Floodplain management in Bangladesh: the role of formal and informal institutions

Several formal institutions play a role in managing the natural resources in Bangladesh’s floodplains. These include governmental departments and non-governmental organisations. However, informal social institutions also have a strong influence over local uses of natural resources. Policymakers must consider the influence of these informal institutions.

‘Institution’ means ‘a regular pattern of behaviour’ or ‘a wayto get things done’. Formal institutions are structured organisations andcommittees, such as government departments and non-governmental organisations(NGOs). Informal institutions are more difficult to understand; these incorporateissues such as culture, power relations, religious customs and other socialnorms. For example, in Bangladesh the ‘dowry’ system (payments made to familiesduring a marriage) is an informal institution.

Some institutions influence natural resource management. Itis not always useful to identify clear distinctions between informalinstitutions, because the function of one often influences the other.

Research funded by the UK Department for InternationalDevelopment’s Natural Resources Systems Programme analyses these differentinstitutions, using integrated floodplain management in Bangladesh as a casestudy. Recently, government organisations and NGOs in Bangladesh have increasedlocal involvement in floodplain management. This has led to formal ‘resourcemanagement institutions’ which involve communities in management decisions. Inaddition, some communities operate their own informal initiatives to improvewater management for local farming and fishing needs.

Key findings include:

• Local elite individuals and groups sometimeshave a negative effect on resource management, using programmes to meet theirown interests.
• Religious and traditional institutions can haveconsiderable power over whether local people accept management objectives: theycan either support management objectives or challenge them.
• Management objectives specific to one sector(such as fishing) can potentially cause conflict, by undermining other people’slivelihoods and existing practices.
• Systems to manage natural resources are morelikely to succeed if there are clear opportunities and incentives for localpeople to participate.

Integrated floodplain management should strengthen links between formaland informal institutions. However, to be successful, management interventionsmust acknowledge the social and political differences between the many groupsusing natural resources.

A key policy lesson is:

• Policymakers must recognise that managementprogrammes must reflect the role of informal institutions and local resourcedemands.