Proceedings of District & Local Level Consultations on the draft Coastal Development Strategy March – April 2005 Working Paper WP039 Dhaka May 2005 Program Development Office for Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan (PDO-ICZMP) Proceedings of District & Local Level Consultations on the draft Coastal Development Strategy March – April 2005 Working Paper WP039 Prepared by Hamidul Huq Saimon Centre, Road 22, House 4/A, 5th floor Gulshan 1, Dhaka 1212 Tel & Fax: 8826614; Tel: 9892787; Email: [email protected] Web: www.iczmpbangladesh.org Dhaka, May 2005 DOCUMENTATION TEAM Mohammad Showkat Osman Md. Sayed Iftekhar Hamidul Huq, PhD. The team acknowledges valuable contributions from: • Participants in all consultations meetings • Deputy Commissioners and members of the district administration • Upazila Nirbahi Officers and members of the Upazila administration • Union Parishad Chairmen and members of the Union Parishads • Executive & members of the facilitating NGOs • Participating members of WARPO & PDO-ICZMP • Secretatial, logistics & administrative support PDO-ICZMP Proceedings of District & Local Level Consultations on CDS, May 2005 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & FINDINGS The first draft of the Coastal Development Strategy was completed in February. As scheduled, the draft was presented at a total of 28 consultation meetings during mid March to mid April 2005. These multi-level consultations were held in 3 remote chars/islands (Kutubdia of Cox’s Bazar, Nijhum Dwip in Hatia Upazila and Char Kukri Mukri of Charfasion Upazila); 3 selected unions (Magnama of Pekua Upazila, Rayenda in Shoronkhola Upazila and Char Kajal in Golachipa Upazila); 3 selected upazilas (Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar and Shamnagar of Satkhira and Patharghata of Barguna districts) and 19 coastal district headquarters District level consultation meetings were convened and facilitated by the Deputy Comissioner of respective districts, Upazila level meetings were convened and facilitated by UNO of respective Upazilas and Union level meetings were convened and facilitated by the Chairman of respective Union Parishads. The Island and Char level consultation meetings were convened by the UNO and UP Chairman. A total of 21 local NGOs facilitated these consultation meetings. District and Upazila level government officials, civil society, media, NGOs, chambers & trade associations, teachers, journalists, lawyers, elected leaders of local government participated in district and Upazila level consultation meetings. Union, Char and Island level consultation meetings were participated by the Chairman and Members of respective Union Parishad, field level staff government departments, farmers & fishers representatives, NGO representatives, respresentatives of local level organizations, representatives water management groups, representatives of business groups and other occupational groups. A total of 1268 persons participated in these consultation meetings. Selected feedbacks from these meetings are shown in boxes. These meetings received coverage in locl and national newspapers as well as by radio and TV. The draft CDS was appreciated and given general endorsement by the participants of the 28 consultation meetings in district and local level. The outcomes of all these consultation meetings would significantly contribute in finalization of the draft CDS. i PDO-ICZMP Proceedings of District & Local Level Consultations on CDS, May 2005 Hopes: I have participated in the previous (regional level) workshop on CDS; to me, this process of local level consultations is a very good initiative; as many consultations in local levels take places, problems are clearly identified and options for solutions are explored. General trend is that the higher levels often ignore the local people’s opinion and their representatives’ opinion; but the liabilities, caused by the failure of projects, are left with the local people. - Md. Mahmudul Haque Fayez, Journalist, Noakhali Thanks PDO-ICZMP of WARPO for creating scope of participation for the stakeholders in district and also in more local levels in coastal policy formulation process and now the CDS, which will contribute designing a better strategy for coastal development, I believe if this CDS gets implemented the coastal people, especially the poor shall be benefited most. - Ms. Monowara Begum, Prottyasha, Chittagong We are very happy to have a national Coastal Zone Policy in Bangladesh; we all are also very happy to see that the Coastal development Strategy is getting formulated in consultation with the stakeholders in coastal zone. Knowing the focuses of Coastal Zone Policy and the proposed actions for CDS one can easily say, ‘new days are coming for the coastal people’. - S. M. Parvez, BTV and Jugantar