The Nishorgo Support Project, the Lawachhara National Park of Bangladesh and the Seismic Survey of Chevron: Forest Conservation or Energy Procurement?

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2011

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Abstract

"The paper mainly focuses on the operation of a forest conservation scheme, the USAID-funded Nishorgo Support Project in the Lawachhara National Park, Moulvibazar district, Bangladesh. The project has instituted a collaborative management approach. The participants include both state and non-state actors including the Bangladesh Government, the USAID, IUCN, NGOs, and local communities. In 2008, Chevron conducted a seismic survey for natural gas in the National Park, which violated municipal law. This placed the Nishorgo Project in a dilemma over its declared goal of forest conservation versus the interest of the state and Chevron in harnessing gas. This article analyses the interplay of the actors surrounding its critical moment, and argues that the officially declared values, norms and ideational elements guiding the project should be questioned. In establishing the argument, this paper uses the concept of 'accountability communities' coined by Kanishka Jayasuriya."

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accountability, co-management, USAID, conservation, participatory development, governance and politics

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