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Papers by Md.Muzaffar Ahmed

This paper examines the roles of non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in improving the status of o... more This paper examines the roles of non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in improving the status of open water fisheries resources in Bangladesh. NGOs are traditionally involved mostly in micro-credit operations as they are highly experienced and skilled in this area, but they have not been largely involved in natural resources management activities. With the introduction of "Community Based Fisheries Management" (CBFM) project by WorldFish Center in 1995 (Ford Foundation funding), some selected NGOs directly started to work in managing water bodies for fisheries management. The CBFM project aims to harness the partner non-government organizations' (PNGOs) capability to promote more sustainable and equitable community-based management of fisheries. Overall, these partner non-government organizations (PNGOs) worked in 19 sites in the first phase and it improved fishing community empowerment, fisheries management, and equity in distribution of benefits. The second phase of this project was started in September 2001 (Department for International Development-DFID funding), for 5-years and involved 11 PNGOs and The Department of Fisheries (DoF) for implementing its activities in about 115 Water Bodies (WBs) in 19 districts of Bangladesh. Several positive impacts have already been visible. These are, improvement of inland fisheries management, providing livelihoods, employment and Income Generating Activity (IGA) opportunities to over 20,000 poorer fishing households, social mobilization, women empowerment, social awareness raising, and in particular assisting and facilitating access of organized groups of poor fishers to decision making over the water bodies (WBs). However, many challenges are still there in developing the capacity of the PNGOs to sustainably improve the livelihoods of poor people in CBFM project.

The unequal distribution of wealth and power in rural Bangladesh makes it difficult for the poore... more The unequal distribution of wealth and power in rural Bangladesh makes it difficult for the poorer members of society including women to access natural resources such as fisheries. Over a ten year period, the Community Based Fisheries Management (CBFM) project has successfully established access rights for many poor fishers to water bodies from which they were previously excluded. One of the main challenges faced by the project has been the resolution of disputes between the new user groups and the former users, often the rich, politically powerful 'rural elite'. This brief focuses on the approaches developed by the project to address the power struggle which faces community based organisations (CBOs) when taking control of valuable natural resources

This report sheds light on the diversity of approaches adopted by the various project partners, a... more This report sheds light on the diversity of approaches adopted by the various project partners, along with lessons learned during the Community Based Fisheries Management Project (CBFM-2). CBFM 2 was the second phase of an action research project designed to establish whether the sustainable management of publicly owned and private water bodies can be carried out by community groups consisting largely of poor fishers. The first phase implemented by the Department of Fisheries, with the assistance of the WorldFish Center and supported by the Ford Foundation, demonstrated that the approach was possible in a limited number of water bodies. The second phase, with assistance from the DFID-UK, involved a much greater range of water bodies (target 120, final number 116) with a range of partners -- the Department of Fisheries (DoF), the implementing NGOs, Banchte Shekha, BRAC, CARITAS, CNRS, CRED, GHARONI, Proshika, SDC, SHISUK, and the specialist NGOs, BELA for legal assistance and FemCom ...

This paper looks at the possible consequences and adaptations to Climate Change for fish and peop... more This paper looks at the possible consequences and adaptations to Climate Change for fish and people, particularly the marginal and poor fishers in Bangladesh. Fish from Bangladeshs vast inland waters are vital to millions of marginal and poor people, but catches and species diversity have been declining due to the problems, like climatic vulnerabilities, habitat degradations, draught, water-logging, etc. Bangladesh is likely to be one of the most vulnerable countries in the World to the climatic vulnerabilities. Climate change is the most serious and biggest challenge for marginal and poor fishers in the rural areas, mainly in the disaster-prone haor and river basin, monga-prone and coastal belt of the country-side. It is observed that during the monsoon, salt-water intrusion from the Bay of Bengal affects the agriculture and fisheries within the 100 kilometers of the country-side. This paper gives an account on the potential impacts of climate change on the fisheries and people, an...

