Golam Rasul

61 lessons learned from community forestry in nepal ICIMOD P artnership Platforms 2/06 (S) Community Forestry in Nepal: Achievements, Opportunities, and Challenges: A Case Study of Gadibaraha Community Forest in Dang Abstract Although community forestry has made ...

The rapid boost in construction and agro-tourism activities has significantly threatened the water quality within Bertam River Catchment, Cameron Highlands (BRCC) in Malaysia during the last two decades. The scenario has drawn the attention to investigate the relationship between land use and water quality for the sustainable development of BRCC. Hence, the current research aims at developing an effective model for the sustainable management of BRCC using integrated assessment of scientific findings with quantitative social information. Scientific assessment was carried out to determine the spatio-temporal variations of water quality, to assess the landuse changes and their impacts on water quality, as well as to estimate the spatial distribution of soil erosion under different landuses. To investigate water quality, samples were collected six times from January 2014 to February 2015 from twelve preselected stations. A total of fourteen water quality parameters were analyzed. For la...

The cryosphere (including, snow, glaciers, permafrost, lake and river ice) is an integral element of high mountain regions, which are home to roughly 10% of the global population. Widespread cryosphere changes affect physical, biological and human systems in the mountains and surrounding lowlands, with impacts evident even in the ocean. Building on the IPCC’s 5th Assessment Report (AR5), this chapter assesses new evidence on observed recent and projected changes in the mountain cryosphere as well as associated impacts, risks and adaptation measures related to natural and human systems. Impacts in response to climate changes independently of changes in the cryosphere are not assessed in this chapter. Polar mountains are included in Chapter 3, except those in Alaska and adjacent Yukon, Iceland and Scandinavia, which are included in this chapter.

Defining and deconstructing land tenure is a complex process in South Asia. Tenure is overlapping. The same plot of land is perceived as having a different tenure status from state ownership to private ownership, depending on who is asked. Overlaps exist not only between the land use and use rights of various stakeholders but also between de jure and de facto tenure. Hence, getting a clear picture of the tenure stakeholders is the first step towards establishing a successful community-based land use and natural resource management approach like community forestry. As actual use and use rights often overlap, management choices affect the interests of the various stakeholders. That is, the short-term and long-term goals of management and the technologies required to achieve them invariably affect tenure and shares received by competing claimants. Therefore, it is important that a co-management approach involving all stakeholders, and taking into account the interest of various groups ...

This paper illustrates how a pilot project implemented in Bhutan, India, and Nepal, has made a difference in the lives of women pastoralists, their families, and communities. Highlighting experiences from the project, the paper argues for ensuring easy access to water and energy as ...

Community forest user groups (CFUGs) in three mid-hill districts of Nepal (Dolakha, Ramechhap and Okhaldhunga) have been able to practise good forest governance and manage thousands of hectares of community forests, as well as to contribute to improving ...

The Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT), home to diverse ethnic communities locally known as tribals, lags behind in socioeconomic development, with widespread poverty and precarious livelihoods. This paper, using diverse sources of literature, examines the existing livelihood challenges faced by the tribal people of CHT and explores various livelihood options that could improve their well-being. Our analysis revealed that a variety of factors, including geographic, economic, social, historical, and political, affect the livelihoods of tribal people in the CHT. The region's difficult topography, remoteness, poor infrastructure, and past conflicts have hindered development efforts and deterred both private and public sector investments. Although over 60 % of the tribal people depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihoods, many of them are landless. Moreover, tribal communities have limited access to finance, education and training, health services, and markets due to their remote locations, poor infrastructure, and lack of transportation facilities. Our findings suggest that, despite many challenges, there is huge potential to improve the livelihoods of the tribal people. However, it would require a holistic and coordinated approach of managing natural resources, improving human, social, physical, and financial capital, as well as addressing underlying structural and institutional factors. Priority should be given to managing natural resources, improving governance, resolving land disputes, investing in infrastructure, improving access to markets and financial services, and developing skills and knowledge. This paper outlines a framework to address the existing challenges and harness the opportunities to promote sustainable livelihoods in CHT.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal in the Eastern Himalayas are interconnected by the common river systems of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna (GBM). The GBM basin is home to approximately 700 million people, comprising over 10% of the world's population. The economy and environment of the region depend on water, but while the need for water is increasing, poor management and climate-related effects are making water supplies erratic. Upstream-downstream interdependencies necessitate developing a shared river system in an integrated manner through collaboration of the riparian countries. This paper examines the opportunities for, and potential benefits of, regional cooperation in water resource management. It suggests that the benefits can increase considerably when a regional (river basin) perspective is adopted that promotes optimum use of water resources for consumptive and non-consumptive use. Regional cooperation can bring additional economic, environmental, social, and political benefits through multipurpose river projects, which help by storing monsoon water, mitigating the effects of floods and droughts, augmenting dry season river flows, expanding irrigation and navigation facilities, generating hydropower, and enhancing energy and environmental security. A broader framework to facilitate regional cooperation in transboundary rivers in the Eastern Himalayan region is suggested.

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the underlying causes of poor economic growth of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (UP), India, despite being endowed with relatively rich natural resources. Against the conventional view, the analysis reveals that poor economic growth is not due to a particular factor but an outcome of a myriad of social, economic and political factors rooted in structural, historical and macro-economic policies. The economic marginalization of Bihar and UP began in the colonial era through the establishment of an exploitative landlord class, which constantly resisted economic and social development even after independence in 1947. The process of marginalization has further been reinforced by the federal central government’s policy of ‘freight equalization’, which nullified the comparative advantage of Bihar and UP in natural resources by subsidizing railway freights of industrial inputs like coal, iron ore, steel, cement and other bulk resources. This, combined with relatively low financial resources received from central government over the consecutive plan periods, has undermined these states’ capacity to invest in health, education, and other social and physical infrastructure and resulted in low human development. The poor performance of Bihar and UP may be attributed to low human capital, weak institutions and poor infrastructure coupled with political instability and social conflict rooted in sectarian politics based on caste, class and ethnic division.

ICIMOD, based on its past experience and knowledge base, realizes that national and sectoral policies have failed to make a significant impact on poverty reduction, natural resource conservation, and environmental quality maintenance in the mountains. Growing evidences suggest that purely technical solutions are neither effective nor sustainable unless they are supported by favourable policies and institutions. While policy decisions are prerogative of the RMC governments; relevant information and knowledge, and proper ground-level understanding are necessary for the policy makers to make right choice in terms of formulating appropriate policy. Being a non-political regional organization, ICIMOD, therefore has an important roles to support and facilitate informed decision-making by concerned agencies at national and sub-national levels, Founded in 24 years before by the RMCs with support of international partners, ICIMOD’role is to build up a regional knowledge base through generati...

Water is of paramount importance to sustain life, development and the environment. Its governance has profound implications on the society, economy and environment. Traditionally, the focus of water management projects has been on optimizing economic benefits overlooking the distribution of benefits and costs among different socio-economic groups. Theories of social justice and equity underscore the need for ensuring social justice in water resource management. Using Bangladesh as a case study, this paper examines how and to what extent the concept of social equity has been integrated in water resource management. Analysis revealed that the governance of water resources in Bangladesh is biased towards structural solutions of flood control and irrigation through a centralized approach that ignores the other uses of water such as drinking and sanitation, fisheries, navigation, and ecology, and ignores the costs borne by the rural poor. Often, the access to water resources and the cost...

