Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

W O R L D R E S O U R C E S 2 0 0 8successes will remain isolated achievements. With such anapproach, they may help transform the rural economy andcreate incentives to manage ecosystems for long-term health aswell as profit.Scaling up CBNRM for the poor needs to be seen as part ofa larger strategy to increase the resilience of the rural poor tomeet the array of environmental, social, and economicchallenges they face. Change is coming to rural communities inmany forms—as climate change that threatens agriculture andother nature-based livelihoods; as the general decline in ecosystemhealth cited by the MA; as a change in traditional ruraleconomies with globalization and the intensification of agriculture;and as increased social instability as village, tribal, andfamily patterns adjust to new models of ownership and governanceand to increasing urban flight. These sources of changeare growing exponentially and, with them, the stresses theyimpose on the poor. So the need for scaling up extends toresilience as well.CBNRM can become the vehicle for developing thecapabilities and connections to accommodate such systemicchanges. That, effectively, is the definition of resilience. CBNRMis more than just a means to focus and direct environmentalmanagement. It can be a platform for empowerment, a way todevelop local institutions, a connection point for local representativegovernment, and a nucleation point for the developmentof social connections. These aspects encourage knowledgegeneration and social learning, and these are the basis of greatersocial resilience. They are also the basis for cooperative enterprise,which can bring greater earning power, so that the poorcan expand their financial assets.At the same time, CBNRM that adopts a stewardshipapproach supports ecosystem stability, which increases an ecosystem’sability to absorb environmental stresses and remainproductive. Reducing pressure on local ecosystems throughrestoration and sustainable harvest practices can help mitigatelonger-term systemic changes like climate change. Thus, scalingup CBNRM through the elements of ownership, capacity, andconnection is effectively scaling up resilience in all its dimensions.Such resilience must underlie any attempt at poverty reductionin a rural environment defined by large-scale physical, economic,and social change.12The Potential for Scaling UpTo better understand the need and potential for scaling upenvironmental income and resilience through good ecosystemstewardship, consider the plight of inland fisheries inBangladesh. The country’s many rivers, wetlands, and shallowlakes make it the world’s third largest producer of freshwater fish(not including aquaculture) (FAO 2007a:14). Even so, productivitycould be much higher if the nation’s freshwater fisheries werenot so degraded. As with many of the world’s inland fisheries,pollution, development, dams, and unsustainable fishingpractices have greatly diminished the annual catch. The consequencesfor the poor have been grim. Between 1995 and 2000,fish consumption among poor families in Bangladesh’s extensivefloodplains dropped almost 40 percent (World Bank 2006a:46).Conscious of the need to try a new approach to managingthe nation’s inland fisheries, the government of Bangladesh hasassented to community control of local fishing waters in 110villages in three wetland watersheds in the country’s northernregion. Between 1999 and 2006, fish catches rose 140 percent inthese villages as local fishers adopted better fishing practices andrestored fish habitat to help fish stocks recover. Fish consumptionrose 52 percent, and average daily household income rose morethan 30 percent in the affected villages. (For a more completeaccount of the fishery restoration, see Chapter 3: Fisheries forthe Future: Restoring Wetland Livelihoods in Bangladesh.)There is great potential for scaling up the success of thecommunity-based fishery management arrangement in northernBangladesh. So far, the new approach has directly benefited184,000 Bangladeshis—most of them poor—in 110 villages