Community management of floodplain and forest commons: incentives and constraints on ecosystem services for poverty alleviation

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1 Evidence and Impact Research: Community management of floodplain and forest commons: incentives and constraints on ecosystem services for poverty alleviation Parvin Sultana Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University

2 Aim Understand the impact of community based natural resource governance and networks of community organisations in: enhancing ecosystem sustainability, and reducing poverty Based on case studies and synthesis of over 10 years of research on community based floodplain management in Bangladesh and community forestry in Nepal

3 Context Community management of forests in Nepal and floodplains in Bangladesh developed in 1990s and 2000s. Aims: empower local communities, restore natural resources, and deliver equitable benefits. Bangladesh: 82% of households fishing for an income in freshwater wetlands are poor. About half of the population live in floodplain wetland ecosystems. Nepal: community forestry involves almost 40% of the total population. Over 18,000 user groups manage a quarter of the country s forest. Evidence for positive interactions between poverty reduction and restored or sustained ecosystems was limited.

4 CBOs and networks Typically CBOs are: Non-profit. Registered with government as a legal entity. Formed under programmes or projects, but have become independent. Manage a specific area of floodplain or forest. In both countries there are vibrant networks of community organisations: in Nepal FECOFUN focused on forests in Bangladesh SWRM focused on floodplains and water bodies Federations of local citizen groups grow to improve coordination, learning and interaction with government.

5 Methods Collate evidence to examine the effects of community management and networking among CBOs on: livelihoods of poor people dependent on these systems, and key indicators of ecosystem sustainability. 32 detailed case studies (18 in Bangladesh, 14 in Nepal), purposively selected to represent: diversity of environments (deeply flooded haors, coastal floodplains, oxbow lakes, typical floodplains, rivers in Bangladesh; high mountains, hills and Terai forest in Nepal); tenural arrangements over commons (leased waterbodies, traditional seasonal commons, allocated community forests, buffer zones); and levels of involvement in networking (four of the Bangladesh cases dropped out of networking).

6 Bangladesh: diverse natural resources, but under threat

7 Ecosystem management initiatives in Bangladesh cases Ecosystem No of CBOs Management interventions Evidence/outcome component (out of 18) Agriculture 17 Promote low water demand Changes in cropping crops, IPM, pesticide restriction Fishery 16 Sanctuary, closed season, reintroduce fish sp. Catches increased outside sanctuaries Water 14 Limit on pumping, sluice Retain water for fish management Wetland restoration 9 excavation Sanctuaries hold water, fish catches, water retention Wildlife 9 Ban on hunting Waterbirds increased, tourism increased Timber/trees/ fuelwood 8 Swamp trees planted (for habitat), other timber trees, Ban on cutting, trees restored some access for fuelwood for poor Duck rearing 6 Enterprise using water Income Aquaculture/fish 5 Enterprise, also or release of Income stocking native sp to wild Tourism/biodiversity 2 Visitor facilities (external funds) Increasing visitors, limited income Crops profitable, incomes for poor Fallow land returned to cultivation 2 Irrigation, suitable crops, sharecropping Medicine 1 Common medicinal plant garden Own use Aquatic plants (food) 1 Organised harvesting Income and own use

8 Bangladesh ecosystem service change (number of sites showing change in fishery indicators) Environment/tenure Fish catch Fish diversity Haor 1 of 1 1 of 1 Fishery leased doubled per ha (data available only for entire haor where 2 CBOs located) sp; Small increase Coastal 0 of 2 1 of 2 Fishery leased Chandra: unclear sp; Same Mixed NR Baliatali: same 0-14 sp; Increase Closed beel 3 of 4 0 of 3 Fishery leased e.g. Dhumnadi increase stocked and wild fish e.g. Nasti: sp; declined Floodplain 4 of 4 3 of 5 Fishery leased e.g. Dhali Baila about doubled per ha e.g. Atrai: increased sp, Mixed NR e.g. Solua increase and maintained by 2012 (before CBO declining) e.g. Goakhola sp; same Water management No data No data River 0 of 2 0 of 3 Fishery no lease e.g. Titas Ka increase then return to same catch per ha; decline catch per person e.g. Tangaon sp; decline

9 Number of sites in Bangladesh showing an improvement in poverty indicators since community management Environment/ tenure Food security Income Housing Participation of poor in executive committee* Haor 1 of 1 1 of 1 No data 2 of 2 Coastal 2 of 2 2 of 2 2 of 2 0 of 2 Closed 4 of 4 3 of 4 2 of 3 1 of 4 beel Floodplain 2 of 7 6 of 7 1 of 1 2 of 7 River 2 of 2 3 of 3 2 of 2 3 of 3 Expressed out of those with available data

10 Bangladesh cases ESPA outcomes and factors potentially influencing Environment Type of CBO Haors Fishery leased Coastal Closed beels CBO Outcomes ES - Poor fish No. activities Govt Access Diverse support rights members Clear boundaries Factors Revolving credit and savings Leads dominate Active in CBO network Dumuria Inc Imp 5 Y (Y) Mix y n Y Y Y Baragangina Inc? Y Y Mix Y n N Y N waterbody 6 Fishery Chandra? Imp N Y Fi y N Y Y y leased waterbody 6 Mixed NR Baliatali Inc Imp 6 Y Y Mix N Y N Y N Fishery Porakhali Eq imp 6 Y Y Fi Y N Y y y leased Chapandaha Inc Imp 7 N (Y) Fi Y Y N Y Y waterbody Dhum Nadi Inc Imp 6 N (Y) Fi Y Y N Y y Typical floodplains Nasti Eq imp 3 Y Y Fi Y N Y N y Fishery Dhali Baila Inc imp 7 Y Y Mix y n Y Y y leased Atrai Inc Imp Y (Y) Fi y Y N Y Y waterbody 5 Mixed NR Goakhola Inc imp 6 Y c Mix Y Y Y Y N Solua Inc imp 4 y c Mix Y Y y Y Y Noli beel Dec imp y N Mix N N N N y 0 (briefly) (stopped) Water Nawafali? Imp 3 Y y Farm N Y y Y Y mngt Holdia? Eq 1 N y Farm N N na N y Titas Ka Eq Imp 4 y Y Fi N y N Y Y Tangaon Eq imp 6 Y Y Fi Y Y N Y Y Nabaganga- Dec Imp y (Y) Fi N N na N? Darimithapur 2 Rivers Fishery not leased Poor leaders

