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10. Coastal resource managment for improving livelihoods

Full Title:

Managing Water and Land Resources for Sustainable Livelihoods at the Interface between Fresh and Saline Water Environments in Vietnam and Bangladesh

Website:

http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/theme1/PN10.htm

Download project proposal [PDF 1.25MB]

Millions of people living in the tidal ecosystem in South and Southeast Asia are among the poorest and most food-insecure because agricultural production is hindered by seawater intrusion during the dry season. Most common-management interventions fail to recognize the diversity of rural livelihoods in the coastal zones, and the environmental consequences for water quality and aquatic biodiversity. By taking into account diverse stakeholder interests and complex multi-scale upstream-downstream interactions, this project will carry out an INRM research for a development program to increase land and water productivity for improved food security and livelihoods, in a manner that is environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable to various resources users at two coastal sites in the Mekong river delta (Vietnam) and the Gangetic delta (Bangladesh). The project has five specific objectives:

1.         To enhance our understanding of livelihood changes resulting from regional resources management and farm-level technological interventions.
2.         To assess the impacts of agricultural and aquacultural land and water uses on water quality, aquatic biodiversity, and inland fisheries.
3.         To develop ecologically friendly and socially acceptable techniques for rice and rice-aquaculture production systems.
4.         To develop decision-support tools and an institutional framework for integrated multipurpose management of a dual fresh- and brackish-water regime to meet the needs of diverse water users, without an adverse impact on users and the environment outside.
5.         To enhance human resources capacity and develop recommendations for resources management at the farm and regional level.

A series of multidisciplinary activities at different scales (field to regional) and with multilevel stakeholder (farmers to policymakers) participation will be carried out. Options for these activities are the outcome of the recently completed DFID-R7467c project in Vietnam and the ongoing PETRRA project in Bangladesh. Meetings and stakeholder consultations were held in July 2003 to specifically prioritize research needs and plan research activities in each country.
The outputs of the project will a) improve food security and living conditions (better water quality, less conflicts) for farmers, fishers, and especially poor women and children at the study sites, b) supply district and provincial resources management and extension personnel with decision-making tools to better manage water resources, and c) provide options for land-use planning and resources-management policy to policymakers at regional/national levels in Vietnam and Bangladesh. The project will also help enhance food security and alleviate water scarcity in other parts of the M river delta and the Gangetic river delta. The integrative approaches, research methodologies, production technologies, and management principles constitute international public goods that benefit researchers/scientists and can be potentially applied to and adapted in other coastal areas that face similar problems in the major deltas of Asia.

To ensure immediate impact, the project will timely share and promote research outputs through regular formal and informal contacts with stakeholders, taking advantage of electronic networking (e-mail). The involvement of policy-making authorities at the district, provincial, and national level in the project facilitates the conversion of research outputs into regulations, policies and development projects.