Urban areas consume more than two-thirds of the world’s primary energy and contribute nearly four-fifths to global greenhouse gas emissions. The promotion of a green economy and enhancement of eco-efficiency of urban economies are closely linked. Although the concept of a green economy has raised hopes among urban stakeholders to enhance eco-efficiency, there is little understanding on the available policy and economic instruments to realize this, as well as on the new role to be played by the state in promoting the green economy. This chapter briefly examines the concept and principles of a green economy, types of available policy and economic instruments and new governance mechanisms, particularly the evolving role of the state to foster a green urban economy. The analysis reveals that a transition to a green economy would require a fundamental shift in the design of policy and institutions and in the organization of economic activities so as to enhance efficiency and reduce unsustainable practices. Financial, economic, and market instruments need to be aligned to provide incentives to enhance energy efficiency, encourage recycling and reuse, and greening the urban economy. This necessitates a new role for the state, moving from its traditional command and control approach towards a market-based economic approach by facilitating and creating a conductive environment for the proper functioning of markets, the private sector and other actors. The findings of this chapter are expected to be useful in designing a green economy approach for developing green cities.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal in the Eastern Himalayas are interconnected by the common river systems of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna (GBM). The GBM basin is home to approximately 700 million people, comprising over 10% of the world's population. The economy and environment of the region depend on water, but while the need for water is increasing, poor management and climate-related effects are making water supplies erratic. Upstream–downstream interdependencies necessitate developing a shared river system in an integrated manner through collaboration of the riparian countries. This paper examines the opportunities for, and potential benefits of, regional cooperation in water resource management. It suggests that the benefits can increase considerably when a regional (river basin) perspective is adopted that promotes optimum use of water resources for consumptive and non-consumptive use. Regional cooperation can bring additional economic, environmental, social, and...

South Asia possesses many valuable tourist resources and attractions, which could be important vehicles for reducing the widespread persistent poverty in South Asia. However, the potential of tourism has remained largely unrealized for several reasons. Recently, several organizations, including the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), have focused on promoting intra-regional tourism by utilizing common resources, shared culture and common physical infrastructures. This article examines the progress made in promoting tourism in South Asia and explores the factors that facilitate and constrain the promotion of tourism in South Asia. The analyses show that despite several initiatives, tourism's contribution to regional national economies, in terms of employment generation, foreign exchange earnings and national revenue, has remained minimal. Complicated travel procedures, inadequate infrastructure and transport facilities and the poor quality of management and ...

