Sustainable Environment Management Programme (SEMP)

The main objective of this report is to provide hydrological inputs that include inflow and outflow routes of water, identification of various rivers, beels and khals functioning within the Hakaluki haor region, current hydrological and hydraulic characteristics, soil characteristics of the area and land use pattern as governed by hydraulic regimes, information on natural resources like flora and fauna and suggestions on development of a Community-based Haor Resources Management Project.

IUCN Bangladesh has undertaken this initiative in association with Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) under the Sustainable Environment Management Programme (SEMP) in the Madhumati Floodplain. Under this project one of the interventions is to promote alternative livelihood options. Baira farming was one of the options suggested by the people of that area. Moreover, variations could be identified in this traditional cultivation system in different parts of the country, indicating baira cultivation to be in an evolutionary phase here.

The overall objective of the project was to improve environmental quality of the degraded canals/beels/rivers to allow for proper functioning of migratory routes for fish and other organisms, to increase the crop production by facilitating irrigation and thereby effect socio-economic uplift of the local communities, especially for the women and the disadvantaged. This report shows how this was accomplished.

This aim of this report was to show how restoration activities in some degraded and silted wetlands, identified by the community people enhanced fish populations and aquatic habitats, increased agricultural production by ensuring adequate irrigation facilities, facilitated fish migration, and increased the water holding capacity of the wetlands area.

Through this study undertaken in the in the Modhumoti floodplain area, an attempt has been made to learn about the volume of snail harvesting, trends, marketing channels and the overall snail trade cycle. Since the demand for snails is now high, more and more people are becoming involved in its harvesting and it has become difficult to regenerate the resource base, which is already in a critical state. The total snail harvest, though not very large has registered gradual decline.

Problem Census (PCs) and Planning Workshops (PWs) are used to examine the diverse contrasting perspectives of beneficiary groups in regard to their socio-economic and political conditions. On the basis of information generated from these activities, stakeholders become aware of non-uniform impacts of resource use patterns, livelihood strategies and economic activities on the local environment, sustainable resources management schemes and environmental conservation options available to them. Priorities are determined and intervention programmes are designed accordingly.