Common law, common property, and common enemy: Notes on the ...

Common Law, Common Property, and Common Enemy: Notes on the Political Geography of Water Resources Management For the Sundarbans Area of Bangladesh

J a m e s L. Wescoat Jr.

James Wescoat is Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado--Boulder. His research deals with the historical geography of water development in South Asia and the United States. He is currently working on a three year study of the effects of global climate change in the Indus River basin with the Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A B S T R A C T Water has a dual role in the Sundarbans area of southwestern Bangladesh. Hydrologic processes are vital to the ecological functioning and cultural identity of the mangrove ecosystem. But at the same time, large scale water development creates external forces that threaten the Sundarbans environment. Water is managed to a limited degree as a common property resource, both in the Sundarbans and in larger regions. It is also managed as private property, a public good, a state-controlled resource, an open access resource, and a natural hazard. And to a large degree, it is not managed at all. By focussing on water, we begin to understand the linkages between the Sundarbans area and larger regional contexts; and between common property resource systems and the broader array of institutional, political, and property relations. Section one of this paper provides an overview of the role of water in the Sundarbans, including modern human modifications of deltaic hydrology. Section two surveys water management issues and institutions at six geographical scales: the International Basin; 2) India and Ba~#ladesh; 3) Greater Bengal; 4) Bangladesh; 5) southwestern Bangladesh; and 6) Khulna district. The conclusion stresses the role that the political geography of water will play both within and outside the Sundarbans ecosystem.

Introduction and Background " . . . it is merely the fact that revenue is more concerned with land than with water that has tended in this book to hide the importance of rivers." Alcoli, A R e v e n u e History o f the S u n darbans f r o m 1870 to 1920 (1921), p. 156. Alcoli's 1921 revenue history offers an explanation for the neglect of water resources in the colonial administration of mangrove forests in the Sundarbans area of the Bengal delta (fig. 1). Because revenues were based on "land", i.e., spatially delimited areas of economic access and control, water was regarded as just one of many resources attached to the land. Revenues were actually derived from commodities that laborers produced: timber, food, fish, and fiber. But revenue collection was organized through systems of entitlement to land.

From the 18th century onwards, the Sundarbans have been regarded as a certain type of land-wasteland or forest land managed by government. Although there have been gaps between government policy and actual practice, government has been officiallyresponsible for developing, disposing of, and protecting Sundarbans resources. On the one hand, government control limited the extension of "private" land tenure systems into the Sundarbans forests and created greater scope for both state-based and community-based common property resource management. 1 On the other hand, government land policies reinforced the view of the Sundarbans as a discrete area, disconnected from other regions. This point of view has led many to think of the environmental threats to the area as "boundary" problems: squatting, poaching, population pressure, and so on. 73

A G R I C U L T U R E AND H U M A N V A L U E S - - S P R I N G 1990

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Figure 1. Ganges-Brahmaputra River Basin.

But if we think of the Sundarbans as ahydrologic region, or as one hydrologic region within a hierarchy of larger hydrologic regions, our understanding of the area and its problems is substantially altered. Waterways link the Sundarbans with regional, national, and international arenas of resource develo p m e n t - a r e n a s that institutionally encompass and physically impact the coastal ecosystem. Thus, we can think of the Sundarbans as part of an elaborate network of hydrologic, institutional, cultural, and bureaucratic systems. This "hydraulic" perspective reminds us that Sundarbans resources cannot be managed or conserved independently of larger realms of water resource management. This paper outlines the water resource issues related to conservation of the Sundarbans, giving particular attention to the political, institutional, and property relations that link the coastal ecosystem with larger regions. Water may not have been a primary revenue variable in the Sundarbans in 1921, but during the past hundred years, it has become one of the most important sectors of economic development. Dams, flood control works, and irrigation systems represent the largest sector of public works expenditure in Bangladesh today, heavily promoted and financed by foreign governments and banks. In physical terms, these waterworks have potentially serious impacts on the Sundarbans. Section one provides an overview of the hydrologic processes and human activities that affect the Sundarbans environment. The second section of the paper examines specific issues in six water development arenas: from the international river basin issues to local water development activities. The water sector has special relevance for proposals to manage the Sundarbans as a common prop.. erty resource, for water is already managed to a limited degree as a common property resource, both in the Sundarbans and in larger regions. It is also managed as private property, a public good, a statecontrolled resource, an open access resource, and a natural hazard. And to a large degree, it is not managed at all. At the local level, water continues to be undermanaged in the Sundarbans area (being 74

