Case Studies UNDP: CHUNOTI CO-MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE, Bangladesh

7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: CHUNOTI CO-MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE, Bangladesh

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Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities

Bangladesh

CHUNOTI CO-MANAGEMENTCOMMITTEE

Empowered live

Resilient nation


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UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES

Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that wo

or people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadth

their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practition

themselves guiding the narrative.

To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser

that details the work o Equator Prize winners vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmen

conservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succto scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models

replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to The Power o Local Action: Lessons rom 10 Years

the Equator Prize, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.

Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiatives searchable case study database, where you can fnd more Equator Prize winner ca

studies.

EditorsEditor-in-Chie: Joseph Corcoran

Managing Editor: Oliver HughesContributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding

Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Sean Cox, Larissa Currado, David Godrey, Sarah Gordon,

Oliver Hughes, Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma

Mary McGraw, Brandon Payne, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding

DesignSean Cox, Oliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen,

Lorena de la Parra, Brandon Payne, Mariajos Satizbal G.

AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude Chunoti Co-Management Committee and USAIDs Integrated Protected Area

management (IPAC) Project, and in aprticular, the guidance and inputs o Mr. Anwar Kamal (Chunoti CMC) and Ms. Reema Islam (IPAC)

photo credits courtesy o Chunoti Co-Management Committee. Maps courtesy o CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia, except or map

p.6 courtesy o: USAID, Nishorgo Network: Interactive Map o Network Sites. Accessed at http://www.nishorgo.org/?id=42

Suggested Citation

United Nations Development Programme. 2013. Chunoti Co-Management Committee, Bangladesh. Equator Initiative Case Study SerNew York, NY.
http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=747:10years&catid=189:2012-eventshttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=747:10years&catid=189:2012-eventshttp://www.nishorgo.org/?id=42http://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=858http://www.nishorgo.org/?id=42http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=747:10years&catid=189:2012-eventshttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=747:10years&catid=189:2012-events


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PROJECT SUMMARYChunoti Co-Management Committee (CMC) protects theonce-degraded Chunoti Wildlie Sanctuary through thecoordination o volunteer patrols and reinvestment oecotourism revenues into conservation activities. Illegallogging and unsustainable resource extraction werethreatening the Chunoti orest, until the communitymobilized and advocated or a protected area co-management arrangement with the government. Women-led community patrol groups now monitor the orest toprevent illegal logging and poaching.

Forest conservation has revived resident populations oAsian elephants and bird species. An ecotourism enterprisehas created jobs and oers a revenue stream to undinvestment in community inrastructure projects. Localwomen have also been supported to start small-scalebusinesses. The Chunoti co-management model has beenreplicated across Bangladesh, and has resulted in ocialrecognition by the national government o the need toinclude communities in protected area decision-making.

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CHUNOTI CO-MANAGEMENT COMMITTEEBangladesh

KEY FACTS

EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2012

FOUNDED: 2004

LOCATION: Chittagong Division

BENEFICIARIES: Approximately 9,400 households

BIODIVERSITY: 7,764-hectare Chunoti Wildlife Sanctuary

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background and Context 4

Key Activities and Innovations 7

Biodiversity Impacts 9

Socioeconomic Impacts 9

Policy Impacts 10

Sustainability 12

Replication 12

Partners 13


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4

A sanctuary and elephant migration corridor

he Chunoti (also written as Chunati) Wildlie Sanctuary, located

0 km south o Chittagong City in Bangladesh, was established as

protected area in 1986. The 7,764-hectare sanctuary originally

upported mixed tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen orests. The

rea has gradually been degraded, however, and now contains mainly

econdary growth, scrub and extensive areas o sungrass (Imperata

ylindrical, a perennial grass that is harvested as a non-timber orest

roduct). Additionally, a large part o the surrounding landscape has

een converted to plantation land, using non-endemic tree species.

Despite this degradation, the sanctuary still plays a signicant role in

upporting local biodiversity, housing 19 mammal and 53 bird species,

ncluding the red-breasted parakeet (Psittacula alexandri), as wells a range o amphibian, reptile and plant species. Importantly, the

anctuary serves as a corridor or Asian elephants migrating between

angladesh and Myanmar.