11 Nepal: diverse natural resources, but under threat

12 Ecosystem management initiatives Ecosystem component No. of cases (out of 14) in Nepal cases Management interventions Timber 14 Block based silviculture management; nursery and plantation; fire line improvement; cleaning, thinning, pruning, etc Fuelwood/ fodder 14 Bamboo and broom grass plantation; allocation of land for grass Herbs/ medicine 10 Plantation of seedlings of medicinal plants Soil 10 Bamboo and grass planted on conservation erosion prone areas; ban on harvesting in erosion prone areas Water bodies 6 Construction of irrigation channel and tube wells; construction of water holes Wildlife 3 Habitat management; construction of water holes; wildlife observation centres Evidence Cash earning; better off people have used best timber/furniture in their houses, timber for community buildings Fuelwood collection for cooking and heating; livestock feeding; construction materials, household uses, pro-poor enterprise development (e.g. leaf plate from Shorea robusta); Household use of herbal medicines, cash earning through sale. Reduced erosion Increased supply of water for irrigation and drinking; improved water holes for wild animals Revenue from tourism, employment

13 Change in ecosystem services in Nepal sites Change in ES Annual increment in total (and growing) stock of timber, fuelwood and fodder Large part of internal demand is met by the CF production Increase in wildlife, birds, biodiversity Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) New water sources Evidence Timber stock has increased from 89.2 m 3 (in 2005) to180.5 m 3 (in 2010). (Adhere Chara); Timber stock has increased from 2.9 m 3 per ha (in 2003) 13.7 m 3 per ha (in 2008) (Chautari) Annual growth of grass and fodder is 2.6 tons per hectare; and that of leaf litter is 1.05 tons Before the formation of the group only 20% of forest product needs were fulfilled by the forest. Now the internal demand is met (Kankali) Number of wild animals including leopard, porcupine, rabbit, deer, and monkeys significantly increased (Jautar, Sundari). Increased number of rhinos and tigers along with other small animals (Baghmara) New species of mammals (12), birds (6) and python reported (Jamunabari) Annual allowable harvest of Lokta (Daphne spp) - 4 kg/ha, Argeli -1 kg/ha and Machhino (Galtheria spp) -124 kg/ha is claimed to have increased but no current inventory (Baisakheswori-2004) Annual allowable harvest of bamboo: 26 steam per ha. EC claims that the biomass of NTFPs is increasing in CF and supplying 50% of total demand of bamboo (Katike); Increase in availability of drinking water (Baghmara) New water springs have emerged.

14 CBO innovation in poverty alleviation Savings and revolving fund schemes most common in Bangladesh partly to compensate for closed seasons, also in Nepal Accessing land for poor in some cases in both countries (e.g. Nepal - degraded land for bamboo, grasses; Bangladesh negotiating access to private land for poor - monsoon season common fisheries and dry season share cropping) Lower prices for timber for group members in Nepal, but poor cannot afford to benefit so much. Gear fees in fisheries fell with switch to community management in Bangladesh

15 Conclusions Community based NRM Community based management has brought improvements in ecosystem services beyond the original narrow focus of individual CBOs. This has improved the lives of poor people in a majority of the cases. Attempts to enhance resource sustainability and poverty reduction outcomes from community based NRM must link communities with higher scales, both in relation to learning and power. Supportive tenurial arrangements can be complex and fragile.

16 How far has networking influenced outcomes? Network functions: Advocacy platform for CBOs Learning between dispersed CBOs Outcomes for member communities: Diversification of NRM to consider the ecosystem and its linkages (e.g. sharing between agriculture, water or fisheries focused CBOs) Poverty focus - some positive outcomes for the poor (peer pressure encourages pro-poor access to resources and participation in decisions)

17 Nepal - advocacy (e.g. Forest Act amendment bill) Media reports Contributed to informed debate on the bill Government proposal FECOFUN protest Discussion paper Policy round table Field research

18 Bangladesh learning (more resilient diversification) CBO-1 CBO-2 etc CBO-250 Process at Individual CBO level repeated by each CBO Participatory monitoring Management plan review Implement management plan Propose action/ innovation Revise management plan + Lessons learned Adaptive Learning Network process Multiple CBOs/sites shared Revise management plan (set of plans) Review experiences and analyse lessons Set indicators Reflective learning/ assessment of IFM actions Agreement on experiment, piloting possible good practices good Agree on design changes in management plans to improve management & knowledge Identify uncertainties, problems, good practices

19 Evidence and data Patchy data and evidence on ecosystem services and poverty changes. CBOs and their networks want to use data to improve their management, and generate evidence in support of their struggle to retain rights, but do not know how to generate standardised data. Government agencies need reliable locally generated data to improve national statistics and decision making. CBO networks need support to improve long term data collection on a range of indicators. Government should recognise and incorporate this in statistics and impact monitoring.

20 Thank you