treated as an adjunct to land resources, as res nullius, or as a hodge-podge of common law practices, traditional usage, and Government projects). But in the meantime, large-scale water development sponsored by national and international agencies quickens, accelerating natural processes of deltaic deterioration. Thus, by focussing on water, we gain an understanding of the linkages between common property resource systems and the broader array of institutional, political, and property relations in the region; as well as between the Sundarbans area and its surroundings. It is useful to begin by asking how water development physically supports, threatens, and constrains the Sundarbans environmenU. I. Water Resources in Deltaic Environments Freshwater delta inflows provide domestic, agricultural, and industrial water supplies to districts surrounding the Sundarbans. They also convey sediments and nutrients which create a foundation for vegetation growth and estuarine species. Tidalprocesses contribute to the navigability of coastal channels, and to forest and fisheries production. They also maintain the dynamic ecological processes of estuarine sedimentation, nutrient mixing, flooding, salinity gradients, and mangrove forest growth. In a very real sense, rivers and tides created the lands on which revenue systems and government policies have been based. Deltaic environments are so dynamic that natural processes of growth, ecological succession, and decline can be observed within an historical time frame. Progradation and aggradation in one area are accompanied by recession and subsidence in others. Changes in surface drainage, salinity gradients, and landforms trigger continuous ecosystemic adjustments, which feedback in turn upon physical processes. Stream channel patterns, coastal landforms, and vegetation complexes are all continuously changing, often rendering the administrative delimitation of land areas or managemenU areas a formal exercise. Today, active delta building is occurring in the southeastern districts of Noakhali and Patuakhali, Bangladesh. Several centuries ago the primary delta lobe was in the present area of the Bangladesh Sundarbans. The river shifted, initially west toward the modern Bhagirathi-Hoogly channel, and subsequently east to its present course. The eastward shift of the Ganges channal also created a new confluence with the Brahmaputra River near Faridpur. When the river assumed its present course, flooding in southwestern Bangladesh declined, leaving that area in what at best can be viewed as

Wescoat, Jr.: Common Law, Common Property, and Common Enemy

a "near steady state" condition, where sedimentation, erosion, and salinity regimes remain relatively stable over the near term. Dense mangrove vegetation, shallow nearshore slopes, and coastal sediment deposition help to limit erosional processes. Even so, southwestern Bangladesh must be regarded as a former deltaic distributary where erosion will naturally outstrip sedimentation. Natural subsidence from sediment compression and tectonic downwarping will lower land surfaces. Major cyclones will flood these depressions, radically reworking coastal landforms; and salinity gradients will naturally push inland. These processes may be aggravated by slow rates of delta progradation near the main channel and possible loss of sediments into an offshore structural trough called the "Swatch of No Ground" (Morgan and McIntire, 1959). They may also be aggravated by sea level rise induced by climate change. But the physical deterioration of the southwestern delta may be greatly accelerated by human activity, and more specifically by water development. The litany of water engineering activities transforming the Bengal delta are similar to those in many other parts of the world. They include: 1. Channelization for flood control and navigation. 2. Impoundment of upstream main stem and tributary flows, modifying the amount and timing of freshwater, sediment, and nutrient inflows. 3. Increased river diversions and groundwater withdrawals. 4. Increased consumptive water use in reservoirs and irrigation. 5. Levee construction and diking for navigation and flood control. 6. Extrabasin transfers, again for navigation and water supply. 7. Obstruction of natural hydrologic drainage in the delta (e.g., by roads, pipelines, canals, railroads, and bridges). 8. Diking and polder construction for agricultural land reclamation and settlement. Reclamation and flood protection encourage increased settlement densities in many areas of the delta increasing vulnerability to coastal storm hazards (Islam, 1971) as well as subsidence. 9. Soil drainage projects that accelerate land subsidence. 10. Modification of wildlife populations and habitats that affect vegetative stabilization of coastal lands. 11. Dredging and harbor protection works that

impede littoral redistribution of sediments. These activities have been actively underway in both the delta and the upper reaches of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers for centuries, with the most rapid period of development occurring during the past three decades. Ecological and human ecological problems arise when populations in the affected area have difficulties adjusting to the combination of natural and anthropogenic change. Changes in salinity, soil moisture, and erosion rates can rapidly alter vegetation communities. Populations must then change their patterns of movement, migrate, or adjust their diets and habitat requirements. Such population changes also affect the rate and pattern of delta recession. Although human groups have perhaps the broadest range of choice, "choice" is severely constrained in this densely populated and economically impoverished region. Death, migration, resettlement, disease, marginalization, and landlesshess are the major categories of "choice" for poor populations in the Bengal delta. Problem Statement: The Geographical Structure of Sundarbans Water Problems Interestingly, most of these delta development problems were prophetically envisioned in Radhakamal Mukherji's 1938 study, The Changing