Pressures on the sanctuary

Around 9,400 households a population o more than 50,000 people

depend on the natural resources o the Chunoti orest to a large

xtent or their livelihoods and ood security. This dependence has put

normous pressure on the orest and has resulted in unsustainable

xploitation o both timber and non-timber orest products. Since

s establishment, the ecological integrity o the sanctuary has been

hreatened by the encroachment o human settlements. Slash-and-

urn agriculture is common, as is unregulated extraction o orest

esources to meet ood and livelihood needs. Because Chunoti Wildlie

anctuary is located in such close proximity to Chittagong City, several

rick kiln actories have been constructed on or near its borders to

ervice construction supply needs in the city. These actories use

wood rom the orest to re their kilns, creating an additional driver o

eorestation and biodiversity loss. Large-scale land conversion and

mber poaching have been additional challenges. The orest within

nd around the sanctuary was signicantly degraded during the 1980s

nd 1990s, as many low-lying areas in valleys were converted or rice

cultivation and destroyed by illegal logging and poor managemA lack o alternative, more sustainable livelihoods has driven mu

this degradation. There are 15 villages, comprised o 70 settlem

located in the immediate buer zone o the wildlie sanct

Within these settlements, more than one-third o the popul

is unemployed, and those who nd seasonal work as agricul

labourers are typically employed or only six months o each year

Initiating co-management

By 2004, when Chunoti Co-Management Committee (CMC) b

its work, the orest had been clear-cut and reduced to low grassl

with a ew scattered trees. Sanctuary grasses were burned regu

preventing natural regeneration o the orest. Despite the sevo the situation, and the rapid pace o environmental decline,

reliance on the orest or jobs and incomes translated to widesp

opposition to conservation eorts. The situation demanded a solu

that would serve to protect the integrity o the sanctuary w

acknowledging and meeting the livelihood and subsistence nee

local communities.

In the early 2000s, local communities living adjacent to the sanct

began to work in cooperation with the Forest Departmen

promote co-management o the protected area. The process b

quite organically, with the committee orming through comm

meetings and discussions and developing into an ocial

Management Committee in 2004-5. The Committee was or

under the USAID Nishorgo Support Project (NSP), which wor

Bangladesh to enhance protected area stewardship through

management arrangements. NSP provided technical support to

Committee rom 2004 to 2008. From 2008 to present, the Chunot

Management Committee has been run with reduced support u

complementary initiative the USAID Integrated Protected Area

Management (IPAC) project which has provided technical adv

services and other support over a ve-year period (2008-13) to

government agencies responsible or the conservation o prote

orests across Bangladesh. IPAC is implemented in cooper

Background and Context


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with the Ministry o Environment and Forests and the Ministry o

isheries and Livestock through a consortium o partners led by the

nternational Resources Group (IRG).

his combination o community-based action and international

upport has eected a dramatic change in the way protected area

management is perceived in Bangladesh. Chunoti Co-Management

Committee was ounded with the main goal o conserving the

Chunoti Wildlie Sanctuary and its surrounding areas. The chosenpproach was collaborative management o natural resources by the

ocal communities, with government agencies acting in a supporting

ole. The committee was a pioneer o the community-based natural

esource management model in Bangladesh, breaking new ground

or community orest and resource governance in the country. The

uccess o Chunoti Co-Management Committee in meeting local

velihood needs while also conserving and restoring nature led to

government order in November 2009 that recognizes and creates

egal space or local community participation in the management o

rotected areas in Bangladesh. The co-management mechanism has

ince been expanded to all other protected areas in the country.

Governance and institutional structure

Co-management has demanded the development o a governance

ramework in which community members actively participate in

ecision-making and in the management o Chunoti Wildlie Sanctuary.

his participatory governance imperative has been accomplished

hrough the ormation and election o a co-management committee

nd council, village conservation orums, and peoples orums.

Village conservation orums (VCFs) have been established or all

the orest and wetland-dependent communities living around

Chunoti Wildlie Sanctuary. There are currently 60 VCFs that channel

he collective interests o 48,913 people. The specic rules andegulations o each orum vary, but the principles o accountability,

ransparency and ull participation are standardized. The VCFs eed

nto two peoples orums, where each village is represented by one

man and one woman. Where VCFs address the concerns and needs

individual villages and, thereore, the management o natural

esources in that particular area the peoples orums address larger

organizational considerations and resource governance issues

have broader implications or management o the area. In this

decisions taken at both the local level and at the landscape leve

be directly infuenced by local constituents.

