Shifting Paradigm of Governance in the Natural Resources Management of Bangladesh: A Centralist to Pluralistic Approach in the Forest Protected Areas Management

Abstract

Good governance in natural resource management (NRM) is one of the most challenging issues in developing countries that often inappropriately embedded in national policies and political agendas. It is, in fact, even more important for countries like Bangladesh with exceptionally high pressure and dependence on its natural resources for sustaining rural livelihoods. Globally, nowadays, good governance is considered as one of the key factor for achieving the goal of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. Bangladesh, of late has responded to that global zeal by involving local communities in the management of country’s declining forest and other natural resources. The colonial legacy of the forestry sector of Bangladesh was planned and, managed as interim projects through donors’ prescriptions. Thus, institutions, management processes and conservation outcomes were problematic. The conventional approach adopted by colonial and post-colonial regimes for forest management also proved to be inefficient due to its top-down management system. The absolute dependency on donor support, and their prescription sometimes worsened the situation both ecologically and socially. Global, regional and local trends supported the need for a different dimension in the governance paradigms. The introduction of a pluralistic approach, known as co-management in protected areas (PAs) is an example of an attempt whereby shared governance mechanism are implemented to attain the desired goals of conservation that will also address the livelihoods and aspirations of communities living in and around PAs of the country. However, in designing future forest and PA regimes the concern of the external aid support and attached conditions remain a reality that needs to be addressed. Adequate attention should be given to our vanishing biodiversity, culture and community livelihoods through devising an appropriate governance mechanism recognizing and supporting local rights, access and participation in the environmental management. It is now time to mainstream the adhoc nature of governance according to our national conservation strategy and policy frameworks in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the Bangladesh NRM sector addressing the human and community right of people in the specific context of forest protected areas management.

Evaluating Collaborative Management within the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries of Bangladesh

“…The majority of the protected areas established before the 1980s followed exclusionary state-run approaches, restricting the customary user rights of the local communities (Mehta & Heinen, 2001). The challenge for the development of collaborative management has been to overcome the colonial legacy characterised by bureaucratic and revenue-oriented management, and widespread isolation of communities by ignoring their traditional rights, indigenous knowledge and resource use practices (Rashid et al, 2017). In this context, the collaborative management system in Bangladesh developed extremely rapidly.…”

“…The stakeholders claimed that there is a communication gap between the Co-management Committee, the Village Conservation Forums and local villagers, which is sometimes responsible for the unsuccessful conservation approaches. Rashid et al (2017) also recommend devising an appropriate governance mechanism recognising and supporting local rights, access and participation in protected area management. The Forest User Groups, which constitute a valuable institutional body for sustainable management of the protected areas, have had their mandates broadened into the Village Conservation Forums.…”

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“…One observation is that all the institutional bodies prescribed in the current comanagement system are project-derived institutional bodies, operating outside the existing administrative system of Bangladesh. Rashid et al (2017) recommend that these issues need consideration in designing future protected area regimes, in the perceived absence of external aid support.…”

Managing Protected Areas in a Changing World: New Insights and Opportunities

“…The chapter also tries to reveal the scenario through visitor's perception whose values for the parks are steadily eroded. Rashid et al (2016), in chapter 3, describes the development of a new paradigm of PA governance in Bangladesh. Good governance in natural resource management (NRM) is one of the most challenging tasks in developing countries that often inappropriately embedded in national policies and political agendas.…”