Face of Bengal: A Study in Riverine Economy. Inspired by geographer Vidal de la Blache, Mukherji argued that the "shifting balance between man and nature" was cause for concern in the delta. Mukherji called for a Ganges River Commission, modelled after the Mississippi River Commission, and for experimentation with Dutch reclamation approaches. Both recommendations were eventually tried, but they had the unanticipated consequences of aggravating the processes of deltaic decline. It is therefore useful to consider comparisons and interactions between the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system and other river basins. Bangladeshi authors like to argue that their upstream-downstream problem in the Bengal delta can be compared with that of Pakistan in the Indus basin. In that case India was induced by the World Bank and "friendly nations" to enter into a treaty with Pakistan that apportioned the rivers of the upper Indus Basin (Michel, 1967). Frequent comparisons have also been made with the lower Mississippi River valley. In the lower Mississippi, estuarine water is treated not as property but as an unowned resource, and in flood conditions as a "common enemy." The dual 75

AGRICULTURE AND HUMAN VALUES--SPRING 1990

role of State agencies (e.g., the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) as delta developers and delta protectors has parallels with national water development agencies in India and Bangladesh. Efforts to manage the Sundarbans also bear comparison with belated wetlands protection efforts in the Mississippi delta. But the Mississippi has served more as a model for river engineering in the Bengal delta than for agricultural intensification. The model used for land reclamation and intensive cultivation in Bangladesh has been Dutch technology. Dutch consultants (NEDECO) have designed extensive polder schemes to control salt water intrusion, improve soil drainage, and reduce high frequency/low-magnitude flood losses. Criticism that polder construction encourages high density occupance of areas subject to severe cyclone hazards has not slowed the pace of "polderization" (Burton, Kates and White, 1978; Islam, 1971. Cfi van Duivendijk, 1984; and Burger and Smith, 1985). I would like to suggest that Colorado River (USA) offers a useful analogy for understanding the water resources dimension of the Sundarbans, for the lesson of the Colorado is that downstream interests, particularly deltaic ones, must attend to the "law of the river;" that is, to the changing body of laws, policies, and projects that affect freshwater, sediment, and nutrient inflows, and that thereby determine the long-term vulnerability of coastal areas to accelerated subsidence, salt water intrusion, and marine erosion. The expression "law of the River" comes from the Colorado River, which after 100 years of competition, conflict, and construction is regarded by some as the most litigated, developed, and overappropriated river in the world. Its upper basin lies in a wealthy powerful upstream country; its delta in a less powerful and poorer downstream country. Despite the treaties and compacts negotiated to protect downstream interests (and in some cases because of these agreements), the Colorado River delta receives dwindling inflows with increasing salinity and attendant ecological damage. These examples illustrate the international models that have had a material impact on the Bengal delta through modern development planning. Despite their importance, we have little detailed knowledge about the impacts of international water development in the Bengal delta (a recent volume titled Water Development inAsia brought together chapters by American and Bangladeshi authors, none of which compared the experience or interactions between the two countries). Before the process of international comparison can be at all useful, however, the specific character of water management problems in the Sundarbans 76

must be examined within its own context. This brings us to the main theme of this paper, which concerns the "law of the river," as it affects the Sundarbans area. The basic assumption is that actions in one area or institutional arena produce problems in others. Administrative arenas of water management are hierarchically structured, so attention must be given to the interactions between levels of water development (i. e., between locales, regions, and states). In the case of Bangladesh, the relevant scales of analysis are many, including: 1. Tenant farms [raiyatwari] 2. Estates [talukdari; zamindari; governmerit] 3. Individual chars and interdistributaries 4. Villages 4. Local administrative organizations (thana,

upazila) 5. Forest Ranges 6. Sub-districts of Khulna district 7. Major administrative districts, esp. Khulna, Patuakhali, and 24-Parganahs in India 8. Forest Workng Circles 9. Regional river basin planning units, up to the level of the entire Ganges distributary system in southwestern Bangladesh 10. National water sector planning (and outside support) 11. Bengal-wide land and water management practices (derived from pre-Independence periods) 12. Bi-lateral negotiations with India over international basins 13. The full international basin [incl. India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and China] Sub-divisions and intermediate arenas are no doubt also important. The main point is that management of the Sundarbans ecosystem cannot be regarded as solely a local or even a regional land use problem. For this paper, six spatial levels of water management will be briefly assessed: 1) the international river basin; 2) the bi-lateral arena; 3) Bengal land and water practices; 4) national water sector planning; 5) regional district-level shifts in water use; and 6) local thana-level patterns of water usage and modification. International aid programs will be dealt with at the national and regional levels (i.e., the levels at which they are negotiated and executed). Three specific water management issues will be considered at each scale: 1) water supply; 2) flood hazards; and 3) water quality. This approach builds upon previous geographical research on integrated water development (White, 1957, 1977; Day et al., 1986; Wescoat, 1984, 1986).

