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The article analyzes Tidal River Management in Bangladesh from a social learning perspective
. Four cases were investigated using participatory assessment. Knowledge acquisition through transformations in the Tidal River Management process was explored as an intended learning outcome. The study finds that social learning occurred more prominently at the individual stakeholder level and less at the collective level. For Tidal River Management to be responsive and sustainable, especially in times of increased uncertainty and climate vulnerability, more attention needs to be paid to coordination and facilitation of multi-level learning that includes all stakeholders
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This paper explores agriculture and nutrition linkages in Bangladesh, a country that achieved rapid growth in rice productivity at a relatively late stage in Asia's Green Revolution, as well as unheralded progress against undernutrition
. To do so, we first outline a simple conceptual model to identify the different impacts that productivity growth in a food staple(s) might have on child nutrition outcomes, with a particular focus on changes in diets at the household and child level. We then apply this framework to a descriptive overview of the evolution of Bangladesh's food system in recent decades. We show that this evolution is characterized rapid growth in yields and calorie availability, but relatively sluggish diversification in both food production and consumption, despite increasing reliance on imports for dietary diversification. Next, we create a multi-round district level panel that links changes in nutrition survey data with agricultural sample survey data over 1996–2011, a period in which rice yields rose by more than 70%. We then use this panel to more rigorously test for associations between yield growth and various anthropometric and child feeding indicators. Consistent with our descriptive evidence on dietary changes, we find that rice yields predict the earlier introduction of complementary foods to young children (most frequently rice) as well as increases in their weight-for-height, but no improvements in their dietary diversity or height-for-age. Since Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child wasting in the world, these significant associations between yields and child weight gain are encouraging, but the lack of discernible effects on children's dietary diversity or linear growth is cause for concern. Indeed, it suggests that further nutritional impacts will require diversifying the Bangladeshi food basket through both supply and demand-side interventions
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This paper assesses the development challenges and opportunities in the CHT and proposes some integrated strategies for the development of the farm and non-farm sectors within a supportive environment that provides peace, stability, and good governance, together with appropriate policies and institutional mechanisms
. The approach implies a shift in focus from agriculture to the development of the secondary and service sectors and will bring dynamism into the rural economy. Promoting non-farm activities and supporting labour mobility, both farm to non-farm and internal and external migration, could be key elements in a rural development and poverty reduction strategy for the region and could help to address the growing population pressure.
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This article examines the historical evolution of participatory water management in coastal Bangladesh
. Three major shifts are identified: first, from indigenous local systems managed by landlords to centralized government agencies in the 1960s; second, from top-down engineering solutions to small-scale projects and people’s participation in the 1970s and 1980s; and third, towards depoliticized community-based water management since the 1990s. While donor requirements for community participation in water projects have resulted in the creation of ‘depoliticized’ water management organizations, there are now increasing demands for involvement of politically elected local government institutions in water management by local communities
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Shifting cultivation is a dominant form of farming in the eastern Himalayas, practised by a diverse group of indigenous people from the most marginalized social and economic groups
. The survival of these indigenous people and the survival of their forests are inextricably linked. However, policy makers and natural resource managers perceive shifting cultivation to be wasteful, destructive to forests, and unsustainable. Although policies have tried to ban it or ‘wean’ shifting cultivators away from the practice by incentivizing them to take up alternative options, shifting cultivation persists. As a result, neither the livelihood issues of the shifting cultivators nor the health of the forest ecosystems on which shifting cultivation depends are properly protected. Shifting cultivators and policy makers must seek common ground to improve shifting cultivation for farmers and forests. A joint solution is also required to address climate change as good forest cover plays a prominent role in the sequestration of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. This publication is the result of research undertaken in Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal on the promotion of innovative policy and development options for improving shifting cultivation in the eastern Himalayas. It is divided into two parts: Part 1 presents the findings of the study on the effect of government policies on customary tenure and institutions and alternative options. Part 2 presents a discussion of the findings of the three countries as well as some general and country-wise recommendations. It is hoped that the findings of the research will enable governments to improve their shifting cultivation polices, which will, in turn, help shifting cultivators to improve their economic and social status
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There is a rich body of literature on arsenic (As) contamination of groundwater and its consequences for human health via drinking water
