or forest.

In both countries there are vibrant networks of community organisations: in Nepal FECOFUN focused on

forests

in Bangladesh SWRM focused on floodplains and water bodies

Federations of local citizen groups grow to improve coordination, learning and interaction with government.

Methods

Collate evidence to examine the effects of community

management and networking among CBOs on: livelihoods of poor people dependent on these systems, and

key indicators of ecosystem sustainability.

32 detailed case studies (18 in Bangladesh, 14 in

Nepal), purposively selected to represent: diversity of environments (deeply flooded haors, coastal

floodplains, oxbow lakes, typical floodplains, rivers in

Bangladesh; high mountains, hills and Terai forest in Nepal);

tenural arrangements over commons (leased waterbodies,

traditional seasonal commons, allocated community forests,

buffer zones); and

levels of involvement in networking (four of the Bangladesh

cases dropped out of networking).

Bangladesh: diverse natural resources, but under threat

Ecosystem management initiatives in

Bangladesh cases Ecosystem component

No of CBOs (out of 18)

Management interventions Evidence/outcome

Agriculture 17 Promote low water demand crops, IPM, pesticide restriction

Changes in cropping

Fishery 16 Sanctuary, closed season, reintroduce fish sp.

Catches increased outside sanctuaries

Water 14 Limit on pumping, sluice management

Retain water for fish

Wetland restoration 9 excavation Sanctuaries hold water, fish catches, water retention

Wildlife 9 Ban on hunting Waterbirds increased, tourism increased

Timber/trees/ fuelwood

8 Swamp trees planted (for habitat), other timber trees, some access for fuelwood for poor

Ban on cutting, trees restored

Duck rearing 6 Enterprise using water Income

Aquaculture/fish stocking

5 Enterprise, also or release of native sp to wild

Income

Tourism/biodiversity 2 Visitor facilities (external funds) Increasing visitors, limited income

Fallow land returned to cultivation

2 Irrigation, suitable crops, sharecropping

Crops profitable, incomes for poor

Medicine 1 Common medicinal plant garden Own use

Aquatic plants (food) 1 Organised harvesting Income and own use

Bangladesh ecosystem service change (number of sites

showing change in fishery indicators) Environment/tenure Fish catch Fish diversity

Haor 1 of 1 1 of 1

Fishery leased 1999-2010 doubled per ha (data available only for entire haor where 2 CBOs located)

69-81 sp; Small increase 1999-2010

Coastal 0 of 2 1 of 2

Fishery leased Chandra: 2010-12 unclear 31-33 sp; Same 2010-2012

Mixed NR Baliatali: 2011-12 same 0-14 sp; Increase 2010-2012

Closed beel 3 of 4 0 of 3

Fishery leased e.g. Dhumnadi 1991-2003 increase stocked and wild fish

e.g. Nasti: 43-13 sp; declined

Floodplain 4 of 4 3 of 5

Fishery leased e.g. Dhali Baila 2000-10 about doubled per ha

e.g. Atrai: increased 19-38 sp, 2002-2012

Mixed NR e.g. Solua 2002-05 increase and maintained by 2012 (before CBO declining)

e.g. Goakhola 30-40 sp; same

Water management No data No data

River 0 of 2 0 of 3

Fishery no lease e.g. Titas Ka 1997-2002 increase then return to same catch per ha; decline catch per person

e.g. Tangaon 43-35 sp; decline 2002-2012

Number of sites in Bangladesh showing an

improvement in poverty indicators since

community management

Environ-ment/ tenure

Food security

Income Housing Participation of poor in executive

committee*

Haor 1 of 1 1 of 1 No data 2 of 2

Coastal 2 of 2 2 of 2 2 of 2 0 of 2

Closed beel

4 of 4 3 of 4 2 of 3 1 of 4

Floodplain 2 of 7 6 of 7 1 of 1 2 of 7

River 2 of 2 3 of 3 2 of 2 3 of 3

Expressed out of those with available data

Outcomes Factors Environ-ment

Type of CBO

CBO

ES - fish

Poor

No. activities Govt

support Access rights

Diverse memb-

ers

Clear bound-aries

Revolving credit and savings

Leads domin-

ate

Active in CBO network

Poor leaders

Dumuria Inc Imp 5 Y (Y) Mix y n Y Y Y Haors Fishery – leased waterbody

Baragangina Inc ? 6

Y Y Mix Y n N Y N

Fishery – leased waterbody

Chandra ? Imp

6

N Y Fi y N Y Y y Coastal

Mixed NR Baliatali Inc Imp 6 Y Y Mix N Y N Y N

Porakhali Eq imp 6 Y Y Fi Y N Y y y

Chapandaha Inc Imp 7 N (Y) Fi Y Y N Y Y

Dhum Nadi Inc Imp 6 N (Y) Fi Y Y N Y y

Closed beels

Fishery – leased waterbody

Nasti Eq imp 3 Y Y Fi Y N Y N y

Dhali Baila Inc imp 7 Y Y Mix y n Y Y y Fishery – leased waterbody

Atrai Inc Imp 5

Y (Y) Fi y Y N Y Y

Goakhola Inc imp 6 Y c Mix Y Y Y Y N

Solua Inc imp 4 y c Mix Y Y y Y Y

Mixed NR

Noli beel Dec imp 0

y (briefly)

N Mix N N (stopped)

N N y

Nawafali ? Imp 3 Y y Farm N Y y Y Y

Typical flood-plains

Water mngt Holdia ? Eq 1 N y Farm N N na N y

Titas Ka Eq Imp 4 y Y Fi N y N Y Y

Tangaon Eq imp 6 Y Y Fi Y Y N Y Y

Rivers Fishery – not leased Nabaganga-

Darimithapur Dec Imp

2 y (Y) Fi N N na N ?