This paper examines the roles of non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in improving the status of o... more This paper examines the roles of non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in improving the status of open water fisheries resources in Bangladesh. NGOs are traditionally involved mostly in micro-credit operations as they are highly experienced and skilled in this area, but they have not been largely involved in natural resources management activities. With the introduction of "Community Based Fisheries Management" (CBFM) project by WorldFish Center in 1995 (Ford Foundation funding), some selected NGOs directly started to work in managing water bodies for fisheries management. The CBFM project aims to harness the partner non-government organizations' (PNGOs) capability to promote more sustainable and equitable community-based management of fisheries. Overall, these partner non-government organizations (PNGOs) worked in 19 sites in the first phase and it improved fishing community empowerment, fisheries management, and equity in distribution of benefits. The second phase of this project was started in September 2001 (Department for International Development-DFID funding), for 5-years and involved 11 PNGOs and The Department of Fisheries (DoF) for implementing its activities in about 115 Water Bodies (WBs) in 19 districts of Bangladesh. Several positive impacts have already been visible. These are, improvement of inland fisheries management, providing livelihoods, employment and Income Generating Activity (IGA) opportunities to over 20,000 poorer fishing households, social mobilization, women empowerment, social awareness raising, and in particular assisting and facilitating access of organized groups of poor fishers to decision making over the water bodies (WBs). However, many challenges are still there in developing the capacity of the PNGOs to sustainably improve the livelihoods of poor people in CBFM project.

The unequal distribution of wealth and power in rural Bangladesh makes it difficult for the poore... more The unequal distribution of wealth and power in rural Bangladesh makes it difficult for the poorer members of society including women to access natural resources such as fisheries. Over a ten year period, the Community Based Fisheries Management (CBFM) project has successfully established access rights for many poor fishers to water bodies from which they were previously excluded. One of the main challenges faced by the project has been the resolution of disputes between the new user groups and the former users, often the rich, politically powerful 'rural elite'. This brief focuses on the approaches developed by the project to address the power struggle which faces community based organisations (CBOs) when taking control of valuable natural resources

This report sheds light on the diversity of approaches adopted by the various project partners, a... more This report sheds light on the diversity of approaches adopted by the various project partners, along with lessons learned during the Community Based Fisheries Management Project (CBFM-2). CBFM 2 was the second phase of an action research project designed to establish whether the sustainable management of publicly owned and private water bodies can be carried out by community groups consisting largely of poor fishers. The first phase implemented by the Department of Fisheries, with the assistance of the WorldFish Center and supported by the Ford Foundation, demonstrated that the approach was possible in a limited number of water bodies. The second phase, with assistance from the DFID-UK, involved a much greater range of water bodies (target 120, final number 116) with a range of partners -- the Department of Fisheries (DoF), the implementing NGOs, Banchte Shekha, BRAC, CARITAS, CNRS, CRED, GHARONI, Proshika, SDC, SHISUK, and the specialist NGOs, BELA for legal assistance and FemCom ...

This paper looks at the possible consequences and adaptations to Climate Change for fish and peop... more This paper looks at the possible consequences and adaptations to Climate Change for fish and people, particularly the marginal and poor fishers in Bangladesh. Fish from Bangladeshs vast inland waters are vital to millions of marginal and poor people, but catches and species diversity have been declining due to the problems, like climatic vulnerabilities, habitat degradations, draught, water-logging, etc. Bangladesh is likely to be one of the most vulnerable countries in the World to the climatic vulnerabilities. Climate change is the most serious and biggest challenge for marginal and poor fishers in the rural areas, mainly in the disaster-prone haor and river basin, monga-prone and coastal belt of the country-side. It is observed that during the monsoon, salt-water intrusion from the Bay of Bengal affects the agriculture and fisheries within the 100 kilometers of the country-side. This paper gives an account on the potential impacts of climate change on the fisheries and people, an...