A Swiss organisation is being given the prime task for the joint management, a pilot project, under an agreement signed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) on December 5, official sources told this correspondent yesterday.

Draft of the agreement was approved by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) earlier.

Swiss Ambassador Dora Rapold also attended the signing ceremony, held at the Swiss embassy in Dhaka. The first 18 months of the project period will be treated as a 'pilot project', for which SDC will provide 6,80,000 Swiss Frank (equivalent to Tk 38 million).

Based on the trial, a plan for a longer period will be prepared, they said. The goal of the Tanguar Haor Project is to protect the internationally important vast water body. It will provide support in establishing a joint management system for conservation, stabilisation and use of its natural resources.

The project aims at optimising use of the ecosystem without damaging resources, which will improve livelihood of rural communities living around it.

It has two major approaches-one for community mobilisation and creating awareness and other for development of joint management system and authorities.

The authorities will comprise representatives of local communities, local government bodies and the district administration. People living in 48 villages around the vast water body are being mobilised to manage and use the natural resources for improving their livelihood and ensure sustainability of the resource base.

The project will also promote alternative economic initiatives for vulnerable people to reduce pressure on the resource base.

As a partner organisation of SDC, IUCN (Bangladesh) will be in charge of overall coordination and looking after the technical aspects. It will mobilise local stake holders and also involve local NGOs, civil society networks and national think tank organisations.

The Tanguar Haor covers about 10,000 hectares of water bodies in Sunamganj and parts of Habiganj, Netrokona and Kishoreganj districts and provides for livelihood of over 40,000 people in 48 villages around it.

Tanguar Haor was earlier declared an 'Ecologically Critical Area' by the government as years of plunder by local influentials depleted its resources and damaged the ecosystem..

In 2000, it was declared a Ramsar Site, the second one in Bangladesh, considering its potential and international importance. Before signing the agreement, SDC conducted several surveys in the vast wetland in last one year.

Swiss ambassador in Bangladesh Dora Rapold accompanied by SDC's Country Representative Christine Poffe and a team of experts from Switzerland and officials of IUCN (Bangladesh) paid several visits to the haor during the survey. People of 48 villages around it, who are dependent on the haor, have been motivated not to fish in the water body to protect the mother fishery. They are being provided with alternatives, the officials said.

Sunamganj district administration took over its management in November 2003 to stop large scale plunder of fishery by some organised gangs having strong political backing. This yielded a tremendous result with increase in fish production. Mother fishes of different traditional varieties were saved.

Tanguar Haor is home to different varieties of birds and 140 species of sweet water fish. Besides, lakhs of guest birds fly to this area during winter. Different kinds of plants, hijol koroch (scientific name-barringtonia acutangula) and cane clusters grow in abundance there.

During monsoon, the haor looks like a vast sea dotted by small villages with water around.