Bangladesh cases ESPA outcomes and

factors potentially influencing

Nepal: diverse natural resources, but under threat

Ecosystem management initiatives

in Nepal cases Ecosystem component

No. of cases (out of 14)

Management interventions Evidence

Timber 14 Block based silviculture management; nursery and plantation; fire line improvement; cleaning, thinning, pruning, etc

Cash earning; better off people have used best timber/furniture in their houses, timber for community buildings

Fuelwood/ fodder

14 Bamboo and broom grass plantation; allocation of land for grass

Fuelwood collection for cooking and heating; livestock feeding; construction materials, household uses, pro-poor enterprise development (e.g. leaf plate from Shorea robusta);

Herbs/ medicine

10 Plantation of seedlings of medicinal plants

Household use of herbal medicines, cash earning through sale.

Soil conservation

10 Bamboo and grass planted on erosion prone areas; ban on harvesting in erosion prone areas

Reduced erosion

Water bodies 6 Construction of irrigation channel and tube wells; construction of water holes

Increased supply of water for irrigation and drinking; improved water holes for wild animals

Wildlife 3 Habitat management; construction of water holes; wildlife observation centres

Revenue from tourism, employment

Change in ecosystem services in Nepal sites Change in ES Evidence

Annual increment in total (and growing) stock of timber, fuelwood and fodder

Timber stock has increased from 89.2 m3 (in 2005) to180.5 m3 (in 2010). (Adhere Chara);

Timber stock has increased from 2.9 m3 per ha (in 2003) 13.7 m3 per ha (in 2008) (Chautari)

Annual growth of grass and fodder is 2.6 tons per hectare; and that of leaf litter is 1.05 tons

Large part of internal demand is met by the CF production

Before the formation of the group only 20% of forest product needs were fulfilled by the forest. Now the internal demand is met (Kankali)

Increase in wildlife, birds, biodiversity

Number of wild animals including leopard, porcupine, rabbit, deer, and monkeys significantly increased (Jautar, Sundari).

Increased number of rhinos and tigers along with other small animals (Baghmara)

New species of mammals (12), birds (6) and python reported (Jamunabari)

Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP)

Annual allowable harvest of Lokta (Daphne spp) - 4 kg/ha, Argeli -1 kg/ha and Machhino (Galtheria spp) -124 kg/ha is claimed to have increased but no current inventory (Baisakheswori-2004)

Annual allowable harvest of bamboo: 26 steam per ha. EC claims that the biomass of NTFPs is increasing in CF and supplying 50% of total demand of bamboo (Katike);

New water sources

Increase in availability of drinking water (Baghmara)

New water springs have emerged.

CBO innovation in poverty

alleviation

Savings and revolving fund schemes most common in Bangladesh – partly to compensate for closed seasons, also in Nepal

Accessing land for poor in some cases in both countries (e.g. Nepal - degraded land for bamboo, grasses; Bangladesh negotiating access to private land for poor - monsoon season common fisheries and dry season share cropping)

Lower prices for timber for group members in Nepal, but poor cannot afford to benefit so much. Gear fees in fisheries fell with switch to community management in Bangladesh

Conclusions –

Community based NRM Community based management has brought

improvements in ecosystem services beyond the original narrow focus of individual CBOs.

This has improved the lives of poor people in a majority of the cases.

Attempts to enhance resource sustainability and poverty reduction outcomes from community based NRM must link communities with higher scales, both in relation to learning and power.

Supportive tenurial arrangements can be complex and fragile.

Network functions:

Advocacy – platform for CBOs

Learning – between dispersed CBOs

Outcomes for member communities:

Diversification of NRM to consider the ecosystem and its linkages (e.g. sharing between agriculture, water or fisheries focused CBOs)

Poverty focus - some positive outcomes for the poor (peer pressure encourages pro-poor access to resources and participation in decisions)

How far has networking

influenced outcomes?

Nepal - advocacy (e.g. Forest Act amendment bill)

Media reports FECOFUN protest

Policy round table Discussion paper

Government proposal

Field research

Contributed to

informed

debate on the

bill

Bangladesh – learning (more resilient diversification)

CBO-1 CBO-2 etc CBO-250

Process at

Individual CBO level

repeated by each CBO

+ Lessons learned

Adaptive Learning Network process

Multiple CBOs/sites shared

Participatory

monitoring

Management

plan review

Revise

management

plan

Implement

management

planPropose

action/

innovation

Agree on design changes

in management plans to

improve management &

knowledge

Identify

uncertainties,

problems, good

practices

Review experiences

and analyse lessons

Revise

management plan

(set of plans)

Reflective learning/

assessment of IFM

actions

Agreement on

experiment, piloting

possible good

practices good

practices

Set

indicators

Evidence and data

Patchy data and evidence on ecosystem services and poverty changes.

CBOs and their networks want to use data to improve their management, and generate evidence in support of their struggle to retain rights, but do not know how to generate standardised data.

Government agencies need reliable locally generated data to improve national statistics and decision making.

CBO networks need support to improve long term data collection on a range of indicators. Government should recognise and incorporate this in statistics and impact monitoring.

Thank you