Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

F I S H E R I E S F O R T H E F U T U R Ethat cover half the country and on which 70 million peopledepend for food and income (Whitford et al. 2006:5; MACH2007:47; Thompson 2006:1).A Road Map for Wetland RevivalLocated at the confluence of three major rivers—the Ganges,the Brahmaputra, and the Meghna—Bangladesh is rich innatural resources, especially water and fertile soils. Its freshwaterwetlands are among the world’s most important, harboringhundreds of species of fish, plants, and wildlife and providing acritical habitat for thousands of migratory birds (MACH2007:1). But their productivity has come under increasingpressure as the population has increased, exceeding 140 millionpeople in a territory of only 144,000 km²—an area the size ofNepal with nearly five times the population (Whitford et al. 2006:7).Siltation caused by forest clearance, drainage for agriculturaldevelopment, and the construction of flood embankmentshas shrunk inland fishing grounds, especially during the area’ssix-month dry season. Overexploitation and pollution havedecimated fish stocks and other aquatic life, including edibleplants harvested by the poor (Thompson 2006:1,3). The consequenceshave been devastating for millions of fishing households,one of the poorest segments of Bangladeshi society. Between1995 and 2000, freshwater fish consumption fell by 38 percentamong the poorest 22 percent of Bangladeshis (World Bank2006:46), and in 2000 the World Conservation Union (IUCN)classified 40 percent of Bangladesh’s freshwater fish species forwhich data are available as threatened with extinction (IUCNBangladesh 2000 as cited in Thompson 2006:1).Long-standing government policies intensified this ecologicalcrisis. Bangladesh’s ruling classes traditionally viewedwetlands as wastelands to be “recovered” for agriculturalproduction, which fostered indiscriminate development.Between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s alone, about 0.8million ha of floodplain were drained (Sultana 2006a:1).Fishing rights were also geared to maximizing governmentrevenue rather than conserving natural resources. Most inlandfishing waters in Bangladesh are government property, and theMinistry of Land leased short-term harvesting rights to thehighest bidder. This not only encouraged overfishing, it wasalso fundamentally inequitable. Fishing rights were concentratedin the hands of those wealthy enough to afford theprized leases, while depriving poor fishing households of access(MACH 2006:1).Recognizing these shortcomings and encouraged by foreigndonors, including USAID, Bangladesh’s government beganrestricting wetland drainage in the late 1990s (MACH 2006:2-1,4-2). It also launched several experimental wetland restorationprojects that devolved management rights to communities orlocal government, with national and international nongovernmentalorganizations providing capacity-building and technicalsupport (MACH 2006:1).The nine-year, US$14-million MACH program wasperhaps the most successful and high-profile of these projects.Jointly developed and funded by the government ofBangladesh and USAID, MACH’s objective was to act as anational testing ground for community-led natural resourcemanagement, with field operations in more than 110 ruralfishing villages (Whitford et al. 2006:18; Thompson 2006:1).Four highly experienced NGOs were selected by theBangladesh government and USAID to implement theprogram and act as intermediary organizations betweencommunities and local and national government. US-basedWinrock International, which specializes in sustainableresource management projects, devised the new institutionalarrangements and provided overall program management,while three national NGOs implemented the field work.The Bangladesh-based Center for Natural ResourceStudies (CNRS), which specializes in community-based floodplainrestoration, helped communities establish ResourceManagement Organizations (RMOs), decide environmentalpriorities, and monitor the impacts of project activities. CaritasBangladesh, a Catholic human development agency with along record of working with poor, landless, marginalizedcommunities across the country, oversaw income generationand microcredit lending among poor wetland users. TheBangladesh Center for Advanced Studies, a leading environmentalresearch group, provided short-term specialists inhydrology and fishery biology to inform physical restorationworks and fish restocking. Its staff also undertook research andadvocacy on water quality, pollution, and cleaner practices inthe textile dyeing industry and advised on policy reform(MACH 2007:3-4).113