Malnutrition remains a serious challenge in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region and still affects a large
proportion of the population. The challenges and issues of nutrition security in mountain areas are different to
those in the plains, and need special attention from governments. We examine the status of nutrition security in
the mountain areas of the HKH countries and identify the key issues and challenges, and the potential role of
Himalayan traditional crops in addressing these challenges. Based on our findings, we suggest an integrated
approach towards achieving nutrition security in the mountain areas of the HKH region.
The study found that the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight in children under five in some mountain
areas such as Meghalaya in India, the western mountains and far-western hills of Nepal, Balochistan province in
Pakistan, the eastern region of Afghanistan, and Chin state in Myanmar, is very high compared to the national
average in the respective countries. Children and women are affected most. Poor nutrition leaves children
underweight, weakened, and susceptible to infection, and ultimately stunted and deprived of cognitive and learning
capacity. Any intervention should have a special focus on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, at the peak of
their vulnerability. Women play a significant role in the nutritional outcome of their children and other household
members and should be empowered to make favourable decisions that help improve the nutritional status of the
family.
There are several causes of undernutrition and malnutrition in the HKH region and an integrated approach is
needed to tackle the issues. Malnutrition is a multidimensional problem that demands a multisectoral approach,
but nutrition interventions often work in isolation and fail to include the agricultural, social, cultural, economic,
and public health dimensions. Policies should recognize that nutrition issues are cross-cutting; nutrition needs to
be integrated into all development processes and targeted nutrition programmes should be combined with poverty
alleviation programmes. The study proposes an integrated framework to improve nutrition in the HKH region
effectively. The key elements are as follows; it is hoped that they will stimulate discussion on future action:
Key Elements of the Proposed Integrated Framework for Improving
Nutritional Status
Create an enabling policy environment
• Mainstream nutrition aspects across sectors: increase policy coherence by integrating nutrition security into
development policies and programmes and aligning these with nutrition goals. Prioritize nutritionally high-risk
areas, communities, households, and individuals such as children, pregnant women, lactating mothers.
• Consider introducing regulations to minimize the promotion of less-healthy foods and beverages, particularly
sugar-sweetened high calorie beverages and nutrient-poor fast foods.
Leverage agriculture for nutrition and health
• Incorporate nutritional aspects into agricultural policies and programmes.
• Intensify research on the biofortification of staple foods for the poor and on product diversification through
processing and value addition.
• Incorporate explicit nutritional objectives and indicators into agricultural investments.
• Promote crop diversity and conservation of agrobiodiversity, especially of nutrition-rich traditional crops, and
rejuvenate local food production systems.
• Foster the adoption of biofortified local crop varieties by smallholders
vi
Create economic opportunities for small scale farmers and the rural poor
• Foster income generation for small-scale farmers by expanding financial and technical assistance and improving
the infrastructure and institutional setting for processing and marketing of agricultural produce and value-added
products.
• Increase economic efficiency by reducing food loss during processing, storage, and distribution of agricultural
produce. Improve legislation around retail systems to reduce wastage at the retail and consumption levels.
Increase rural non-farm economic opportunities by creating and strengthening institutional mechanism to
create job opportunities in foods processing, manufacturing and the service industry, with special consideration
of youth.
Empower women, create and spread knowledge and awareness
• Empower women by improving their knowledge, control of resources, and bargaining power within the
household to enable them to make good decisions on matters related to family health, education, and food.
• Create awareness programmes on breastfeeding and child-care practices for (pregnant and lactating) women.
• Provide nutrition sensitive social protection systems and scale them up. Provide micronutrient supplements for
children and mothers when necessary.
• Include nutrition education in primary and secondary school curriculums.
Improve access to water, sanitation, and health facilities
• Provide access to adequate water and sanitation facilities.
• Improve access to and use of safe health services, and ensure a safe and hygienic environment.

Bangladesh has shown a strong economic performance in recent years. Following commendable achievements
towards fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the government is now committed to achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The SDGs represent a transformative agenda and visionary plan
of action that will transform the economies and societies of developing countries with a view to eliminating poverty
by 2030. The agenda is not simply about protection from vulnerability or destitution; it is about broader economic,
social, and political transformation. There is wide disparity in development across the nation and some areas like
the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) – left behind economically and with a history of social tensions – will require special
attention to ensure timely achievement of the SDGs while promoting social harmony. To avoid intensifying existing
inequities, CHT will require context-specific strategies to achieve the SDGs.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is an ethnically, culturally, and topographically diverse region of Bangladesh with a
population of approximately 1.6 million, including 12 ethnic communities with distinct tribal cultures and traditions.
The region has rich natural and environmental resources with hills, forests, rivers, and lakes, a diverse flora and
fauna, and areas of outstanding scenic beauty. The majority of the population relies on subsistence farming, and
especially jhum farming practices. With increased environmental degradation and a low capacity to adapt to the
impacts of climate change, the current agricultural practices can no longer sustain the population of the region. The
region provides important ecosystem services that play a significant role in economic development, environmental
protection, ecological sustainability, and human wellbeing, both in the CHT itself and downstream. Nevertheless,
the CHT remains one of the most disadvantaged regions in the country and lags behind in almost all development
indicators. More than 60% of households live below the poverty line and more than half do not have access to safe
drinking water or sanitation facilities.
This paper sheds light on the importance of localizing the SDGs, while exploring the socioeconomic issues,
development challenges, and potential and opportunities in the CHT. It discusses the development potential of
the region in various sectors, assesses the present situation, identifies key issues and gaps, and suggests policy
options and strategic mechanisms to optimize the full potential, expedite socioeconomic development, and achieve
the SDGs.
This paper provides examples of good practices drawn from experience in neighbouring countries facing similar
issues that can be replicated in the CHT region. The CHT has a significant potential for development in horticulture,
high-value agricultural products, beekeeping, livestock, fisheries, agro-based micro-enterprises, tourism, forestry,
and water resources management. Value chain development with agribusiness can play a key role in enhancing
rural livelihoods, while tourism can help increase opportunities for off-farm employment. Forests will play a vital
role in stabilizing the fragile landscape, protecting water resources, biodiversity conservation, and supporting
daily needs. Integrated watershed management, together with community-led forest management to halt forest
degradation and promote conservation and regeneration, can contribute substantially to development efforts.
Careful attention must be paid to understanding the hill and mountain context of the CHT, the spatial disadvantages
and advantages, the ethnic and cultural diversity, and the constraints and opportunities. The SDGs need to be
tailored to the CHT context so that they provide the scope for creating a long-term vision and planning appropriate
action, while successful implementation will necessitate fostering multi-stakeholder engagement among government,
local communities, development agencies, the private sector, NGOs, academia, and research organizations.
An enabling framework is presented with a multipronged integrated strategy for working towards realization of the
SDGs. The key elements of the framework are:
ƒƒ Ensuring peace, stability, and governance, putting in place appropriate policies, strengthening institutions,
and making the financial and technical resources available to provide the overall framework conditions for
implementing the SDGs;

