A special report on tanguar haor

Published On: 2008-12-27
A simple matter of the environment
Farida Shaikh bores into an issue of public concern

A world heritage site, Tanguar Haor is one of the largest freshwater inland wetlands; it is important and is of national significance, was designated as the second 'Ramsar' site, and was released from the 1930 leasing system on January 20, 2000. Earlier the government of Bangladesh designated 59,600 hectares of the Sundarban Forests as the first Ramsar site.

Tanguar Haor is now managed by the district administration of Sunamganj .The Ramsar Convention proposes involving the local people in the ownership of haor resources. However, much remains to be done for the implementation of this policy.

Tanguar Haor is also significant for its biological diversity and is also 'a unique habitat for the largest number of waterfowl population in the country.'

In February 1971, the Ramsar Convention was adopted in the city of Ramsar in Iran. Its 'Wetland of International Importance' list by 2003 consisted of the names of 138 countries, with more than 1310 wetlands covering 111 million hectares. 'The broad objective of this convention was to stop the progressive encroachment and loss of wetland, to recognize the fundamental ecological process and their economic, scientific and recreational values.'

Tanguar Haor occupies an area of 100,000 hectares with nearly 46 villages, which are home to an extremely poor population. These people are the direct stakeholders of the water body. The adjacent river Patlai and Rarti flood every year before the wet season, causing damage to agricultural products. The villagers depend on the haor for fishing, grazing, farming and firewood. The haor area also provides the winter crop of rice.

The total area of the wetlands in the country has been estimated at 7-8 million hectares, consisting of 'rivers, streams, freshwater lakes and marshes including haor, baor, and beels ,cultivated fields, estuarine systems with extensive mangrove swamps.' Mostly found in the northeastern part of the country, in the greater Sylhet and Mymensingh district, it is collectively known as haor basin and covers an area of nearly 24,500 sq.km. That is about 50% of the country's land surface.

Haors are bowl-shaped depressions subjected to seasonal flooding every year and remain under water for several months. Tanguar Haor consists of nearly 50 beels of various sizes. Many are uninterrupted, in a near natural state with flood tolerant trees Hijol and Koroch.

This is a village based study to 'access the economic importance of Tanguar Haor resources' and community participation in the management of the haor. More specifically, the study makes a review of the physical conditions of the haor, importance of its biological resources and its connection to economic activities, constraints and opportunities for participation. To access future direction, the study also makes an appraisal of the implementation status of the Ramsar Declaration in comparison with national level policy and laws.

The study is distributed into 10 chapters with 9 major tables, figures and pictures to explain more. On the human resources side, Chapter 6 is on the people of Tanguar Haor, which is located in two upazillas, namely, Tahirpur and Dharmapasha. The population of the area was 18,231 in 1981, 23,395 in 1993 and is at present about 50,000-60,000 There has been outward migration of the population in the past on account of natural calamities. In recent times migration from Kishoreganj /Mymensingh to the area has been common. Predominantly the population is Muslim, with small ethnic numbers of Garo and Hajong in the northern villages of the haor area.

The chapter further elaborates on the resettlement of the local people, socio-economic profile of the respondents in terms of household size, occupational status, physical assets, land ownership and status and predicament of Tanguar Haor

People's Reliance on Wetland Resources, in chapter 7, deals with natural resources, economic activities of the local people, the annual activity calendar, dependence on Haor resources and economic potential of the area.

Community Participation in Haor Conservation, in chapter 9, is the most elaborate of the study. It deals with information sources on Haor degradation, awareness raising activities, local people's participation in conservation practices, people's interest in participation, potential nature of participation, people's activity preference, and benefits of local people's participation and constraints of local people's involvement.

A useful reading is chapter 2 on wetland; the least understood ecosystem and chapter 3 on wetlands of Bangladesh. Chapter 4 is on Tanguar Haor and its description as a diversified wetland. The closing chapter is on the major findings and possible future direction.

The bibliography consists of nearly 100 citations; of these directly related are the draft final report, 2002, Ministry of Environment; and IUCN Bangladesh 2004 report on introduction to community based Haor and Flood Management.

The Daily Star in February and September 2004 carried write-ups on Tanguar Haor. The same year the subject was covered in Prothom Alo, Daily Jugantar, Inqilab, Naya Diganta and Sangram.

The study on Tangaur Haor by the two social scientists deserves the attention of erudite readers. It is a commendable work on the environmental aspects of the country, which are the most important area of study after that of poverty alleviation. However, the study methodology applied to the survey and participatory rural appraisal turned out to be short on analysis and interpretation.

The next edition of the book may take that into consideration to further improve this useful study.