Tanguar battle won

The government has finally decided to declare the Tanguar Haor, the 9725 hectare fresh water lake in Tahirpur, Sunamganj as a Ramsar site to protect the wetland's rich bio-diversity.

Necessary orders to declare it as a Ramsar site has already been signed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday, officials said yesterday.

Earlier last year, the wetland was declared as an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) by the ministry of forests and environment in the backdrop of demands from the environmentalists.

They had been pressing for saving the lake and its diverse eco-system that supports migratory birds like the rarest Tibetan Black Net Stork, whose existence had become threatened following leasing of the wetland for commercial exploitation by the Land Ministry in October last year.

The Land Ministry overrode a Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) declaration in April, proclaiming it as an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA).

As the MOEF fought against attempts at leasing the haor, which yields an estimated Tk.10 crore in revenues from commercial exploitation of fish and other resources for sometime last year, declaring it as an ECA, forbidding commercial exploitation of its natural resources without any management plan.

It wanted to implement the plan with community participation in line with a recommendation by a panel of experts, headed by Wim Giesen from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

But Ministry of Land claimed it to be their property and leased it out following manipulations by influential ones only for Tk 46 lakhs.

While the two ministries fought over the issues, the file regarding declaration of it as a Ramsar site became 'missing' at the Prime Minister's office! However, it was retrieved later on and finally signed by the PM.

Officials said that the lease would run out sometime in April. The declaration of it as a Ransar site would prohibit further leasing, they added.

Home to many rare species, including the Pallas's fishing Eagle, a globally endangered bird, 17 critically endangered fish out of 140 species, the 9725 hectare wetland supports the last surviving swamp forest in the country --- consisting of Hijal, Karach, Gunji kata and Chhongrass or reeds.

It sustains a wide variety of fish and aquatic life, including many exotic species and waterfowls, seasonally harbouring at least 60,000 of them besides the resident birds. A large flock of waterfowls visit the wetland every year.

Last year a Blacknet Stork, fishermen farming the wetland wounded a very rare specie. A few hundred Blacknet's survive in Tibet only. The migratory birds from the Himalayas use Bangladesh as a 'transit point during their journey to and from the mountains.

Following mounting concern on indiscriminate fishing and hunting, the government decided to include the Haor to the list of the ECAs for a better wetland management policy, terminating a fisheries lease last December.

Already the National Conservation Strategy (NCS) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has recommended that the haor be declared a Ramsar site on the basis of a declaration adopted at Ramsar, Iran. Bangladesh is a signatory to the declaration for preserving the world's wet lands, letting the nature survive in pristine condition under proper management.

The NCS recommendations follow a detailed study by six experts including a wetland conservation specialist from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Wim Giesen. The others from Bangladesh were SMA Rashid, AKM Nuruzzaman Khan, Anisuzzaman Khan, Syed Shafique Ahmed and Abu Naser Khan studied the lake's management, fishery, birds, socio-economic and land tenure aspects.

The report identified the main issues of the Tanguar Haor-- the decline of fisheries production due to over-fishing, depletion of natural resources like reed lands and swamp forest, which threatened the birds like Pallas's eagle, decline in the number of migratory birds and against such backdrop, a growing threat of conflict between the local community and the leaseholder of fisheries over the question of resources.

The study, prepared with the help of the satellite imageries drew a sustainable management plan for the haor ecosystem and natural resources. Considering the close relation between an estimated 25,000 people living around 46 villages, they suggested an integrated conservation and management plan, involving the community without leasing the lake to individuals/groups who hired seasonal labour from outside-- as had been the practice so long.

Anisuzzaman Khan, one of the experts from the IUCN, said that the lake is the only wetland in Bangladesh which is unique because of its bio-diversity and fits in the criteria set for declaring it as a Ramsar site like the 'transit' camp for migratory birds. He said its resources could be used on a sustainable basis with community participation.

According to a gazette notification by the MOEF on April 1999, three haors have been declared as ECA. Besides the Tangaur Haor, others are the Hakaluki Haor in Maulvibazar and Sylhet and Marjat Haor in Kaliganj, Jhenaidah.

It prohibits destruction or felling of natural forest and trees, hunting and killing of wildlife, trapping and collection of shells, coral, turtle and other wildlife, all activities that destroys the habitat of wildlife and plants, activities that may alter or change the natural quality of the land and water, setting up of industries or organisations that may pollute the soil, water, air and sound or any act that may harm the fish and other aquatic life, water and the air.