The relatively elaborate governance structure adopted inclu

both a co-management committee and a council ens

representation rom nineteen dierent stakeholder groups, inclu

the village conservation orums and peoples orums. The cocomprises sixty-ve members appointed rom village conserva

orums, peoples orums, and local government oces. At

twenty-two o these council members namely, one-third o

council must be peoples orum members. The primary unction

purview o the council is making operational decisions concer

the management o Chunoti Wildlie Sanctuary.

Chunoti Co-Management Committee, meanwhile, consists o twe

nine democratically elected members. These elections are ope

community members rom VCFs, peoples orums, community p

groups, local government, and the projects Nishorgo Shaha

(trained community acilitators.) Although indigenous groups are

represented in VCFs as they technically reside outside the lands

zone or village catchment area one man and one woman rom

o the local Rakhaine and Marma ethnic groups are represente

Chunoti Co-Management Committee. The initiative has plans to m

ormally incorporate indigenous lands in the uture. The comm

unctions with donor support, as well as roughly 50 per cent o

revenue collected rom Chunoti Wildlie Sanctuary entrance ees

During the initial implementation period o Chunoti Co-Managem

Committee, relations between the Forest Department and commu

members were strained. The series o inaugural meetings w

oten break down due to lack o agreement and strong dierenc

opinion on the governance structure and process or taking decisThis early discordance proved to be a short-lived (and per

necessary) stage in the process o introducing a new approach,

Chunoti Co-Management Committee now unctions with a high

o cooperation and mutual respect between its members. Importa

the committee is also now widely appreciated at the community

as a platorm or positive change.


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6

Map 1: Map o Bangladesh showing reserve orest, protected areas etc.


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77

Key Activities and Innovations

The project aims to oster successul co-management o Chunoti

Wildlie Sanctuary by the Forest Department in tandem with

esident local communities. The overall objective is the conservation

and regeneration o the local orest and surrounding ecosystems.

Community patrol groups have been set up jointly with the Forest

Department to ensure adherence with established orest rules and

egulations. The patrols are designed to prevent and discourage

llegal logging and wildlie poaching. Patrol teams are oten

comprised o women and poorer members o the community,

who receive a stipend o USD 50 or joining the program. While

he stipend provides an incentive or participation, the patrols

are essentially volunteer-run. The collective results o Chunoti

Co-Management Committee activities have been improvementsn environmental health including the return o elephants and

certain bird species to the sanctuary and local wellbeing.

Alternative livelihood options

Chunoti Co-Management Committee maintains a commitment to

providing the local population with vocational training and access

o alternative livelihoods as a means o reducing local dependence

on the wildlie sanctuary; or, more specically, to reduce

overexploitation and unsustainable harvesting o natural resources

n the sanctuary. Among the project activities in this area has been

upport in the development o market supply-chains that ensure

air prices and reliable demand or local products. In this regard,he committee helped acilitate a Memorandum o Understanding

MOU) that links local shermen and artisans with national buyers in

he sheries and handicrats sectors. As a complement to this new

market supply-chain, community members were provided with

raining in bamboo crat-making, sh arming, the management o

ree nurseries, and basket-weaving.

The committee is currently working with the government to

promote ecotourism as an additional revenue stream to improve

ocal incomes and und ongoing conservation activities. To this

end, a group o eco-guides has been trained and an eco-cot

constructed on the edge o the sanctuary. In addition, a

Management Nature Interpretation Centre, run by the comm

now sits at the heart o Chunoti Forest. The intention is to at

visitors interested in learning more about the orest an

biodiversity and to provide the community with a higher lev

environmental education and ownership. Currently, entrance

are collected rom visitors to the sanctuary, 50 per cent o w

is allocated or the operational costs o Chunoti Co-Manage

Committee. The other 50 per cent is put towards orest conserv

activities. A plan has been put in place to govern the use o t

unds with specic conditions to ensure that revenues do no

directly to individuals.

