Browsing by Author "Sultana, Parvin"

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Adaptive Learning Networks for Improved Floodplain Management
(2011) Sultana, Parvin
"Adaptive learning is a structured process of 'learning by doing' that emphasises the learning process in management. Previous work on adaptive learning networks has focused on exchanges between individuals or focused on technical aspects of resource management across villages. However, co-management is increasingly being adopted in floodplain commons. In Bangladesh many community based organizations (CBOs) have been formed and left to continue managing wetlands when projects ended. Over 250 existing CBOs involved in managing floodplain natural resources were brought together into a learning network. The CBOs identified lessons and good practices and spread their adoption. They identified gaps and opportunities, and coordinated innovation to address common problems. The adaptive learning process evolved through workshops among CBO leaders at a regional level and two-way communication between leaders and members of their CBOs. By bringing together CBOs that had before concentrated on either fishery management or water management for rice, and reviewing together constraints and opportunities, proven practices spread and new options were tested. Over three years 56% of participating CBOs acted to improve fisheries management, and 72% now have fish sanctuaries. Taking a system-based view of natural resource management encouraged a quarter of the CBOs to test dry season crops that need only about 20% of the water used by the dominant irrigated rice. The aim was to preserve more surface water for fish to survive in. Most of the alternative crops were shown by the farmers to give better financial returns than rice, and crops such as garlic are now spreading in several CBO areas. Overall the benefits of an adaptive learning network are: more rapid and systematic learning than individual trial and error, encouraging innovation, more efficient channels for advice, and strength in numbers to face threats such as external pressure to access common water resources."
Comparing Evidence of Community Organisation Network Building to Manage Complex Commons' Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation
(2013) Thompson, Paul; Sultana, Parvin; Paudel, Naya Sharma; Ojha, Hemant
"In Bangladesh and Nepal there have been considerable efforts to establish community institutions to manage commons, notably wetlands and floodplains in Bangladesh and forests in Nepal. Traditional common property regimes and/or new institutional arrangements based on local collective action have been increasingly recognised as providing more effective management than state control top-down approaches. Yet, there is still poor understanding of how community rights and institutions affect poverty reduction and sustainability of ecosystem services. Both countries have vibrant networks of community organisations. In Nepal a federation of 18,000 forest user groups arose from the desire of grassroots institutions to articulate their common interests in influencing national policies. In Bangladesh a network of 270 floodplain community organisations arose from an interest to learn from each others experience, address complex links between agriculture, water and fisheries, and gain mutual support from peers. These networks emphasise the importance of commons and collective action for the livelihoods of poor people and the ecosystems they depend on. Evidence is taken from a total of 32 detailed case studies, representing the diversity of environments, tenural arrangements over commons, and levels of involvement in networking. The paper focuses on some key questions. What kinds of networks have emerged around forests and floodplains? How do these networks address the governance challenges of these nested commons? How have the federations supported multi-level governance and minimised conflicts around the management of the commons? How has the distribution of benefits and ecosystem services generated from different types of commons changed with community based management and networking? Comparative analysis shows that networking has increased shared learning and political mobilization, enhanced ecosystem conditions and associated livelihoods, and has strengthened bargaining power with outside forces such as state and market. It is concluded that networking adds value in effective management of complex commons."