Wescoat, Jr.: Common Law, Common Property, and Common Enemy

1. The International Basin The international basin extends into six countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, and very small areas of Burma. India, Nepal and Bangladesh are the most important actors affecting Ganges inflows to the western delta. Bangladesh has sought to include Nepal in international negotiations on the Ganges, but India insists on bi-lateral discussion of water issues on all its boundaries. Bangladesh has advocated construction of upstream reservoirs in Nepal to store summer meltwaters and floodflows and to augment flows during the dry months of March through May. But India has consistently countered with proposals to construct a link canal between the Brahmaputra River and Ganges River in India, just upstream of the Farakka Barrage (Abbas, 1982) [fig. 2]. In bi-lateral negotiations, a strong upstream party has great leverage over negotiations. I t need only acquiesce on those points about which it cares least and to the extent that it seeks comity with its downstream neighbor. Once additional parties are included, however, the potential for coercion of the strong upstream riparian becomes more likely. In the case of India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, a plausible negotiating strategy for the latter two states would be to combine Nepal's interest in reservoir storage with Bangladesh's interest in secure and timely regulation of Ganges releases, As the principal market for power production in Nepal and the principal beneficiary of flood control reservoirs (as well as the principal party at risk from dam failure), India would be expected to assume the bulk of the costs of water development; while benefits would be wheeled downstream to Bangladesh. But there is no international Ganges-Brahmaputra river basin organization, no basin-wide management plan, and no established forum in which to develop one. Nor is there a comprehensive perspective on the river system• Before the disasterous 1986-88 floods in Bangladesh, allocation of Ganges waters was foremost on the international \ "~

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Figure 2. International Water Projects Affecting Bangladesh.

agenda. Pollution, flood control, and environmental protection received considerably less attention. The linkages between water problems are subjects of heated speculation. The widespread argument that deforestation, erosion, and runoffin Nepal generate massive floods in the lower basin, for example, has come under harsh scrutiny (Ives and Messerli, 1989; and Hamilton, 1987). Conflicting national attitudes toward international environmental research have impeded the development of scientific and political institutions at the international level. 2. Bangladesh and India: The Bi-lateral Arena The largest literature on international water management in the Bengal delta deals with bi-lateral negotiations between India and Bangladesh, centered around the Farakka Barrage controversy (Khan, 1976; Crow, 1985; Bangladesh, 1976ab; Abbas, 1982; and Rahman, 1984). Problems of natural and artificial river diversions were recognized as early as the 1930's (Willcocks, 1930; and Mukherjee, 1938). Willcocks proposed a barrage structure for overflow irrigation just upstream of the confluence of the Baral and Ganges rivers to rejuvenate the central and western delta. Some of these flows were to be diverted into the channel of the Bhagirathi River and from there into the Hoogly. Just over a decade later, in the radically different context of India and Pakistan, a comparable scheme was announced by India for the Farakka site. International conflict arose immediately after the 1951 announcement of the Farakka diversion. Farakka was to serve the multiple purposes of navigation for the port of Calcutta, sediment flushing, and water supply. Freshwater inflows into Bangladesh during the dry season would be substantially reduced, while floods would be passed along as usual during the monsoon season. The partitioning of Bengal in 1947 affected the design of the diversion, the distribution of regional environmental impacts, and the forums for conflict and negotiation. Indeed, no forum existed in 1951. Meetings of technical experts did not occur until 1960. Meetings at the secretarial level began in 1968, at the ministerial level in 1973, and between prime ministers in 1974 just before the Farakka Barrage was commissioned in 1975. It should be noted that the early part of this process coincided with the Indus Basin negotiations between 1947 and 1960; and that at no time does it appear to have been broached that the two river conflicts should be considered together. Not until after the independence of Bangladesh in 1972 was a standing international organization created to address water concerns of the two countries. The Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commis-

