Bangladesh: Involving communities for free rivers
Tidal rivers in the southwest coastal area of Bangladesh have been dying since flood plains were replaced by Dutch-style polders in the 70s. Rivers are silted up, and during monsoon season water gets trapped within embankments. Every year, this situation of waterlogging inflicts adverse consequences particularly on women, as they take care of the household in waterlogged conditions in the absence of men who travel to the city in search of temporary work. NGO Uttaran is advocating for a change in policy and practice.
"People in southwest Bangladesh don't want to leave, but they are because of severe waterlogging. It is still in our hands to solve it. But if we don't start now, the place might be unliveable within 15 years." – Jahin Shams Sakkhar, Uttaran
A man-made problem
The yearly phenomenon of waterlogging can be attributed to the archetypical Dutch polders constructed in the 70s. Initially, the polders provided protection from floods and increased the agricultural yield. But many tidal rivers soon clogged up due to the high amounts of sediments that were brought in with each tide and settled on the riverbed instead of the floodplains. This resulted in a substantial raise of upstream river beds beyond the land level of the polders. Without sufficient (functional) water pumps, water within the polders is now trapped within the embankments for long periods of time. As a consequence, large areas are waterlogged for several months during monsoon season.
An ingenious and indigenous solution
Uttaran advocates for the ecological restoration of tidal rivers using Tidal River Management (TRM). This nature-based approach is inspired by indigenous practices: local communities used to flood the plains in a controlled way, resulting in a new layer of fertile soil and enhancing the river basin's drainage capacity. In their advocacy for TRM, Uttaran supports local communities as rightful and knowledgeable actors in the management of tidal river basin.
In 2018, the Bangladesh Delta Plan (BDP2100) was adopted by Parliament. Despite its limited participatory process, it does recognise TRM as a solution to waterlogging and as an effective adaptation measure for climate change. Undoubtedly, this can be attributed to continuous advocacy led by Uttaran, together with Paani (Water) Committees, civil society actors, and local political leaders.
A 'window of opportunity'
The mention of TRM in the BDP can be considered a 'window of opportunity' to meaningfully discuss possibilities to tackle waterlogging. Both ENDS supports Uttaran to play a crucial role in ensuring that the implementation of the BDP builds on the existing, self-motivated local action of communities. Negotiations about the implementation of TRM should now carefully be facilitated at appropriate levels. These processes of dialogue and negotiations should ensure an equitable share for the active and meaningful participation of particularly women, landless people, and other typically marginalised groups within society. The role of Uttaran, as a non-partisan civil society actor, is indispensable in ensuring that these processes are inclusive, and that the eventual decision results in an equitable share of benefits.
Both ENDS and Uttaran advocate for a holistic and inclusive approach to Tidal River Management. This approach should improve the living conditions of the approximately 20 million inhabitants in the region, and contribute to a healthy tidal river basin in which biodiversity thrives.
"Uttaran has promoted indigenous knowledge and successfully managed to ensure local knowledge is taken seriously by the national government. We believe Both ENDS does the same; they bring forward the ideas of local grassroots organizations and present them in front of a global audience." – Jahin Shams Sakkhar, Uttaran
For more information
Read more about this subject
-
Transformative Practice
A Negotiated Approach for Inclusive Water Governance
A Negotiated Approach envisages the meaningful and long-term participation of communities in all aspects of managing the water and other natural resources on which their lives depend. It seeks to achieve healthy ecosystems and equitable sharing of benefits among all stakeholders within a river basin. This inclusive way of working is an essential precondition for the Transformative Practices that are promoted by Both ENDS and partners.
-
Dossier
Inclusive ways to sustainable and healthy food for all
All around the world small-scale farmers are using sustainable and inclusive methods to produce food. Working together with nature and each other, they provide their families and communities with sufficient and healthy food. But their production methods are under pressure from large-scale agriculture and the globally dominant system of industrial food production. Together with our partners, Both ENDS is trying to turn the tide in favour of sustainable, local practices that are mostly known as 'agro-ecological' or 'nature-inclusive'. Why are we focusing on these methods? Agro-ecological practices are climate-proof and inclusive and increase the opportunities for communities around the world to produce their food sustainably.
-
News / 13 August 2021
Food sovereignty in the polders of Southwest Bangladesh
The situation in the southwest delta of Bangladesh is critical. Because of sea level rise, floods are increasing and the area is about to become uninhabitable, despite Dutch-style dikes and polders built in the previous century. Partner organisation Uttaran works with local communities on climate-friendly solutions that restore the living environment and give the inhabitants a say about their future and food production.
-
News / 22 March 2021
The importance of a gender perspective in Dutch water policies
An increasing number of stakeholders in the Dutch water sector are acknowledging the importance of an inclusive approach to climate adaptation. However, where our knowledge institutes and companies are involved in delta plans and master plans, as in Bangladesh and the Philippines, this approach is proving difficult to apply in practice. Taking local realities, vulnerabilities and inequalities – such as those between men and women – as a starting point is essential for good plans that give everyone the opportunity to adapt to climate change.
-
Blog / 2 February 2019
“Poldering” to face climate change
Last week Mark Rutte met with Ban Ki Moon, Bill Gates and World Bank Director Kristalina Georgieva in Davos. They are the chairpersons of the Global Commission on Adaptation, which was also founded by the Netherlands. This is an important organisation because, as Rutte wrote on Twitter, "climate change is the biggest challenge of this century," and as an international community we should "pay attention to the problems of the countries that are being threatened by climate change."