Correspondent, Pirojpur Concerns: I myself attended so many seminar/workshops, resulted no benefit. Projects should be realistic, e.g., if the Tk.21 crore had invested for socio-economic projects, instead of the ‘Marine Park’ in Saint Martins, then the benefits would go to the local people directly. - Shaikh Matiur Rahman, Forest Ranger, Teknaf Bangladesh is known as a country of seminar/symposiums; attending workshop/seminars feelings born like everything will happen tomorrow. However, I wish CDS would be materialized. - Muhammad Nurul Anowar Chaudhury, PO, ECFC, Kutubdia The culture of ‘integration’ has not been in practices in Bangladesh; so, first, we need to think whether ‘integrated approach’ would work, e.g., ECFC project was more or less ‘integrated’ one, but, in practice, other agencies are not involved actively in this process. -Md. Jamal Uddin Ahmed, UNO, Kutubdia If we consider all the Ministries of the government as Water Tank, then the Union Parishad is the ‘Tap’; if this tap is weak or nonfunctioning then water flow would be disturbing; hence, Union Parishad must not remain weak or non functioning, other wise development in local levels would not get momentum. -Sohel Hafiz, Fuljhuri Union Parishad, Barguna I am a UP Chairman for last 14 years; I have hardly seen any execution of recommendations. However, lets hope, recommendations for CDS shall be executed. -Nazrul I. Mollah, Chairman, Falua Union Parishad, Barguna People’s spontaneous participation need to be ensured in implementation of strategy, no imposition shall work. -Deputy Commissioner, Chandpur The People’s Representatives must get involved in CDS process, by making it obligatory, if necessary. This CDS must not stop with the change in government. -Bijon Sen, Journalist, Noakhali We are experienced bitter with the SBCP; the ICZMP shows us a hope; we wish the ICZMP project would be carried out efficiently and fully. -Moniruzzaman Nasim, Staff Reporter, Ittefaq, Pirojpur Communication and law & order are the two main pre-conditions of development, but they are missing in the draft CDS. -Mahmud Hossein, Pirojpur ii PDO-ICZMP Proceedings of District & Local Level Consultations on CDS, May 2005 iii PDO-ICZMP Proceedings of District & Local Level Consultations on CDS, May 2005 Prioritization In addition to consultations on the CDS, prioritization of proposed 29 investment projects was attempted during these meetings. All individual participants, attending these meetings, were requested to indicate their preferences to 5 of the projects. This allowed priority ranking from each meeting. When results from all meetings were compiled, both overall and regional prioritizations were obtained. These results are presented in Figures 1 and 2. The data shows, variations in priorities in different parts/regions of the coastal zone: South-west, South-central (1), South central (2), South-east, and Chars & Islands zone. South West South East 1. Safe Water Supply & Sanitation 1. SME Development 2. Development of Coastal Agriculture 2. Development & Employment Generation through 3. Action to mitigate drainage problem Tourism 4. Capacity building & training on ICZM 3. Multipurpose Cyclone Shelters 5. Small & Medium Enterprise Development (SME) 3. Knowledge Management 5. Expansion of Renewable Energy South Central-1 South Central-2 1 Safe Water Supply & Sanitation 1. Enhancement of livelihood in Chars & Islands 2. Training for LGIs Members 2. Safe Water Supply & Sanitation 3. Support to LGIs, NGOs & Media 3. Development Coastal Agriculture 4. Development & Employment Generation through 4. Support to LGIs, NGOs & Media Tourism 5. SME Development 5.Rehabilitation Program for Erosion Victims Char & Islands 1. Rehabilitation Program for Erosion Victims 2. Support to LGIs, NGOs & Media 3. Completing & Maintaining Sea dykes 4. Development of Remote Islands 5. Enhancement of livelihood in Chars & Islands iv PDO-ICZMP Proceedings of District & Local Level Consultations on CDS, March 2005 Figure 1: Prioritization of Cencepts Notes (through 28 consultations at district, upazila, union and island/char lands) Ranks South - West South - Central (1) South -Central (2) South - East Char & Islands Concept Notes Ranks Ranks Ranks Ranks Ranks Khulna Bagerhat Gopalganj Jessore Narail Satkhira Shariatpur Shyamnagar Rayenda Barisal Barguna Jhalakhati Patuakhali Pirojpur Patharghata Maghnama Char Kazal Dhal Char Dwip Nijhum Noakhali Feni Lakshmipur Chandpur Chittagong Cox’s Bazar Teknaf Bhola Kutubdia Ranks (Overall) Ranks 1 Strengthening sanitation and safe water supply programs in arsenic & salinity 21224222111623181 261422243846 155 20141213 2 Small and medium enterprise development on selected coastal trades 11631514173645426144156 414665811311 7 1012146 8 3 Development & employment generation through tourism 541947122933983913724