77

A G R I C U L T U R E AND H U M A N V A L U E S - - S P R I N G 1990

sion disseminated studies of water use forecasting, hydrologic data, and river operations in the two countries. It became the primary vehicle for talks between 1972 and the commissioning of the barrage in 1975. Prior to the diversion of water, a pilot agreement was adopted by the two prime ministers regarding diversions during a trial period in 1975. Diversions continued through the dry years of 197576 contributing to significant modifications of river stage, discharge, and salinity regimes--with Bangladeshi authors reporting impacts on Sundarbans vegetation, agriculture, and navigation (Abbas, 1982; and Rahman, 1984). Bangladesh took the controversy to a United Nations forum, but on November 5, 1977 a five-year bilateral agreement was signed. The 1977 agreement apportioned reservoir releases at Farakka between the two countries. Reservoir inflows were based upon the 25 year record between 1948 and 1973. Releases were based upon 75% availability of these inflows, and varied over ten day intervals throughout the regulated period. As in most basin apportionments, the logic behind these negotiated rates was not revealed. Surplus and deficit would be shared proportionately, with the stipulation that Bangladesh's share would never fall below 80% of the agreement schedule. India would not withdraw more than 200 cusecs between Farakka and the border. Finally, a new Joint Committee was established to implement the agreement, conduct long range studies, and exchange data. When the bi-lateral agreement expired in 1982, a new memorandum of understanding [MOU] was reached to retain most of the original provisions and the Joint Committee (Bangladesh in International Affairs, 1985). The 1982 MOU lapsed in 1984 when talks reached a low point. Bangladesh asserted that India had exceeded its share of dry season water causing downstream areas to suffer lowered water tables. The MOU was renegotiated in 1985, once again along the lines laid out in the original 1977 agreement. But by 1985, the negotiated rates of release were referred to only as "recommendations" (Bangladesh in International Affairs, 1985b). India thus relaxed its initial stance in which the upstream state makes few guarantees to the quality or quantity of water delivered to the downstream riparian. This represented a shift from absolute ownership to a form of common ownership. Downstream riparians such as Bangladesh generally point to the Helsinki Conventions, which recognize the inherant right of downstream riparians to an equitable apportionment of international river waters (International Law Association, 1966). 78

There is a cruel irony in the absolute ownership doctrine when it is coupled with the "common enemy" doctrine that applies during flooding. The common enemy doctrine holds that riparians have an unqualified right to fend off surface floodwaters as they see fit without regard for the consequences to other landowners, who also have a right to protect themselves as best they can (Black's Law Dictionary, 5th ed., p. 250). As might be expected, the downslope and downstream parties are invariably the losers under these doctrines. It is noteworthy that bi-lateral agreements have concentrated primarily on low flow releases and water supply augmentation. Flood control, sedimentation, instream flows, and water quality remain in the wings, a pattern quite typical of early stages of international basin management. As is common in international river disputes, India and Bangladesh have also concentrated on engineering solutions that augment water storage rather than on apportionment of existing supplies or adjustment of water use practices. Colonial Land and Water Practices in Greater Bengal Prior to the 1905 and 1947 partitions, the Sundarbans were part of a greater political, cultural, and ecological region that spanned from the Hoogly River to the current channel of the Brahmaputra. What is now a territorial problem between two sovereign nations was formerly a fabric of regional territorial problems dealt with by the colonial state. Colonial land and water institutions continue to affect the Sundarbans area. Regional land laws gave shape to extensive yet highly localized patterns of coastal reclamation. Building on the foundations of medieval land revenue administration, the British undertook elaborate experiments in land and water development. Of particular concern here is how land laws affected water management. Flooding, drainage, erosion, and access were primarily addressed through colonial land law, in which water was an incident of land ownership and control. The British adapted regional land use systems to suit their own purposes, but they also introduced English common law (including the riparian doctrine) to handle some of the land and water problems that arose. Common law ownership of riparian lands and waters is particularly relevant to the Sundarbans and its surroundings. The colonial land system in Bengal was distinguished by a permanent settlement of land revenue rates and the role of zamindars in revenue administration beginning in 1793. All of what were called "permanently settled lands" were privately owned.

Wescoat, Jr.: Common Law, Common Property, and Common Enemy

Some riverbanks constituted a special class of"temporarily settled land" that were also privately owned. The colonial government did not recognize common property as such, but it did allow for several types of land and water ownership that verge on "commons situations". The first were "government estates," which were owned by the government and often leased out. They included "waste lands" such as the Sundarbans, which were subject to special leasing and sale provisions, and also islands or chars in navigable non-fordable rivers on Crown owned beds. Once again, there were special (diara) settlement rules and temporary leasing provisions for river flats, islands, and government alluvial lands. Government estates played an important role in the Sundarbans. Whereas land ownership north of the Sundarbans consisted largely of privately owned permanently settled lands, the government estates retained government ownership of both land and water. Riyatwari estates represent a special case in wastelands areas, where the government dealt directly with cultivating leaseholders, and where there was a large scale institutional basis for something akin to common property management. One of the major activities in land revenue proceedings in such areas was government resumption of wastelands falsely claimed by zamindars, talukdars, and others. The evolution of colonial land policies for flood control embankments followed a similar progres-. sion. Prior to 1765, embankments were the responsibility of zamindars. Government began to make repairs in 1785 and then assigned responsibility for them to the Salt Agents. Finally in 1803 an Embankments Commission was established to coordinate private and collective actions. In contrast with the present international picture, riparian rights to river flows were not an issue during the colonial period. Under the common law, riparian land owners were entitled to flows undiminished in quantity or quality, subject to unlimited domestic use in upstream reaches. It is not clear whether the riparian land ownership legacy within Bangladesh would today provide a basis for environmental protection, or whether it would be completely subordinate to national programs of water management and development. Important changes have occured in laws related to alluvial processes. In 1951, for example, the (East Bengal) State Acquisition and Tenancy Act (sec. 87) made all new lateral accretions the property of the State and not of the riparian land owners (Khan, 1983).