Malnutrition remains a serious challenge in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region and still affects a large
proportion of the population. The challenges and issues of nutrition security in mountain areas are different to
those in the plains, and need special attention from governments. We examine the status of nutrition security in
the mountain areas of the HKH countries and identify the key issues and challenges, and the potential role of
Himalayan traditional crops in addressing these challenges. Based on our findings, we suggest an integrated
approach towards achieving nutrition security in the mountain areas of the HKH region.
The study found that the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight in children under five in some mountain
areas such as Meghalaya in India, the western mountains and far-western hills of Nepal, Balochistan province in
Pakistan, the eastern region of Afghanistan, and Chin state in Myanmar, is very high compared to the national
average in the respective countries. Children and women are affected most. Poor nutrition leaves children
underweight, weakened, and susceptible to infection, and ultimately stunted and deprived of cognitive and learning
capacity. Any intervention should have a special focus on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, at the peak of
their vulnerability. Women play a significant role in the nutritional outcome of their children and other household
members and should be empowered to make favourable decisions that help improve the nutritional status of the
family.
There are several causes of undernutrition and malnutrition in the HKH region and an integrated approach is
needed to tackle the issues. Malnutrition is a multidimensional problem that demands a multisectoral approach,
but nutrition interventions often work in isolation and fail to include the agricultural, social, cultural, economic,
and public health dimensions. Policies should recognize that nutrition issues are cross-cutting; nutrition needs to
be integrated into all development processes and targeted nutrition programmes should be combined with poverty
alleviation programmes. The study proposes an integrated framework to improve nutrition in the HKH region
effectively.

Adaptation to climate change has received increased attention in recent years in the academic and development discourse. Effective adaptation to climate change requires the efficient use of land, water, energy, and other vital resources, together with coordinated efforts to minimize trade-offs and maximize synergies. The concept of water, energy, and food nexus is considered to be an effective mechanism for enhancing resource use efficiency, minimizing trade-offs, and maximizing synergies in resource use. However, as in many developing countries, the policy process in the countries of South Asia generally follows a sectoral approach that does not take into account the interconnections and interdependence among the three sectors. In designing effective adaptation strategies, it is critical to understand the linkages between the nexus perspective and adaptation to climate change. This paper seeks to increase understanding of the interlinkages in the water, energy, and food nexus, explains why it is important to consider this nexus in the context of adaptation responses, and argues that focusing on trade-offs and synergies using a nexus approach could facilitate greater climate change adaptation and help ensure food, water, and energy security by enhancing resource use efficiency and encouraging greater policy coherence. The paper provides a conceptual framework for considering the nexus approach in relation to climate change adaptation, discusses the potential synergies, and finally offers a broader framework and reform measures for making adaptation responses more effective and sustainable.