PARTICIPATORY WETLAND RESOURCE GOVERNANCE IN BANGLADESH: AN ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY-BASED EXPERIMENTS IN HAKALUKI HAOR By S M Munjurul Hannan Khan A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources Natural Resources Institute University of Manitoba August 2011 Copyright@ by S M Munjurul Hannan Khan THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES ****** COPYRIGHT PERMISSION PARTICIPATORY WETLAND RESOURCE GOVERNANCE IN BANGLADESH: AN ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY-BASED EXPERIMENTS IN HAKALUKI HAOR By S M MUNJURUL HANNAN KHAN A Thesis/Practicum submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © 2011 by S M Munjurul Hannan Khan Permission has been granted to the Library of the University of Manitoba to lend or sell copies of this thesis/practicum, to the National Library of Canada to microfilm this thesis and to lend or sell copies of the film, and to University Microfilms Inc. to publish an abstract of this thesis/practicum. This reproduction or copy of this thesis has been made available by authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research, and may only be reproduced and copied as permitted by copyright laws or with express written authorization from the copyright owner. ii ABSTRACT Jurisdictional ownership of all natural resources, including wetlands and river channels, belongs to the state in Bangladesh, and access to and control over wetland resource are determined by the existing top-down, command-and-control, bureaucratic management regimes. Grounded solely in the economic aspects of natural resources, the wetland management objective of the government focuses on rent-seeking to maximize revenues and other economic benefits. At the operational level, this approach presumes bounded and closed economic and social systems and an equilibrial environment. It does not consider the economic, social, ecological and political spheres as being open, dynamic and constantly subject to change and thus having a profound impact on the sustainability of natural resources. Present policy practice undermines the inclusion of local resource users as legitimate stakeholders in the decision-making process. Local communities, which largely depend on wetland resources, are persistently excluded from access to and control over such resources. Reinstatement of the rights of local resource users in decision-making and providing them institutional scope for participation in management system are urgently needed for sustainable resource management. The purpose of this research was to investigate options (such as community- based, co-management and partnerships approaches) for institutionalizing participation of stakeholders in wetland (haor) resource management. It was intended to seek alternatives to the state-governed management approach (SMA) and find a means of governance that would encompass multi-stakeholders in the management of natural resources in general and wetlands in particular. The specific objectives of this research were to: i) Examine the state-governed management approach and the relationship between formal and informal institutions concerned with access and control over wetland (haor) resources; ii) Analyze, as an alternative to SMA, the processes and structures of stakeholders’ participation and deliberations in decision-making; and iii) Examine the potential for multi-stakeholder governance in wetland resource management. Together with local communities and other relevant stakeholders of Hakaluki haor, this research selected three development initiatives, namely, Sustainable iii Environment Management Program (SEMP), Community Based Fishery Management -2 (CBFM-2) and Coastal and Wetland Biodiversity Management Program (CWBMP), for assessment. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of participatory research approaches, a set of PRA methods, which included baseline surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, semi-structured interviews, individual discussion meetings, participant observation, addah (informal chatting with friends and fellows during leisure time), and workshops, was used at different stages of the research to attain the objective of the study. By combining interrelated participatory research methods, techniques, approaches, and concepts into a single study design, development of robust research methods has been found effective for handling the challenges, complexities and assessing potential for participatory community research. The research findings have revealed that the community-based organizations (CBOs) of local communities were capable of contributing effectively to the community- based or co-management approach in management of wetland resources. External facilitation by NGOs to mobilize and strengthen CBOs was found to be a critically necessary element in this process. Establishing a multi-level stakeholder governance system as an institutional structure and process is necessary to sustain CBOs’ operations in decision-making regarding wetland resource management. The outcomes of examining the participation of local resource users, as an alternative to a centralized, command-and- control, and hierarchical approach to resource management, have called for a fundamental shift in wetland resource management to facilitate the participation of CBOs in decision-making. This alternative approach to natural resource management would require appropriate degree of integration of the “bottom-up” and “top-down” approaches to include all relevant stakeholders in the decision-making processes at multiple levels of social organizations. Thus, the approach could be an effective instrument to facilitate the deliberations of stakeholders and to strengthen institutional linkages (both vertical and horizontal) to engender benefits to the local resource users. The proposed recommendations for a policy shift in wetland resource management are based on the argument that multi-level stakeholder governance in the decision-making process should be the foundation of participatory wetland resource management in Bangladesh. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is not an easy job to start with acknowledging so many people to whom I am indebted during my five-year journey! Let me start by acknowledging local communities of Hakaluki haor area for being involved with my research as participants and respondents. It would not be possible for me to complete my research without active participation and valuable inputs of local communities of the haor areas. My heart-felt gratitude for them that they not only welcomed me, but also highly supportive to my research by answering questions, engaging in debate, providing information and data, and of course mentioning many critical issues of wetland resource management. I must mention few names that deserved special thanks for their involvement in this assignment. Ms. Jarna Rani for mobilizing women group and involved into research. Mr. Jatindra Kumar Das, for his information on the background and historical perspectives of Hakaluki haor management and how resource has been captured by local elite and others. Hazi Abdur Rahman, for his critical view on present leasing system of jalmohals (wetland). Mr. Abdul Haque, for his critique on community-based management and what are the critical issues should be addressed during implementation of this approach. I have been very lucky to have a fantastic advisory committee, as they have provided continuous support, suggestions and guidance from the very beginning to the end of my research. My special thanks to Professor Ainun Nishat for his inspiration to take this challenge of doing such a gigantic task. He also suggested me for being very specific and rigorous on my research. I am very grateful to Professor Fikret Berkes for his intellectual inputs, constructive criticism and useful advice in this process. He also suggested me for being detail of doing this research and careful of collecting information and data from the field. I am thankful to Professor Leslie King for her contagious enthusiasm, wise advice and suggestions. She specifically alerted me to capture details of fit, interplay and scale of institutions in natural resources management I am very grateful to my supervisor Professor C. Emdad Haque for his conceptual and intellectual inputs that helped me to enter into the details of my research agenda. His visit to my field site was immense learning opportunity for me to address some critical issues at the field level. His continuous support, advice, suggestions have exceptionally been valuable in this full spectrum of my research. I am thankful to my external examiner Professor B.K. Paul for his valuable comments and questions on my thesis that allow me to restructure certain part of the findings of the research. My special thanks also go out to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Faculty of Graduate Studies of University of Manitoba and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for their financial support. My sincere thanks to my two research assistant Tauhidul Islam and Shawran Chouhan for providing support to my research. My special thanks to Mokhlesur Rahman, v M. Anisul Islam, Fakhrul Islam, Ripon Hawlader, Amanullah Bin Mahmood, Mushfiqua, Mojibar, Apu of the Center for Natural Resource