National Water Development in Bangladesh Whereas in the colonial period water was an adjunct of the land, today it has become a separate vehicle for national economic development. National water planning has expanded from an initial focus on reclamation to incorporate irrigation, flood control, and water quality programs over the years. But national water management has also ushered in massive projects which have had serious consequences for environment and society in the Bengal delta. Water sector planning in Bangladesh remains securely lodged within the Irrigation and Drainage bureaucracies. Despite increased concern for fisheries and environmental impacts, conventional irrigation and flood control projects remain the dominant mode of national water management (e.g., see United Nations, 1959; Farouk, 1968; Chaudury and Siddiqui, 1987; A. Khan, 1987; H. Khan, 1987; Khan and Khan, 1987; T. Khan, 1987). Bangladesh's interests in maximizing freshwater inflows from the Ganges revolve around the following objectives: 1) increasing agricultural production through new irrigation projects; 2) agricultural salinity control; and 3) environmental protection (to the extent that it advances the first two objectives). State water development can be appraised from three published sources: five year plans, reports of the Water Development Board, and irrigation statistics (fig. 3). Each five-year plan devotes a chapter to water resources within the agriculture sector of the plan. Irrigation and flood control have become the primary water management objectives for the State. Although the areal coverage of flood

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79

AGRICULTURE AND HUMAN V A L U E S - - S P R I N G 1990

control projects is far greater than that for irrigation, irrigation investments exceed those for flood control. The second five-year plan (Bangladesh SFYP, 1980-85) puts forward two objectives with special relevance for the Sundarbans area: (v) to protect coastal areas from saline water inundation and to control and regulate floods in affected areas; and (vi) to develop water resources in all parts of the country so that a balanced development in all areas takes place. It is not clear whether salinity control will continue to mean polderization or a more comprehensive approach to freshwater distribution in the delta. Similarly, the second objective could mean further depletions of water for agricultural use in southwestern Bangladesh; or it could mean allocation of water for resource management in marginal areas such as the Sundarbans. The second five-year plan promotes the intensification of high-yielding rice varieties through key inputs such as water, fertilizer, and pesticides. Bangladesh has notably low agricultural input rates for Asia. State sponsored irrigation was a small proportion of total irrigated acreage at the start of the first five year plan. Because the State garners most foreign assistance for agriculture and water development, its prominence in the irrigation sector is increasing. From an early emphasis on large scale water diversion schemes, the State has moved more toward small-scale shallow pumping programs. Multiple-purpose approaches to river basin and coastal zone management face a number of bureaucratic and political obstacles. Management of the Sundarbans is covered in the Forestry sector of the Second-Five Year Plan. Coordination of the Forestry, Agriculture, and Water sectors in Bangladesh, as elsewhere, is minimal. There has been some progress, however, in the water sector. A 1979 summary report by the Bangladesh Water Development Board describes the types of projects undertaken by the State and the regional patterns of water development expenditures (fig. 4). Eighty percent of the water projects completed before 1979 were single-purpose. The heaviest investment relevant to the southwest had been phase one of the Ganges-Kobadak project in Kushtia district. The smallest government expenditures were in Khulna district near the Sundarbans. The pattern of expenditure was heavy in three regional district headquarters of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (Rangpur, Faridpur, Comilla). But projects underway in 1979 displayed a different picture (fig. 5). The proportion of multiple80

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Wescoat, Jr.: Common Law, Common Property, and Common Enemy

western Bangladesh between 1972 and 1985 (Bangladesh, Monthly Statistical Bulletin). Between 1972 and 1974 the percentage of irrigated cropped area ranged from 2% to 14% with the highest levels in districts near the active mouth of the delta (Noakhali, Bakerganj, Comilla, and Dhaka districts) [fig. 6]. Ten years later the percentage of irrigated acreage ranged from 2% to 30%, with major increases on the upper right bank of the Ganges River [fig. 7]. This increase is attributable in large part to Phase One of the Ganges-Kobadak project in Kushtia district. Jessore district irrigation also increased markedly. A map of the percentage increase between 1972 and 1985 indicates that Kushtia, Jessore and Pabna districts all increased by over 200 percent [fig. 8]. Faridpur and Khulna districts, which remained low in terms of acreage irrigated nevertheless increased by over 40 percent. Escalating water demands along the Ganges main stem affect the Sundarbans in several ways. To the extent that irrigation consumes water through evapotranspiration, freshwater inflows

purpose projects increased to nearly 40%. Much greater emphasis was placed on coastal projects (drainage and flood control) and on a barrage to divert Ganges water into the southwestern districts. Coastal development featured a massive polderization scheme, which promised short-term protection of agriculture and settlements, but longterm difficulties with maintenance and extreme events. Also in progress were a set of national and basinwide appraisals that may lead to more spatially and functionally integrated projects.