Cooperation, Conflicts and Sustainability in Community-Managed Fisheries in Bangladesh
(2000) Thompson, Paul; Sultana, Parvin; Islam, Gazi Md. Nurul
"Since late 1995 a partnership of Bangladesh Department of Fisheries, five Non-Governmental Orgainzations and ICLARM has worked with fishing communities in 19 waterbodies to establish local user management institutions under the Community Based Fisheries Management Project. These fisheries differ in physical characteristics (rivers, seasonal wetlands, lakes); in property rights (open access, community rights, group control of state property); and in the co-management arrangements introduced (multi-stakeholder committees and exclusive groups of fishers). Government and NGO support was intended to empower fishing communities and to provide the incentive needed for the inhabitants of several villages in each site to cooperate in conserving and enhancing their fisheries. The pattern of cooperation and conflicts has been used as an indicator of the development and likely sustainablility of community management institutions. "In the six relatively smaller (average 36 ha) closed beels (lakes) the limited number of participants (average 96 households) obtained exclusive use rights, elected their leaders and cooperated extensively among themselves in a relatively intensive management system of stocking fish, guarding them and sharing equally in harvesting and income. In all cases there was three-way cooperation between DOF, NGO and fishers. Internal conflicts are part of the process that reduces the power of the few past fisher leaders, but outside forces that try to obtain use rights threaten sustainability. "In three open beels/wetlands (average 300 ha in monsoon) an average of 325 households were organized into NGO-supported groups. The wider community of farmers and landless people are also stakeholders, either owning land and kuas (catch-ponds) in the floodplain or depending on free access to fish for food in the monsoon. Management decisions only by NGO-orgainzed fishers and by a committee representing all stakeholders were tested. In all three beels a wider consensus was achieved resulting in local fish sanctuaries and voluntary closed seasons. "The 10 river sections are substantially larger (average 480 ha excluding floodplain), the NGO partners have orgainzed on average over 300 traditional fisher households at each site into groups. However, the change to open access policy means that cooperation has been limited to the NGO-organized fishers (only part of the fishing community) over operational rules such as rotating fishing between teams within a gradually narrowing area. The dominant pattern has been conflict, particularly with outsiders who build brush-piles to capture part of the resource or attempt to have the open access policy reversed locally so they can lease the river. In one case the local elected council became actively involved and the management committee established some consensus and implemented a sanctuary. "Community management of fisheries in Bangladesh has been shown to be feasible, but the relevant community is not always easily defined. In the open waters the government has not yet recognized formally any right for the users or wider community to limit fishing effort."
Gender and Local Floodplain Management Institutions: A Case Study from Bangladesh
(2006) Sultana, Parvin; Thompson, Paul
Floodplain wetlands are the major common pool natural resource in Bangladesh. Mostly men fish, and both men and women collect aquatic plants and snails. Case studies contrast a women-only, men-only, and mixed community based organization (CBO), each of which manages a seasonal floodplain wetland. The two CBOs in which women hold key positions are in Hindu communities where more women use aquatic resources, work for an income, and belong to other local institutions. In the oldest of these CBOs, more women have gradually become office bearers as their recognition in the community has grown. In the Muslim community, only a few women collect aquatic resources and in this community most women do not perceive floodplain natural resource constraints to be very important to them. These women have no role in the CBO and feel that they have no say in decisions about the fishery, unlike many women in the other two sites. The fishery management activities in all three sites are similar and catches and biodiversity appear to have improved, demonstrating that women can play an effective role in community organizations for fishery management. Those who are represented in the CBOs reported significant increases in their participation and influence. Men and women in all three sites recognized that decisionmaking and management of their fisheries had improved, but community support and compliance were higher where both men and women had an active role in this process. Women had a more diverse set of criteria for effective CBOs than men. The men-only CBO saw itself as more of a membership based organization than as representing all of the community.
Impacts of Learning Networks Among Floodplain Community Organisations in Bangladesh on Poverty, Risk Coping and Ecosystem Sustainability
(2013) Sultana, Parvin; Thompson, Paul
"Bangladesh floodplains are complex commons in terms of property rights (private lands when flooded form seasonal commons for aquatic resources, and public waterbodies), scale, multiple uses, overlapping initiatives and institutions. Community based co-management started in fisheries and water management in the mid-1990s. This expanded to over 500 floodplain community based organisations (CBOs), most initiated by projects but with some self-organised. Individually there is evidence of improved access to natural resources for the poor, restoration of ecosystems and wild fish catches, and continued operation of local water management. This paper investigates the attributes and dynamics of networking among CBOs, its influence on poverty reduction and sustaining ecosystem services, and how CBOs and networks address risks and uncertainties surrounding commons. Since 2007 we have facilitated networking among about 270 CBOs. Case studies indicate structured adaptive learning between CBO peers has brought multiplier benefits compared with the practices of isolated CBOs. Networking has diversified natural resource management, improved governance, encouraged CBOs to be more inclusive (for example of women), and enabled CBOs to overcome local conflicts and strengthen their ability to negotiate with multiple governance levels. CBOs reported undertaking 51 types of collective action: many improve resilience and productivity by diversifying and enhancing crop-fishery-water management systems; some improve capacity to cope with risks (such as maintaining infrastructure or rescuing people); and the rest support cooperation and livelihood development. Through the learning process many CBOs have innovated practices that, without having that explicit objective, enhance adaptation to climate changes and stresses by taking a more integrated approach for example promoting dry season crops that require little irrigation enhances drought resilience and helps sustain native fish stocks. These benefits remain threatened by conflicting policies regarding continued tenure, but federating has enabled CBOs to collectively raise these issues through legal processes and policy debate."