An innovative partnership with the government is also prov

sustainable livelihood options or the local population. Chunot

Management Committee worked with relevant authorities to e

a social orestation law. Under this law, the community is allow

plant ast-growing, short-rotation trees (those that reach mat

in eight to ten years) in the buer zone surrounding the prote

area. Planting and harvesting take place within designated a

with the community holding responsibility or replanting the

ater the harvest. This rotational planting provides the comm

with a source o income, timber and building material, w

also leaving the old growth orest untouched. The revenue

community timber harvests is shared between the governmenthe local communities. Initially, 45 per cent went to particip

community members, 45 per cent to the government, and 1

cent to a tree-planting und; a recent amendment to the sch

however, now has 75 per cent o the revenue generated goi

participating communities. As a complement to this sustain

orestry intervention, high-eciency cooking stoves have

distributed to households surrounding the sanctuary. In add

to reducing indoor pollution, and by extension mitigating

negative health impacts o smoke inhalation, the stoves reduc

amount o rewood needed or cooking.


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Building local management capacity

he most innovative aspect o this initiative is that a platorm has

een created through which local communities can work on an

qual ooting with government authorities in the management

their orests and natural resources. Co-management, however,

as required a great deal o investment in community capacity

uilding, particularly on the management side. The history o

ension between local practitioners and the government has alsoequired an investment o time in confict resolution, building trust

nd ostering cooperation.

Local capacity building has taken place in a number o ormat

one example, seven orest conservation clubs have been orme

engage local youth in biodiversity conservation and environme

stewardship activities. Village acilitators (known as Nish

Shahayaks) have also been trained as outreach extension o

educating the local population about ecosystem health, o

conservation, climate change, and the rights o orest-depencommunities.

In my experience working in protected area co-management, three major threats are: a lac

of any sense of ownership among communities in and around protected areas; the dependenc

of ultra-poor people on these areas for their basic livelihoods; and corruption in the authoritie

responsible for protected area management.

Mr. Anwar Kamal, Chunoti Co-Management Committee


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9

Impacts

BIODIVERSITY IMPACTSThe activities undertaken by Chunoti Co-Management Committee

ince 2004 have combined to reduce the burden on the Chunoti

Wildlie Sanctuary rom surrounding communities through a

ombination o monitoring, alternative livelihoods, community

educational outreach, and advocacy. While the Community Patrol

Groups have not completely stopped illegal logging in the sanctuary

rea, their work has resulted in a considerable reduction o timber

poaching, while the provision o improved wood stoves has helped

o tackle the problem on the demand side, by reducing the volume

o rewood required by local households.

The initiative has successully addressed the larger environmental

mpacts o the brick-making industry, which had sited ve brick

kiln operations on the eastern side o the sanctuary. In each case,

his location was chosen because o the immediate availability

o ree wood rom the orest. Ater a protracted struggle, the co-

management committee was able to ensure the departure o

he kilns that were located directly within the sanctuary, and has

educed the uel-wood extraction o those that remain (illegally) in

he buer. This has been a long-standing challenge, and one only

overcome through persistent personal and political eorts by the

ommittee members.

Biodiversity benets have resulted rom the conservation workundertaken in and around the sanctuary, with observed increases

n sightings o birds and elephants within the sanctuary. Understory

orest growth has increased, and migratory elephants are spending

greater portion o their time within the sanctuary, and nding

ucient ood there when they do. A study o the prevalence o Red

ungleowl (Gallus gallus) and Pu-throated Babbler (Pellorneum

ufceps) across ve Bangladeshi protected areas demonstrates that

population sizes o both these species recovered between 2005 and

2008 (see Figures 1 & 2), as co-management experiments in each o

he sites took hold. The very low numbers o Pu-throated Babblers

n Chunoti in 2005 in comparison with the other protected areas

included in the study indicates how degraded the Chunoti owas shortly ater the ormation o the co-management comm

It is widely acknowledged that the wildlie reserve has success

adapted to the co-management mechanism, and that the

would be devastated today had the project not been implemen

SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

Involvement in co-management o their local environment

natural resources has empowered the Chunoti communitie

allowing them to actively participate in making and implemen

decisions that directly aect their livelihoods. Moreover, o

involvement o the community in the management o Chu

Wildlie Sanctuary has given legitimacy and recognition to

local knowledge base and has aorded community members

opportunity to learn about the policies and laws that aect them

involving VCFs in a range o governance and volunteer activitie

initiative has encouraged responsible citizenship and increased

resilience and unity o the communities it serves.

