HAKALUKI HAOR MY PROUD! LATS SAVE OUR WEALTH!!

লিখেছেন লিখেছেন সিরাজ ইবনে মালিক ২৭ মার্চ, ২০১৩, ০৫:২৪:৪৩ সকাল

Hakaluki Haor is the country's largest inland freshwater wetland ecosystem,

located at Fenchuganj and Golapganj upazilas of Sylhet district and Baralekha,

Juri and Kulaura upazilas under Moulvibazar district (CNRS,2002).

There are 11 unions (Bhatera, Baramchal, Bhakshimail, Jaifarnagar,

Barni, Talimpur, Sujanagar, Paschim Juri, Gilachhara, Uttar Bade Pasha and

Sharifganj) under these five upazilas of the two districts. The Haor is

located in the north-east of Bangladesh between 24.35nN and 24.45N latitude

and 92.00'E and 92.08E longitude with an area of 18,383 ha (45,406 acres) (CNRS,

2002). It is a shallow water basin

nested between the Patharia and Madhab hills in the East and Bhatera hill to

the West. There are more than 238 small, medium and large interconnecting

beels, some of which are perennial and others seasonal. During the dry season,

approximately 4,4000 ha are is covered by the beel, but with the onset of the

rains in the summer, the entire area floods to about four and half times of

this size (18,383 ha) and remains under water for up to five months. During

this period, all the beels are united as one large lake, or haor, making

Hakaluki Haor the largest freshwater wetland in Bangladesh. The haor is mainly

fed by the Juri/ Kantinala, Sonai/ Bordol, Damai. Fanai, and Kuiachara Rivers,

out of which the Bordol/ Sonai, and Juuri/ Kantinala Rivers are originated in

India. Land ownership is not equally distributed among the population of the

ECA. Most of it is owned by a small number of rich farming families. The

central area of the ECA that are prone to flooding belongs to the Government.

Hakaluki Haor once was with plenty of wildlife

and aquatic resources and covered with swamp forest, which in the recent time

has become a fast-degraded landscape and facing increased pressure and threats

(Choudhury, 2005). Such rapid

degradation of the wetland ecology is causing devastating consequences on the

community people living in, around and downstream of the Hakaluki Haor, who,

for generations, were dependent for their livelihoods upon vital functions,

services and benefits provided by this wetland. About 200,000 people live

around the haor (Choudhury,

2005).All of them, more or less, are dependent on the resources of the

haor for their livelihoods. As the haor floods annually, settlements are

clustered along its slightly raised fringes. On ground of such threats and

rapid degradation of the resources and in recognition of the urgent need to

protect the unique ecology and biodiversity of the haor, Government of

Bangladesh has declared Hakaluki Haor as an "Ecologically Critical Area" (ECA)

under the provision of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act (BECA), in

1999. (CNRS, 2002).

The Hakaluki Haor supports a wide variety of

agricultural and horticultural crops and fast growing introduced timber

species (Khan, 2005).A significant number of

medicinal plants is also found in the Haor.

Fisheries and agriculture are the two major livelihoods for local people

living in and around the ECA (CNRS Final draft,

2004).Other livelihood supports provided by the Haor include cattle

grazing, NTFP collection, duck rearing, and sand mining. Besides, the Haor

serves generally as a transport pathway particularly while it is flooded,

provides water for drinking and washing, provides micro-climate regulation,

and holds significant potential for generating income as a tourist attraction.

Primary stakeholders of the resources of the Haor are farmers, fishers and

collectors of resources from the Haor like aquatic vegetation, cow fodder,

aquatic animals and medicinal plants.

Hakaluki Haor ecosystem supports at least 73 species of wetland vegetation,

which is nearly half of the national total of 158 species of vegetation

(Choudhury and Faisal, 2005). The flora of Hakaluki Haor is a

combination of ecologically important remnant swamp forest and reed lands

although many of these species including vegetations are now largely absent.

Hakaluki Haor is a critical habitat and

breeding ground for fish and other aquatic species and considered as one of

the four major "mother fisheries" in Bangladesh. More than 100 fish species

are available in the Haor, one third of which are listed as engender

(Choudhury and Faisal, 2005).

Some of the major economically important fishes are Rui (Labeo rohita), Gonia

(L. gonius), Kalibush (L calbasu), Katla (Katla catla), Mrigal (Cirhinus

mrigala), Boal (Wallago atiu), Pangus (Pangasius pangasitts), Air (Aorichthys

aor), Guizza air (Aovichihys seenghala), Bagha air (Bagarins bagarius), Rita

(Rita rita), Magur (Clarias batrachus), Singhi (heleropneules fossils), Kani

pabda (Ompok binocidaius), Madhu pabda (Ompok pabda), Tengra (Mystus lengra

and AI. villains), Koi (Anabus testudineus), etc. Giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium

rosenbergii) and small prawns’ are also available in the small rivers and

canals. (CWBMP,

2004).

The Haor is also the home for globally

significant waterfowl especially large number of' migratory duck species that

pass the winter season in the EGA. There was an estimation of wintering

population of ducks in 1960s at between 40,000 to 60,000

(CWBMP, 2004). The numbers have now declined

considerably. Hakaluki Haor is rich in wildlife resources also. There are a

number of varieties of mammals and reptiles including snakes, frogs, turtles,

toads, tortoises, Irrawady Squirrel, and the Gangetic Dolphin that inhabits in

the Kushiara River.

The Hakaluki Haor wetland has been subject to

severe degradation and loss including significant declining of its resources

that have been in turn affected the livelihoods of those dependent on the

wetlands and their resources. The causes responsible for such degradation of

wetland habitat and their resources are identified as sedimentation,

development interventions such as conversion of wetland and forest land into

agricultural land, drainage and river diversion for irrigation, degradation of

aquatic habitat due to agro-chemical pollution from agricultural lands and tea

states and over exploitation of the wetland resources by the rapidly growing

human population in absence of appropriate policy and management measures.

The forest resources (swamp and reed land

plants) in the Haor lack proper conservation and management. Due to absence of

such management measures, over and illegal exploitation by the local people

and leaseholders for fire wood, placing for making brush shelter in the beels,

cattle fodder, herbal medicine, food, housing and mat making materials. The

swamp/reed land plants are gradually declining. The swamp and reed land plants

also provide habitat and food for wildlife, fishes birds and serves as

barriers against the erosive effects of wave action, etc.

The beels/canals/rivers (jalmahals) within the

Haor owned by the Government are supposed to lease out to the actual fishers

as per present policy for exploitation of fisheries resources but the local

influential somehow manage the lease of the jalmahals. So, the actual fishers

(mostly poor) have lost their access rights to fishing in the Haor, where they

work as laborers and on share basis or by paying license fees to the

leaseholders. However, the poor fishers and the local people have free access

floodplain (privately owned land) during rainy season, when the Haor becomes a

large sheet of water. Fishing in the flowing rivers is open and free for all.

Increasing fishing pressure due to rapid growth of human population and

destructive fishing by harmful gears, dewatering, etc. in the Haor are

responsible for depletion of fisheries resources —

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৩৬৩০ বার পঠিত, ০ টি মন্তব্য