Implications of Floodplain Aquaculture Enclosure
(2011) Sultana, Parvin; Thompson, Paul
"Bangladesh has extensive floodplain wetlands covering over 4 million ha. These remain an important source of livelihood - fish contribute about 60% of national animal protein consumption, and wetland plants are used for fodder, food and construction. Over fishing, short term leasing of use rights, flood control and drainage, and pollution all have negative impacts. In contrast several projects have helped establish local community management in many of these commons, and in these areas fisheries and wetland productivity have been restored through simple measures such as sanctuaries and closed seasons. However, community organisations and poor floodplain users face a new threat in the private lands that are seasonally flooded and form a major part of Bangladesh’s freshwater wetlands: In the last decade the area of private seasonally flooded land enclosed with bunds and fences for monsoon aquaculture grew by 30-100% a year depending on the location. This trend shows no sign of slowing. In different regions this is organised by individual landowners, informal groups, or companies that lease in land. These systems are productive but have high input costs, and catches of wild fish decline. Large farmers are the main beneficiaries, by operating aquaculture, as investor share-holders, or by receiving payment for use of their land. In all cases poorer people report that they loose. The landless loose access to natural fisheries and other aquatic resources, although some gain employment. Marginal farmers and sharecroppers loose both common aquatic resources and access to land for cultivation. The Government of Bangladesh, some donor projects and NGOs are promoting enclosure, but instead of being subsidised this private enterprise should be regulated before loss of natural floodplain fisheries and inequality become too widespread."
Integrated Floodplain Management approach in Bangladesh
(2008) Sultana, Parvin
"Floodplains cover over a third of Bangladesh, and significant areas of south-east and south Asia. They are characterised by conflicting uses of complex commons, worsened in the past by dividing development support into sectors. This paper shows how a 'systems approach' can produce win-win outcomes. Communities can organise to modify agriculture, water use and fishing practices to complement one another, increasing joint benefits from floodplains. Integrated Floodplain Management (IFM) recognises the floodplain as a system, where the uses and amounts of surface water in the dry season and monsoon critically affect the two main products--crops and fish. "Piloting in Goakhola-Hatiara Beel, a 350 ha seasonal floodplain in southwest Bangladesh, brought together fishers, farmers and sluice operators. Existing narrowly defined institutions were brought together and formalised through a central committee which successfully facilitated links among community stakeholders and with government agencies to replace previous conflict of interest with cooperation. Farmers made a major change in cropping patterns by replacing dry season irrigated rice with pulses and new crops such as potatoes and garlic on 20% of land. One small-scale farmer commented that while cultivating rice is traditional, farmers had not realised how they could gain, both financially and environmentally, by growing alternative crops. Crops with low irrigation demand are profitable and resulted in more surface water in the dry season, which the community protected as a fish sanctuary. This enhanced fish survival and reproduction, and when combined with adjustments in sluice operation and a closed season, resulted in higher fish catches. The community has improved common water management and accessed government extension services including techniques to reduce water pollution from processing jute fibre. By adopting IFM, farmers and fishers have benefited from higher catches, higher incomes from crops, and greater community solidarity."