-
External link / 19 June 2020
Community-based governance for free-flowing tidal rivers (Annual Report 2019)
Tidal River Management (TRM) is based on age-old community practices. In 2019, Uttaran helped ensure that TRM was seen by policymakers as a solution to waterlogging in the delta of Bangladesh, and that the voices of women and youth were being taken into account.
-
News / 26 January 2022
Ondiri shines again during World Wetlands Day
Ondiri wetland in Kenya will host the official national World Wetlands Day
celebration on the 2nd of February. This news was received with much joy by the residents of Kikuyu Town and conservationists. For many years, Ondiri Wetland was
polluted and degraded, especially due to encroachment and greenhouse farming. But thanks to sustained and concerted efforts by the residents together with a broad range of governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, the conservation of this critical wetland is now being secured. Violet Matiru from Kenyan organisation Millennium Community Development Initiatives (MCDI), finds it a great honor that Ondiri was selected for the celebrations. "The cherry on the pie!" -
News / 26 July 2021
CSOs call upon Dutch government not to support destructive land reclamation in Manila Bay
Both ENDS, together with nine other parties has expressed their concern on the development of a new airport off the coast in Manila Bay, Philippines, where the Dutch company Royal Boskalis Westminster has been contracted for the land development. In a joint letter of concern, different organisations and stakeholders describe the alarming situation around this contested airport that will be built on newly reclaimed land.
-
Event / 23 August 2021, 13:00 - 14:00
World Water Week seminar: the politics of water and the choices we can make
What do we mean when we say the 'politics of water'? How are the distribution of water and the access to water influenced by political-economic interests? And who has the power to reverse the flow and change tides?
-
News / 3 July 2019
Kenya: Community Network for a healthy Athi river
Through pollution and water scarcity, communities along the Kenyan Athi River have learnt the hard way that upstream and downstream communities are inevitably connected. In response to indiscriminate impacts on the environment and people's livelihoods, civil society organisations within the Athi River Basin formed the Athi River Community Network (ARCN).
-
News / 22 March 2022
World Water Day: just climate solutions already exist
These past weeks we have been joining the #WeWomenAreWater campaign to put the spotlights on just climate solutions of and for women, girls, trans, intersex and non-binary people around the world. The campaign started on International Women's Day (March 8th) and ends today, on World Water Day. Just climate solutions already exist but these initiatives are grossly underfunded, and the people implementing them are also those most impacted by climate change and climate-related water scarcity. Therefore, we would like to highlight, especially today on World Water Day, some of these solutions below. And we also have a special message from the colleagues at Both ENDS working on inclusive water governance.
-
News / 2 July 2019
Indonesia: Women’s Right to Water
The water quality of East Java's largest river, the Brantas River, is increasingly deteriorating due to a combination of industrial and household waste. This environmental pollution has a disproportionate impact on women. Yet, their participation in decision-making remains lacking. ECOTON is working to improve the situation.
-
News / 14 June 2021
Concerns about a new airport in vulnerable Manila Bay
In Manila Bay, a vulnerable coastal area next to the Philippine capital city, a new airport is being planned, with involvement of the Dutch water sector. Local civil society organisations raised their concerns about this airport, which has large impact on the lives of local residents and on the ecosystem.
-
News / 19 August 2021
Violet Matiru: “Communities around colonial Ruiru I Dam still struggle”
After many years of advocating for strong environmental policies at international platforms such as the UN, Kenyan Violet Matiru asked herself: "How does all this lobbying trickle down to our communities? How does this help our mothers who are still struggling with fetching water and cooking on wood stoves?" This is when she and her colleagues founded MCDI Kenya (Millennium Community Development Initiatives) and started to work with local communities. We talked to her about the historical and current power imbalance in water governance and her efforts to improve water governance in the Athi River basin, that runs all the way from upstream of Nairobi, through the city, into the Indian Ocean.
-
Video / 8 November 2019
Athi River Community Network
The Athi River Community Network is made up of communities who live along the Athi River watershed. Members of the Athi River Community Network promised to join forces with the Friends of Ondiri Wetland to ensure that this critical wetland is restored and conserved for the sake of current and future generations.
-
External link / 28 November 2017
Video: Getting control over natural resources: the Negotiated Approach
-
News / 21 March 2019
Jahin Shams Sakkhar: "20 million Bangladeshi might have to move because of sea level rise"
We asked three of our partner organisations to tell us how climate change is already affecting the daily lives of the people they work with, what they are doing to turn the tide and if they think the Climate Court Case against Shell can be important in the context of climate change. Jahin Shams Sakkhar of UTTARAN (Bangladesh) talks about floods, salinity and (in)justice.
-
News / 10 August 2021
Opinion: The genie will escape from the bottle if we don’t change our approach to nature
As a response to the latest IPCC report, the directors of IUCN NL, Tropenbos International, Wetlands International, Both ENDS and the Institute for Environmental Security wrote an op-ed about the role nature policy can and should play in stopping climate change, which was published in Dutch in De Volkskrant of August 10, 2021. Below, you find the English translation of the article.
-
News / 22 March 2012
What did Both ENDS do at the World Water Forum?
Halls filled with booths, stands, professionally set up corners, wifi-spots. Big rooms where lectures, interactive sessions and workshops are held. People from all corners of the world and from different kinds of sectors (companies, government, and social organisations) are gathering here for five days. They have one thing in common: they are talking about water. The sixth World Water Forum in Marseille is about 'solutions'. For water issues, that is. Almost a billion people worldwide have to cope without clean drinking water.
-
Publication / 19 April 2016