The Ramsar Site needs proper protection
Haor is a saucer-shaped water body formed in between the levees of the rivers. We have around 200 of them in greater Sylhet region in the north-east. Tangua Haor is under Dharmapasha and Tahirpur Upazilas in Sunamganj district with a population of 55,000 living in 88 villages. There are around 51 Beels covering an area of 6912 acres in autumn and 20,000 acres in monsoon. It is accessible by engine boat from Sunamganj or Dharmapasha in 5 hrs for 8/9 months and by motor bike from Sunamganj for the rest 4/3 months. Best time to visit the haor is in the monsoon to view the scenic beauty and in winter for watching the migratory birds and fishing. There are also a number of tourist sites at Tekerhat limestone quarry and the Jadukata river.
Because of the richness of the haor in terms of fisheries (140 species), biodiversity, flora and fauna and migratory birds (500,000), the haor was declared as an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) in 1999 and a “Ramsar Site” in 2000. It is the place for many endangered species of birds including the globally endangered Pallas's fish-eagle. The Haor is rich in swamp forests -- Hijal, Karoch, Barun and Reed Lands. Following it's declaration as Ramsar Site under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, 1971, it was imperative on the government to implement Ramsar Guidelines on Wise-Use.
All rivers, haors, baors and forest lands are traditionally known as Common Property Resources (CPR) allowing common people to access them freely. People of the area over the generations had de facto right over the Haor resources, which was usurped by the de jure rights of the State. Government later administered the haor by the district administration through leaseholders. Leasing of Haor continued until 2000 under the Ministry of Land on 3-year basis and the haor continued to be over-harvested during the lease period including felling of hizal and karoch trees. Conflict grew between the local community and the leaseholders over the CPR in the Haor. The leaseholders administered the haor with high hand through a reign of terror perpetrated by hired goons with guns.
Management
Following declaration of the Tangua Haor as the “Ramsar Site” in 2000, the Ministry of Environment and Forests undertook measures through the district administration in Sunamganj to police the Haor with the help of police and ansars. Such a protection helped the Haor to regenerate its swamp forests, breed fish species under extinction and prepare the wetland as a safe ground for half a million migratory birds.
Following Ramsar Wise-Use guidelines, government took up a “Community Based Sustainable Management of Tangua Haor project” with the help of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) sometime in 2006. A Tangua Haor Management Committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner, Sunamganj oversaw implementation of the project. There are Village Co-Management Committee (VCC) represented by local fishermen and Committees at Upazila level.
Village members contributed to a common Fund, now rose to over 10 million taka. They allowed restricted fishing for 5 months only (November-March). Specific fishing gears are allowed. Five beels (water bodies) are preserved as “fish sanctuaries” as no-fishing zones. The members are involved in alternative livelihood and income generation activities during the fishing ban period. Protection and policing of the migratory and resident birds by the local volunteers continues. Some swamp forests are being planted and protected.
In the traditional leasing system, the water lords (lease holders) used to administer and monitor the Haor resources with gunmen in a most coercive method. They used to overharvest the wetland for personal profit only. Swamp forests are felled and migratory birds are caught or killed for food. On the other hand, through community co-management, the local community leaders are on the driving seat exploiting resources of the wetland in a sustainable manner. They administer and monitor the project in a participatory way though village and union level committees. In order to avoid monopolization by a person or a group of persons, they periodically elect their committees in a most transparent manner. Some wetlands are kept as fish sanctuaries.
Challenges
Tangua Haor is currently passing through a very critical-phase. Politically powerful former leaseholders have waged a concerted campaign vilifying the project in order to bring the Haor back on commercial leasing system. A piece of good news is that the Hon'ble Prime Minister during her visit to Tahirpur in December last year declared that Tangua Haor would maintain its status-quo, meaning continuation of the present co-management system, despite political pressure for return of the haor under lease system. She flew low over the Tangua Haor and appreciated activities of the project. Members of the Co-Management Committee do not hold enough power and authority in the locality in comparison to the elected representatives at and Union Parishad levels. They also lack training to manage such a huge haor of immense resources. Local government at Upazila and Union levels is not meaningfully involved with the project. Their active involvement is extremely needed. It is alleged that corruption and fish poaching in connivance with the Ansars continue as the poachers of the locality “persuade” the Ansars in the name of “settlement”.
Members of the Co-Management Committees are not in a position to protect the Haor themselves from the poachers. They said that they need more time to train the volunteers with proper equipment for effectively guarding the wetland. Moreover, the members of the village committees lack proper training on how to run a project of such magnitude as per the Ramsar guidelines. It is understood that the government and partner organizations like IUCN, CNRS, BELA and ERA would hand over in phases, the boats and launches of the project to the village co-managers. Question arises, whether the community people equipped enough to face challenges of the reality. Perhaps they need more time, training and motivation.
Conclusion
All these years, I have been asking myself, do we have “ownership” of the project? The Government of Bangladesh has made global commitment for conservation of the wetlands by ratifying the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, 1971. Following declaration of the Tangua Haor as “Ramsar Site”, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has so long been active in protecting the wetland from the grabbers and poachers. Question arises, whether the field administration at Sunamganj, who are steering the project at the field level are properly geared and motivated to run the project following Ramsar Wise-Use Guidelines? Their commitment would be extremely important in ensuring much needed ownership of the government over the project, in absence of which, I am afraid, the project may run into a disaster.
After the Sundarbans, this is the only wetland of the country at Tangua Haor as the second Ramsar Site. This is a unique project following Ramsar guidelines of community-based sustainable management. If we are successful in co-managing this wetland, we can replicate the model in other wetlands of the country. Can we afford to lose?
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