Methods of Consensus Building for Collective Action: Community Based Aquatic Habitat and Floodplain Fisheries Management in Bangladesh and the Mekong Delta
(2002) Sultana, Parvin; Thompson, Paul; Ahmed, Mahfuzuddin
"Experience in community-based natural resource management in Bangladesh has shown that consensus building among all stakeholder groups in the communities that use and benefit from the resources is an essential element of collective action. A method of consensus building initially developed in Bangladesh in collaboration with partners from the UK and Bangladesh, and funded by the UK DFID, is now being applied in both Bangladesh and the Mekong delta. This paper describes the process in the context of building social capital through consensus, and compares the outcome of a consensus building workshop conducted in a Vietnamese village in the Mekong delta as part of a community-based aquatic habitat management project with the outcomes of a similar process conducted in an area of floodplain in Bangladesh. In Vietnam the objectives were to: strengthen the capacity of the research partners from Can Tho University (CTU) in participatory natural resources management; assist the local community to gain a shared understanding and common management strategy for their own resources; and translate group discussion and learning initiatives into an action plan. The process provides a clear analysis of problems, their causes and solutions. It also identifies the collective actions that are needed to arrive at preferred solutions, and determines the potential impacts on different stakeholders and responsibilities for implementation, monitoring and evaluation. In Vietnam these outputs of village level consensus building were validated with the local, district and provincial government authorities through a subsequent workshop. The plan is currently being implemented by the community itself and the local peoples organization, with research support, technical inputs and training from CTU and ICLARM funded by Oxfam Americas Mekong Learning Initiative (MLI)."
Methods of Consensus Building for Community Based Fisheries Management in Bangladesh and the Mekong Delta
(2003) Sultana, Parvin; Thompson, Paul
"A method of consensus building for management of wetlands and fisheries using a systematic approach to participatory planning and initially developed in Bangladesh is now being applied in both Bangladesh and the Mekong delta. The method recognizes diversity in livelihoods and works through a structured learning and planning process that focuses on common interests. It works with each category of stakeholder separately to prioritize the natural resource problems that their livelihoods are largely dependent on, they then share and agree common priorities in plenary. Then the stakeholder groups separately analyze possible solutions and their impacts, before meeting in plenary to share their analysis and form a consensus on win-win solutions. The process identifies the collective actions that are needed to arrive at preferred solutions, and determines potential impacts on different stakeholders and responsibilities for implementation, monitoring and evaluation. We outline the process in the context of building social capital through consensus, and compare indicators of social capital as an outcome of its application in a Vietnamese village in the Mekong delta with the outcomes of a similar process in a floodplain wetland in Bangladesh."
Natural Resource Conflicts and Community Organizations in Bangladesh
(2013) Sultana, Parvin; Thompson, Paul M.
"With a population density of over 1,000 persons per km2, pressure on common property wetlands and forests in Bangladesh is intense. Community based co-management has been introduced in wetlands and fisheries since the early 1990s and in a forest protected areas since the mid-2000s. This analysis assesses community based organization (CBO) performance including conflict management over three years among about 150 floodplain CBOs and reviews experience in the five forest protected areas with co-management. The Department of Fisheries and local communities have collaborated for devolved fisheries responsibilities. The incentives for collective action among fishers to restore habitat and conserve fish are more secure access and the benefit of higher fish catches. Local conflicts with elites and fishers over access are rare where CBOs are well established compared with waterbodies lacking community management. Networking among CBOs has strengthened cooperation and collective ability to resist threats and resolve conflicts. Adaptive learning between CBOs has diversified natural resource management based on common ground between fishers and farmers, and encouraged CBOs to be more inclusive. There is a fundamental lack of trust between local people and the Forest Department arising from a history of authoritarian management and conflicts over illegal logging. Co-management has been taken up on a limited scale in forest protected areas, but community patrol groups have few incentives to protect forests. The lack of overlapping institutions and formalized CBOs comprised of poor forest users limits scope to resolve conflicts particularly when there are highly organized and influential forest exploiters. The findings indicate that devolution of management to local communities can improve conflict management, as well as natural resource productivity, livelihoods, and social standing. But this process takes time, depends on government commitment, and the potential for positive outcomes differs between types of commons."