Regional Water Development in Southwestern Bangladesh The Water Development Board is organized into four administrative regions. The southwestern zone, headquartered at Faridpur, has jurisdiction over the Sundarbans and includes Faridpur, Barisal, Patuakhali, Khulna, Jessore, and Kushtia districts. District statistics indicate major changes in the spatial structure of agricultural water use in southBANGLADESH

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3.4%- 5.8% 5.8% -9.1%

5.4%- 9.6%

11.2%- 13.9%

Figure 6. Irrigated Bangladesh, 1972-74.

I

i

.i~.

2.3%- 2.9%

-.;!!

,......tl

•.:17i 7 Bay

:.,i

,.' '~...... ::'"

13.9% -14.7%

W']']72"]~ 18.8%-29.2%

Lands in District of Southwestern

(BangladeshMonthly StatisticalBulle-

Figure 7. Irrigated Bangladesh, 1983-85.

Land in Districts of Southwestern

81

A G R I C U L T U R E AND H U M A N VALUES---SPRING 1990

L o c a l W a t e r M a n a g e m e n t in the S u n d a r b a n s Area

BANGLADESH .%

...~

,.,

~. %',.

,,,,.

PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN IRRIGATED ACREAGE 1972-74 - 1983-85

\

| ~. .I J

\

I "....~

i:.

v. !

(!/ .:J

5.2%- 35.2% 39% -74% 213% -402%

\

Figure 8. Percent Change in Irrigated Acreage in Districts of Southwestern Bangladesh, 1972-1985. (Bangladesh Monthy Statistical Bulletin).

into the estuary will decline. Some water withdrawals would drain back into the tidal channels of Khulna district as agricultural return flows. But those agricultural returns would bear an increasing load of agricultural chemicals, particularly in view of the push to increase rates of agricultural inputs in Bangladesh. Finally, and more ominously, the map of shifts in irrigated acreage indicates acreage reductions of over 50% in the coastal district Patuakhali and to a lesser extent Barisal. It is not clear what lies behind these data. Major decreases occurred in most regions in the dry year of 1976, when Farakka barrage was operating and irrigated acreage nearly doubled in Kushtia district. These three factors suggest salinity problems on the delta fringe in Patuakhali district and perhaps in the Sundarbans area as well. The implication is that deltaic deterioration stems from national and regional water development in Bangladesh, as well as from upstream actions in India. 82

The preceding analysis sets the stage for more fine-grained investigation ofwateruse patterns and practices in Khulna district. T h a n a agricultural statistics for 1974 through 1979 and more recent thana level data in the 1983 Khulna District Statistics shed light on recent changes in irrigated acreage, methods of irrigation, and use of agricultural chemicals (fig. 9). These data indicate where the most serious problems of freshwater depletion and pollution can be expected. Most measures of irrigated acreage indicate an established core of relatively intensive agricultural water use in the northeastern part of Khulna District, especially in Therokhada, Khulna, Mollahat, Bagherat, and Kachua t h a n a s (fig 10). Interestingly, high water use also occur in Sarankhola t h a n a along the Baleswar River extending into the Sundarbans. Moderately high levels of irrigated acreage are found on the western margins of Khulna district in Syamnagar thana. Agricultural water demand is thus like a girdle constricting the eastern and western boundaries of the forest, but not the northern edges. These initial observations on agricultural water demand are accentuated by data on the percent change in irrigated acreage (fig. 11). The old center of irrigation in the northeastern portion of Khulna district has given way to growth on the eastern and western borders of the district, with the most rapid growth occuring in Debhata and contiguous t h a n a s and once again in Sarankhola t h a n a within the forest itself. Thus, at the local level, the eastern and the western margins of the Sundarbans deserve the closest attention.

1

DEBHATA

/'

:

t

J-

/

1 s.-~

~.

"J " ~ '

5 ~. J""

"t ~

2 KALIGANJ 3

SYAMNAGAR

4

KOYRA

5

KHULNA

6

MOLLAHAT

7

BAGHERAT

8

KACHUA

9

. . . . . '8 3

MONGLA

10

SARANKHOLA

11

DACOPE

--- Sundarbans

i

o

1

('

Bay O f B e n g a l

Figure 9. SelectedThanas in Khulna District.

