Multi-stakeholder participation for sustainable delta management: a challenge of the socio-technical transformation in the management practices in Bangladesh

Abstract

In Bangladesh, participation discourse has officially become part of the objectives of the government and international agencies for water management projects since the mid-1990s. At the same historical timeframe, originating from indigenous knowledges Tidal River Management (TRM) has been formalized as a less structural and more natural management intervention to prevent the severe water-logging in the Southwest region in the Bangladesh delta. It theoretically constituted a form of participation in the delta management system involving local community groups with government and management authorities. However, multi-stakeholder participation is still very challenging in practices. Even community management approaches are not sustained in delta management practices in Bangladesh. In this research, a socio-technical transformation is defined through a participatory research in the southwest coastal area having both qualitative and quantitative evaluation of changes in the delta management system brought about by TRM practices. This article also analyses the current problems besetting organized community participation in existing management practices and suggests the ways of developing effective multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs) with respect to sustainable management goal in deltas.

Sustainable coastal social-ecological systems: how do we define “coastal”?

“…Through participatory research, Mutahara et al (2020) analysed the socio-technical transformation of the tidal river management (TRM) approach, a less structural and more natural management intervention to prevent the severe water-logging in the Southwest region of coastal Bangladesh. They identified existing problems of community participation and proposed a method of developing effective multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs) with respect to tidal river management in deltas.…”

Enabling stakeholder participation in marine spatial planning: the Bangladesh experience

“…However, drawing from lessons of the past, the reluctance of the government to delegate power to lower levels, or entities outside of governmental institutions for that matter, there seem to be a large risk that the outcomes of such a stakeholder process, that is, the actual views of the actors affected by will not properly be taken into account in the development of the MSP plan. A similar conclusion is highlighted by Mutahara et al (2020) who points out that although government authorities are stressing the need for multiple stakeholder participation in tidal river management, this is basically only on paper and in practice such participation is not being realised.…”

“…Moreover, Lewis (2011) describes the dominant form of political practise in Bangladesh as a patron-client relationship which hinders development of independent professional bureaucracy with the capacity to devise and implement policy. Such statement is also confirmed by Mutahara, Warner, and Khan (2020) in his research about multi stakeholder participation for sustainable delta management. The author argues that although political parties are not explicitly involved in water management, invisible politics are everywhere and determines to a large degree who gets what.…”

“…Other conflicts include those between human activities and the marine environment such as overfishing and habitat destruction. A more recently observed conflict in marine management issues is that between communities and management authorities (Mutahara et al, 2020).…”

“…They are still considered a key actor in development issues that neither the government nor the political parties can ignore (Asaduzzaman & Jinia, 2015). However elected members of local governments and society leaders tend to belong to political parties (Mutahara et. al., 2020) which cannot be ignored when analyzing possibilities for NGOs to influence development issues.…”