The southwest coastal region of Bangladesh is located in the lap of Mangrove forest, Sundarbans and Bay of Bengal. The area has been suffering negative impacts of climate change like, salinity intrusion and saline area expansion, monsoon variability, irregular rainfall, cyclones and tidal surges. It is one of the most disaster prone area which was seriously affected by super cyclone SIDR and AILA in 2009. After AILA most of the area of those upazilas became inundated by saline water which increased salinity in soil and water prenatally. Due to unplanned shrimp culture and sea level rise, salinity in soil and water is increasing day by day. The situation increased hardship of life of community people which immersed in distress in their livelihoods. A large number of people are also migrating from the area.
Considering the situation LEDARS has been implementing 2 projects in this area to enhance adaptive livelihood capacity and income of target beneficiaries. To reduced climate induced migration the project introduced integrated water resource management model through excavated mini ponds and canals in paddy land, established deep tube-wells, support households to preserve the daily use waste water for dry season cropping, etc. The project also increase awareness of the beneficiaries how to maximum use of their conserve rainwater, what kind of varieties are growing in less water, which verities can grow in brackish water, introduce tools and techniques to adaptive agriculture, etc. The project encourages farmers to practice resilient agriculture by adopting new water management model and for that the project provides incentives like seed, fertilizer and other agriculture equipments distribution. To reduce hardship of people’s life the project also supports beneficiaries to remove drinking water scarcity of the beneficiaries.
The “Water Showcase” is an international prize in water sector. They announced a call for nomination for the prize in late 2014. LEDARS submitted a success story which they are implementing in southwest coastal region of Bangladesh. 9 success stories have been selected for final round of Water Showcase world Final from successfully submitted 115 cases. The 9 finalist call to present their cases in 7th World Water Forum which has been held in Daego, Republic of Korea on 12-17 April 2015. In 15 April 2015, there have a presentation session for select top 4 cases from 9 cases. Executive Director of LEDARS, Mohon Kumar Mondal presented the case there. Based on the submitted case, poster presentation, oral presentation and onsite vote LEDARS win this excellent third prize. The prize money is Korean Won 6,000,000 and a trophy.