. Less is known however, on the impacts that flow from the use of arsenic rich groundwater for irrigation or the effectiveness of arsenic remediation in agricultural systems. To partially fill this gap, we review 29 studies that examine the consequences of irrigating with arsenic contaminated groundwater and 28 studies which evaluate interventions aimed at reducing its negative impacts on human health and crops. These studies are geographically limited to West Bengal and Bangladesh (Bengal plains) as these regions constitute hubs of concerns for groundwater contamination. These studies show that there are six broad categories of interventions: deficit irrigation; soil fertilization; growing alternative field crops (other than paddy); switching to arsenic tolerant paddy cultivars; cooking methods to reduce arsenic content in rice and nutritional supplements. Importantly, these efforts target different stages of the agri-food system, some intervene in production processes and balance concerns for crop yields and human health while others focus on consumption practices and only mitigate health risks. Despite this diversity in focus, our results indicate that all treatments have positive effects, either in reducing As content in grains, its accumulation in soil and/or increase crop yields compared to control groups. However, the extent of these impacts varies as do their implications for long-term agricultural sustainability. From a policy perspective, these interventions offer promising alternatives to the extremes of restricted groundwater use on the one hand, and unregulated extraction on the other, but are yet to be integrated into mainstream extension services
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This study examines flood-induced vulnerabilities among women in northern Bangladesh
. Poor and disadvantaged women are more vulnerable to disasters than men due to the conditions that predispose them to severe disaster impacts. Women suffer from physical injuries and are often evicted from their dwellings due to floods. Difficulties in finding adequate shelter, food, safe water, and fuel for cooking, as well as problems in maintaining personal hygiene and sanitation, prevent women from performing their usual roles at home. All of these are problems related to women’s gender identity and social roles. Many poor and destitute women remain unemployed during and after floods. Women also suffer from domestic violence and are subject to harassment when taking shelter or refuge at community centers. These particular vulnerabilities and problems interrupt women’s mitigation efforts and adaptation capacities in disaster risk reduction
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India's trans-boundary riparian policies affect four countries - Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh - on three river systems - the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra-Mehgna
. China's riparian policies affect nine countries to the south - Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam - on five river systems - the Indus, the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, the Salween and the Mekong. [IRN report]. URL:[http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/TransboundaryRiverBasins.pdf]
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Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is a rather recent and widely promoted, and hence, accepted paradigm for managing protected areas in most developing countries
. Protected area managers in Bangladesh face challenges because of the complex sociocultural and political dynamics that result from the high population densities and extreme poverty of people living in or near lands designated for conservation. In recent years the government of Bangladesh, with active support from international aid and conservation agencies, has tried to develop a holistic approach to protected area management involving forest communities and user groups. This study seeks to explore the initial response to such intervention in a newly declared protected area in order to gain insights about wider implications in other parts of the country. The study was conducted between January 2006 and January 2007 in four villages located in or near Satchari National Park. Results suggest considerable change took place in household forest resource collection patterns, and people's dependency on non-forest income increased significantly during the project implementation period. The study also indicated that although changes occurred slowly, they brought improvements to the livelihoods of those relying on local forests
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This thesis investigates how people in rural Bangladesh perceive and respond to climate change, and how their adaptive capacity is shaped and constrained by the social, economic, political and institutional context in which they struggle to adapt Bangladesh is a low-laying coastal area in the middle of the heavily populated mega-delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra plain
. Combined with a high frequency of natural disasters, like floods, droughts and cyclones, a weak economy and high poverty levels, it make Bangladesh a hotspot for climate change vulnerability. Climate change and adaptation is studied from below, from the perspective of people living with climate changes. The research design draws on a grounded theory methodology. Four months of qualitative fieldwork on climate change and adaptation in rural Bangladesh constitutes the empirical backbone of the research. Climate change impacts are studied in their local forms based on the perceptions of villagers. For villagers in rural Bangladesh the primary focus is on problems, not causalities. Most of the problems that villagers associate with climate change are not in any way new. Climate change functions as a risk multiplier, adding new dimensions, enhancing or accelerating existing problems, and putting extra strain on people who are already extremely vulnerable. There are not any strategies exclusively used to tackle only climate change, because people respond to problems that are caused by multiple factors - and climate change is only one of them. The response strategies of villagers are categorized in two continuums: coping vs. adapting and planned vs. spontaneous. It is shown how most villagers deploy spontaneous coping strategies in response to immediate problems. The theoretical ambition is to contribute to an understanding of the concept of adaptive capacity as a social phenomenon. Distinguishing between coping and adapting highlights the choices that people make, as well as the choices that are denied to th
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