Context and challenges
Bangladesh’s part of the largely undisturbed Sundarbans Mangrove forests remains one of the last habitats of healthy populations of the endangered Bengal Tiger, 315 bird species, the endangered Ganges dolphin and the Irrawaddy dolphin. This area encompasses about 6,000 square kilometers of primary forest, which is, together with the smaller Indian part of the Sundarbans, the largest patch of mangrove forests in the world. This "Sundarbans Reserve Forest" is partly declared an UNESCO world heritage site and the entire Sundarbans are RAMSAR site. It provides tremendous ecological services such as contributing essentially to the high productivity of the Bay of Bengal that accounts for 7% of the entire world’s fish catch. The forest supports the livelihoods of more than 4.5 million people living in small villages within a 5 km range along the outer boundary of the Sundarbans although there are no permanent settlements within the forests. However, the lack of participation of resource users in the management of this unique ecosystem as well as the practical difficulties to patrol and enforce law in these vast forests are challenging the sustainable conservation. In addition, there is a lack of proper ecological monitoring as required for UNESCO world heritage sites in order to assess and forecast the consequences of different kinds of impact on the Sundarbans.
Overall objective and expected impact of the Sundarbans Forests Management Project
The Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) under the Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is mandated to manage the Sundarbans in a sustainable manner by involving local resource users, by conducting efficient patrolling and by implementing ecological monitoring. The SMP aims for a stronger role of resource users and women in this co-managing approach.
Approach
Built on best practice and lessons learned from the antecedent project (SMP 1, 2015-19), this project focus on three components:
•The strengthening of Co-Management structures and processes in the Sundarbans with special emphasis on the role of poor resource users and women
•The strengthening of conservation law enforcement and monitoring through the efficient use of the "Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART)" which was successfully tested in SMP 1.
•The introduction of systematic Ecological Monitoring (EM) in the Sundarbans.
The approach of participating governance of the Sundarbans is to develop capacity of practitioners at all levels from frontline ranger to trainer to decision maker.
Expected results
The SMART digital tool collects, stores and analyses data on illegal activities, biodiversity, key-species, patrol routes, control of fishing gears and other management actions. A pool of master-trainer will be created to ensure a high quality of performance of ranger patrols. SMP aims for national standards. With the experience and input of all stakeholders we are working on an updated version of the official Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP 2030) towards a sustainable use and strong conservation of the Sundarbans. Well-organised resource user groups are enabled to claim their rights, collaborate with the forest department and have better access to service provider and funding agencies. Women will also play a key-role in this co-management process. A showcase of Ecological Monitoring is established and ready to be upscaled to the entire Sundarbans and a technical workgroup at the Forest Department is overseeing the quality and further developments in EM. At the forest department, a specialised unit – the RIMS – will manage a data platform and be enabled to process data from SMART and EM in a way which supports interpretation and decision making.