The social empowerment o the communities involved is dir

linked to their economic empowerment, and the co-managem

committee has done a great deal to improve the econ

circumstances o the most vulnerable community members

the community as a whole. Eorts to diversiy income sources included providing training and investments to assist comm

members in developing more sustainable and resilient inc

sources. Extra income rom such schemes has been used to pa

education and better nutrition or amily members.

Empowerment o women

The lot o women in particular has been improved a great deal b

work o the initiative a considerable achievement in a religio

conservative region, where womens participation in decision-


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making processes is not the norm. Women in the region are largely

uneducated and homebound, with their roles limited by tradition.

The empowerment o emale community members through the

creation o women-led community patrol groups, which patrol

he orest alongside a orest guard a ew times a week, has been

ecognized in international media (Sari squad protects Bangladesh

wildlie sanctuary; CNN, March 7, 2011), and women are now taking

an active role in protecting the wildlie sanctuary. In addition to the

patrol groups, the co-management committee supports womenn entrepreneurial ventures and encourages their participation in

he social orestation initiative and handicrats training. Female

Nishorgo Shahayaks have been trained to act as conservation

advocates within their communities. Many women community

patrol group members have used their volunteer stipends to

purchase cows which provide milk or consumption and sale.

n total, 424 patrol group members have received support to

mprove their incomes, and as a result many o them have moved

out o poverty and begun sending their children to school. As a

esult o Chunoti Co-Management Committees activities, signicant

mprovements in local governance have been seen, with ar greater

participation o women, youth, and poor community members in

environmental governance and landscape development issues.

POLICY IMPACTS

Chunoti Co-Management Committee is a pioneer in its eld within

Bangladesh, and, along with the success o other CMCs established in

protected areas such as Lawachara National Park, Satchori National

Park, Rema-Kalenga Wildlie Sanctuary, and Tekna Game Reserve,

essons learned rom its implementation have directly infuenced

government policies regarding protected area management.

The issuing o a Government Order in November 2009 ormally

ecognized the participation o local communities in the decision-

making processes surrounding the management o protected areas.

The National Park Fee-sharing Order, also enacted in 2009, ensured

hat local communities in and around orested protected areas

would receive 50 per cent o entrance ees collected by management

authorities. Finally, the Social Forestry Rule o January 2010

mandated an increase in the proportion derived by communities

rom plantations they collectively manage in orested land to 75

per cent o total income, as a direct result o the social orestation

experiment conducted in the buer area o Chunoti Wildlie Reserve.

At the local scale, the co-management model aords the a

local communities the opportunity to infuence local managem

policies though ongoing dialogue with local and national F

Department representatives; the co-management comm

has made ormal recommendations or the improvement o

governance arrangement through this route. The experienc

Chunoti and other CMCs involved in the Nishorgo Support Pr

has demonstrated that this dialogue between communities

government ocials is a necessary component o developing democratic and equitable resource management arrangem

The highly participatory governance model employed by

Chunoti initiative has emerged organically as an expression o

relationship, and acts as a case study or similar co-managem

arrangements across Bangladesh.

10

If communities are engaged in protected area management and resource conservation with

honesty and integrity, they will react accordingly. If the process is dishonest or

corrupt it wont succeed



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11

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Lawachara National

Park

Satchori National

Park

Rema-Kalenga

Wildlife Sanctuary

Chunoti Wildlife

Sanctuary

Teknaf Game

Reserve

Density(number/sq.

km)

2005

2006

2007

2008

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Lawachara National

Park

Satchori National

Park

Rema-Kalenga

Wildlife Sanctuary

Chunoti Wildlife

Sanctuary

Teknaf Game

Reserve

Density(number/sq.

km)

2005

2006

2007

2008

Fig. 1: The status o Red Jungleowl at ve Protected Area sites (2005-8)

Fig. 2: The status o Puf-throated Babbler (Pellorneumrufceps) at ve Protected Area sites (2005-8)

ource: Khan, M.M.H. 2008. Participatory Bird Survey to Assess Protected Area Management Impacts: Final Year Report. Dhaka: Nature Conservation Manage

ment (NACOM) and Nishorgo Support Project o the Forest Department.


