Water management and livelihood choices in southwestern Bangladesh: Fid-Bau Portal

Water management and livelihood choices in southwestern Bangladesh

Bernier, Quinn / Sultana, Parvin / Bell, Andrew Reid / Ringler, Claudia

Abstract Coastal Bangladesh faces an increasing number of challenges including cyclones, tidal surges, floods, drought, saline water intrusion, waterlogging and land subsidence, which pose substantial threats to the livelihoods of the coastal inhabitants. In addition to these threats, profound social and land-use changes are complicating the livelihoods of resource users in the region, including the introduction of aquaculture and increasing competition for ground and surface water sources. The government of Bangladesh has targeted this region for investment with irrigation expansion. This paper uses a sustainable livelihood lens to understand the role of investments in water management and irrigation in driving and shaping livelihood changes and transitions over the past ten years and offers recommendations for investments. We find that while water infrastructure development has greatly enhanced the role of agriculture in coastal livelihoods over the last 10 years, further development of irrigation infrastructure should only be prioritized after issues of water governance and inequity across agricultural and aquacultural livelihoods are addressed.

Highlights • We explore drivers of livelihood change and water priorities in southwestern Bangladesh. • Agriculture has become more important because of access to water management infrastructure. • While irrigation has played a key role in the expansion of agriculture, it is not a key priority. • Rise of aquaculture is limited by conflicts and issues that vary across the study area. • Water governance and management issues should be key areas of investment moving forward.