1. Resources Use and Human Actions in Coastal
Bangladesh:
Knowledge and Network for Sustainable
Natural Resources Management
End Project Workshop of WD-NACE
Date: 27 September 2012
Venue: Welcome Collection Conference Centre, London
Dwijen Mallick, Fellow of BCAS and
Tahia Devisscher, Research Fellow of SEI, Oxford

2. Outline of the Presentation
 Poverty Situation in the Coastal Bangladesh
 Participatory Research and Consultations at 3
Levels
 Resources Mapping, FGDs, KIIs and Knowledge and Network
Analysis
 Resources Endowment in the Coastal Areas
 Dynamics and Problems in Resources Use and Management
 Key Actors and Human Actions
 Network Architecture:
 Horizontal and Vertical Linkages
 Decision Process and Impacts
 Examples of Decisions
 Urgent Needs for Actions and Research
 Functional Knowledge Network

3. Poverty Situation in Coastal Bangladesh
 Bangladesh is a small country with high
population and wide spread poverty
 BD made progress in poverty reduction in the
recent years
 Percentage of people living in poverty has
come down to 32% in 2011 from 56.6% in
1990s (BBS)
 But independent sources say, still over 40%
people live in poverty
 Of them 18% live in extreme poverty
 PRSP and FAO have shown the regional
divide
 Large number of poor people live in
environmentally degraded ecosystems
 Riverine Charland (51%) and
 Coastal districts (46%)

4. WD-NACE Research Framework
 WD-NACE looks at knowledge
structure, network and power relation
and how do they influence the
behavior of actors and stakeholders
for sustainable management of
coastal resources and ecosystems
 The project tries to understand:
 Resources endowment as well as the
ecological and social dynamics
 Actors, attributes and linkages; and
 Decision process at local, regional and
national levels
 Knowledge and network for fair decision
and sustainable management of NRs for
poverty alleviation

5. Participatory Research and
Consultations at Different Levels
 Participatory
Research 3 Levels
 Resources Mapping
 FGDs with
Resources Users
and Actors
 Participatory Network
Mapping/Analysis
 Network density and
Nature of Function
 How do they
influence and bridge
among the actors
and network
members

6. Key Resources in the Coastal Ecosystems
 Key Resources in the Coastal
Ecosystems
 Land, Water and Wetlands, Forest
(Sundarbans), Fisheries, Shrimp
Farming, Agriculture, Embankments
and Rural Infrastructure
 Social and Ecological Dynamics and
Problems
 Population, Poverty, over exploitation of forest
and fisheries resources
 Shrimp Farming and market forces
 Salinity intrusion, high tide and coastal
inundation, climate change and disasters
 Loss of agricultural productivity, food
insecurity and malnutrition
 Scarcity of fresh water for drinking and
domestic uses, health risks
 Loss of employment, economic
activities and livelihoods

7. Current Trends of Resources Uses in
Coastal Ecosystems
 Resources being used
Sustainably
 Nepa Leaf (Gol Pata) and
 Crab cultivation
 Threshold level
 Agriculture, Mangrove Forests
(Sundarbans), Homestead
Forests (Trees and Plants),
portable water for drinking;
polder and embankments
 Over Exploited

Rivers and fisheries, Shrimp
farming, honey and forest
products; wild lives

8. Types of Actors and Human Actions
 There are Multiple actors in relation to Coastal
Resources Uses and Management
 Community (farmers, Fishers, Forest Collectors, women) and
Community Organizations
 Local Government Institutes and Govt. Departments
 Union Parishad, Upazila Administration and line Departments:
(Agriculture, Forest, Fisheries, DoE, Water Board, LGED,
LGRD)
 Private Sectors: Trade and Business
 Banks and Financial Institutes
 NGOs and Development Agencies (BRAC, Grameen
Bank, RDRS, Shushilan, Uttaran, World Vision, Caritas etc.)
 International Donors: AAB, Oxfam, WFP, FAO, UNDP, DFID,
USAID, IPAC- Project
 Professional Group: Media and Human Right Groups

9. Types of Actors and Actions …Con.
 Broad Categories of Human Actions are:
 Collection, Uses and Management
 Implementation work for Conservation and Resource
Management
 Social Protection, Safety-net and DRR
 HRD, Capacity Building and Training for Resources
Conservation and Livelihood Promotion
 Awareness and Information Dissemination
 Legal Support and Human Right Protection
 Financial Support and Micro-Credit
 Influential Actors
 Government (high): Water Board, Department
of Forest and Environment, LGRD, LGED,
Upazila Parishad and Union Parishad
 NGOs (medium) Like Shushilan, Caritas, Oxfam
 Media and Human Right
Groups have some level of influence

10. Network Architecture: Nature and Key
Functions
 Information and Knowledge Network
 Sharing knowledge and information
 Advocacy and guidance between and across
 Capacity Network
 Supporting each other for implementation of project and activities
 Enforcement of regulation and laws for conservation and management of
resources
 Information and Knowledge Network (mainly NGOs) are
generally dense and have proximity with the actors
 Cohesion of capacity networks (of Govt. and NGOs) is lower
and the capacity support flows tend to be top-down and uni-
directional
 There are clusters and sub-groups of actors who have
bridging ties between and across the actors and
stakeholders

11. Local Level Actors and Stakeholder:
Horizontal and Vertical Linkages
 Local and
Regional
Linkages
 Horizontal and
Vertical
Linkages

12. Regional Level Actors and Stakeholder
Linkages

13. Regional Level Actors and Stakeholder
Linkages

14. National Level Actors and
Stakeholder Linkages

15. National Level Actors and
Stakeholder Linkages

16. National and Local Actors and
Stakeholder Linkages

17. Examples of few Decisions and their
Impacts on People and Ecosystems

18. Key Elements for Pro-poor Decision
 Decisions at local, regional and national levels are to
be taken considering the stakes and interests of all
stakeholders and actors
 Both ecological (conservation and regeneration) and social
benefits (Employment, income, livelihood and poverty alleviation)
must the considered
 Decisions making is very often influenced power-elites
 Making decisions that benefit the poor and marginal
communities is difficult
 Strong Linkage (vertical and horizontal) and networks of actors
and stakeholders can help taking fair and just decision
 Institutional integration is very crucial for fair decision
 Participation of the Poor and Marginal Groups
 Knowledge and information are key input for Whole
Decision process
 Both socio-economic, ecological as well as qualitative and
quantitative information are required for good decisions

19. Key Areas for Urgent Actions, Research
and Knowledge Sharing/Network
 Mangrove Forests (Sundarbans)
 Resources Conservation
 Co-Management
 Ecological Adaptation
 Alternative Livelihoods
 Wetlands and Fisheries
 Understanding impacts of CC on fish and wetland bio-resources
 Conservation of fishes and aquatic resources
 Alterative livelihood for the fishers and fry collectors
 Addressing salinity, drinking water and health risk management
 Agriculture and Food security (R&D; new varieties of crops and better
farm management)
 Social Protection, DRR and CCA
 Capacity building, Knowledge and network, technology and institutional support

20. Thanks