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Sustainability and Replication

SUSTAINABILITYor ecological transormation and social change to be sustained

ver time, there must be an accepted and viable social structure

hat can manage and deploy resources in the interests o a broad-

ased group o stakeholders. Chunoti Co-Management Committee

as made excellent progress towards assuring the sustainability

its work through the development o its inclusive governance

tructure, which represents the needs and interests o a diverse

ange o stakeholders. The committee is now widely viewed as the

egitimate voice o those living and working in the sanctuary and

urrounding region.

Although the ormation o Chunoti Co-Management Committee

was catalysed by the Nishorgo Support Project (NSP), it has grown

o become an autonomous organization that is ully owned by

ts constituent VCFs, and which works with an increasing array o

artners. As a pilot initiative, NSP support was regular and intensive,

ut as the initiative has developed and transerred to partnership

with USAIDs IPAC project, donor involvement has intentionally

ecome less regular and low-level. The Co-Management Committees

ncome rom sanctuary revenue gives it a degree o independence

nd sustainability, although these unds are not sucient to manage

he entire area. The initiative remains a donor-supported project,

hereore.

REPLICATION

he model o co-management that has been implemented

uccessully in Chunoti is now being implemented throughout

angladesh. The success o Chunoti and other pilot sites provided

ncouragement to the Bangladeshi government, USAID, and

ther donor organizations to dramatically increase the scope o

he project. In 2008, USAID launched the USD 13 million IPAC

Project with the aim o replicating this conservation managem

approach throughout the country over the next ve years. Follo

the example o Chunoti, there are now over 35 co-managem

committees working in protected areas across Bangladesh, as w

many more operating in partnership with other donor organizat

As an early adopter o the model, Chunoti Co-Management Comm

serves as a model or more recently established committee

the network, and has played an important role in inspiri

paradigm shit in protected area management in Banglad

rom enorcement-based conservation to co-management

local communities. The Chunoti example has been a leader in

evolution, proving the eectiveness o co-management rst town members and communities and latterly to stakeholders a

Bangladesh. It has served as a case study in particular thanks to

high level o environmental degradation that has been reve

as well as the confict between communities and governm

ocials that characterized its beginnings. Based on the experi

o overcoming both o these challenges, the Chunoti initiative

much to share with other committees. The committee has ho

site visits rom newer CMCs in order to exchange knowledge

took part in a Co-Management Committee Congress in 200

which it shared its good practices. The committee has also beco

leader within the many civil society protected area co-manage

networks that have emerged around the country in the wake o

NSP and IPAC Project.

Chunoti has also been at the oreront o new and emer

developments in this eld. The committee recently acilitated cli

change vulnerability assessments as well as the developme

action plans based on these in all o the villages in the Chu

landscape. This is currently inorming the development

landscape-level plan that will be used to leverage government

donor support to ace the emerging challenges posed by cli

change.


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PARTNERS

Chunoti Co-Management Committee was established under the

USAID Nishorgo Support Project and is currently developing with

upport rom USAIDs Integrated Protected Area Co-Management

PAC) Project. The IPAC project is implemented in collaboration

with the Government o Bangladeshs Ministry o Environment and

orests and Ministry o Fisheries and Livestock.

Ater witnessing the success o Chunoti Co-Managem

Committee, the German Society or International Coopera

(GIZ) has contributed unds to the initiative, specically to sup

the creation o alternative income generation options or

community patrol group members.

For poor protected area-dependent communities to stop destroying natural resources fo

their livelihoods, they must have the chance to ensure basic alternative livelihoods. Howeve

challenging age-old livelihood practices is no easy task. Motivation and awareness can he

enlighten communities but nothing should be imposed on them. Communities should lead th

planning and work, with only facilitation from external groups.



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www.equatorinitiative.org

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ive and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizati

o recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.

2013 by Equator Initiative

All rights reserved

FURTHER REFERENCE

Chunoti Co-Management Committee Equator Initiative prole page: http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=c

winners&view=winner_detail&id=51&Itemid=683

DeCosse, P. J., Thompson, P. M., Ahmad, I. U., Sharma, R. A., and Mazumder, Ah. H. 2012. Protected Area Co-Management: Where People

Poverty Intersect. Lessons rom Nishorgo in Bangladesh. USAID and the Nishorgo Support Project, Bangladesh Forest Department. ht

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Case Studies UNDP: CHUNOTI CO-MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE, Bangladesh

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