Background
Proper planning and land management support are vital to the post-conflict sustainable development process. CHARM seeks to strengthen institutions that support sustainable land management and planning. Soil erosion and forest degradation are common in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) with adverse on-site effects and impacts downstream and on urban areas, i.e. flash floods, landslides, dam-siltation and declining water quality, loss of biodiversity, and declining crop production.
Aims
- Capacity building in planning CHT land use and management and building an improved information basis for decision making.
- Test and promote a sustainable land management planning technology as developed by a former EU-Indonesia cooperation project.
Project objectives
The overall objective of CHARM is to establish sustainable land management in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Improved land management will halt or even reverse forest and soil degradation, enhance water quality, improve agricultural production, and protect biodiversity. The specific objectives of CHARM are
- To provide baseline information on natural resources of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) through an environmental diagnostic survey which will indicate the status of the environment and identify opportunities for improvement of land management.
- To apply and test a land use planning methodology/technology developed by an EU- Indonesia cooperation project in a pilot area in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The procedure will be tailored to fit stakeholder needs and circumstances.
- To establish an effective partnership for environmental and land management planning in the CHT, between the EU institutes and the Bangladesh partners.
- To develop tools for database analysis and perform analyses that contribute to the land use planning process, such as erosion risk, potential for forest regrowth, land suitability for crops, flooding hazard, priority areas for conservation
Review of activities
The CHARM project will provide sustainable natural resources management alternatives that decrease environmental degradation and hazards. It aims at institutional capacity building and provision of an improved information basis for decision making.
Achievements
- The Inception workshop of the CHARM project was held in Rangamati, Bangladesh (15-16 February 2006). Participants included national and local level policy makers, representatives of tribal groups, natural resources management experts, and representatives from ministeries and line agencies. The workshop served as a platform to share information and views on natural resource management issues in the CHT. Key issues were identified and suggestions for improving natural resources management were formulated and summarized in the workshop proceedings
Partners
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ISRIC - World Soil Information, The Netherlands | |
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Universitat de Lleida, Spain | |
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Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, Bangladesh | |
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Center for Environmental & Geographic Information Services, Bangladesh |