,

Wescoat, Jr.: Common Law, Common Property, and Common Enemy

KHULNA

Summary

DISTRICT

AVERAGE THANA ACREAGE IRRIGATED 1974-80

,'~,

This paper has shown that any policy for conservation in the Sundarbans cannot hope to succeed without taking international, national, and regional water factors into account. The "law of the river" may not yet be as contorted as on the Colorado River, but it promises to be so. How much fresh water does the Sundarbans ecosystem require, at what times, through what channels, with what pollutant loadings, and with what types and levels of human activity? These are the material questions which now need to be answered. On the political side, we need to know how a reasonably secure supply of reasonably high quality freshwater can be obtained to meet these ecological requirements: i.e., through what international agreements, multilateral development programs, national water KHULNA

DISTRICT

PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN IRRIGATED ACREAGE 1974/5 - 1979/80

i::::::::l

0-561 562- 1,824

1,825 - 4,352 I~Y'72'2"2~ 4,353- 9,940 Figure 10. Thana Irrigation Intensity (Bangladesh, Bureau of Statistics, 1981).

Agricultural water quality was neglected in the 1979 Water Development Board report and in the the Second Five Year Plan. But Green Revolution technologies have required higher chemical inputs, which are likely to increase substantially over the near term. Data for fertilizer and spraying practices in Khulna district are mapped on figures 12 and 13. Fertilizer application rates are closely correlated with the scale of irrigated acreage. Spraying rates are less clear. Dacope thana has high spraying but a low irrigated acreage. Within the Sundarbans, Sarankhola thana once again shows signs of agricultural intensification through spraying. This underlines the importance of monitoring land use, water use, and pollution problems in Sarankhola and Syamnagar thanas.

I::::::::1

-98%-(-39%) -38% - 0

O- 150% P7"2"2'2"2'2~ 150%- 288% Figure 11. Recent Changes in Thana Irrigation. (Bangladesh, Bureau of Statistics, 1981).

83

A G R I C U L T U R E AND HUMAN VALUES---SPRING 1990

KHULNA

KHULNA

DISTRICT

PERCENTAGE ACREAGEFERTILIZED

DISTRICT

PERCENTAGE ACREAGE SPRAYED

Jk \

l:::::::l

2.2%-12.42%

0-11%

12.46% - 17.2%

11%- 16.2%

20.2% - 33.4%

16.2%- 28.3%

37.9% - 80.7%

35.1% - 43%

Figure 12. Percent Area Fertilized by Thana, 1977. (Bangladesh, Bureau of Statistics, 1983).

Figure 13. Percent Area Sprayed for Plant Protection by Thana, 1977 (Bangladesh, Bureau of Statistics, 1983).

policies, and local water administrative arrangements? This paper has shown that both water resources and the Sundarbans forest have been officially managed by the State. This represents a type of property system where rights are held by the state in trust for the people (res publicae). At the local level, public resources are utilized by communities that hold more or less well-defined usufructory rights to enter the Sundarbans and manage resources in the areas specified by their permits. On the one hand, these local usufructuory regimes bear comparison with common property systerns of resource management. At the state level, national management of water and forest resources can be regarded as large-scale institutionalized versions of common property resource management. If so, the Sundarbans area can be regarded as one

of the few places where several systems of common and public resource management intersect and take precedence over private resource ownership. On the other hand, this paper has shown that the various levels, regions, and sectors of public resource management in Bangladesh do not conform well with the ecological linkages and processes in the delta. There are major coordination problems. The international basin is not jointly managed. The colonial bias toward a land revenue system of resource management dominates community-based resource management. National water planning is not integrated with national forest or environmental planning. And as is common around the world, the water sector agencies are not functionally integrated. Irrigation and drainage proceed at the expense of water management for estuarine fisheries, forestry, and land uses. Ecologi-

84

Wescoat, Jr.: Common Law, Common Property, and Common Enemy

cally viable approaches to flood hazard reduction are in the earliest stages of consideration (Rogers, 1989). And estuarine water quality will decline as local agricultural intensification advances throughout the delta, especially in Khulna district. Further geographical inquiry may help to show how these political and environmental issues are related to one another in space, and how constructive regional alternatives might be generated to meet the challenges of conservation in the Sundarbans. Further water resources inquiry may also shed light on the ways and extent to which the Sundarbans can be managed as a jointly public and common property resource. Note

1. The terms "commons"and "commonproperty" willrefer here to what Wade and Herring call commons situations and commons dilemmas, where resources are held or used in common, and where management problems are generated and dealt with by social groups. Although sometimes associated with resource degradation or vulnerability, the term commons situation is more general than the culturally contingent behavioral and political-economic arguments of the so-called tragedy of the commons. References

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87