Event -1: 17 20 December 2013 Bandarban, … of...Farid Uddin Ahmed, Executive Director Abdul Mannan, Program Officer (M & E) Farhana Khan Pushpa, Asst. Program Officer (Training &

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Report on the Training of Stakeholders on Adaptation to Climate Change Issues in

Prepared by:

Farid Uddin Ahmed, Executive Director

Abdul Mannan, Program Officer (M & E)

Farhana Khan Pushpa, Asst. Program Officer (Training & Communication)

Arannayk Foundation, December 2013

Report on

Training of Stakeholders on Adaptation to Change including Climate Change Issues

Event-1: 17-20 December 2013

Bandarban, Chittagong Hill Tracts

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Introduction

To adapt with the ever deteriorating state of Climate change and enhance people’s status on

knowledge regarding this issue, Arannayk Foundation signed an agreement with International Centre

for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on 01 September 2013 to implement a pilot

capacity building component of ICIMOD’s ‘Support to Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change

Adaptation in the Himalayas (Himalica) project at Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). This Training Report is

part of the expected outputs in line with the Collaborative Program of Arannayk Foundation (AF)-

ICIMOD training program ‘Adaptation to change including climate change issues’ at Chittagong Hill

Tracts (CHT) aimed at to support dialogue and capacity building of the stakeholders in CHT for

identifying the drivers of changes and promoting livelihoods of vulnerable people as well as creating

awareness about changes including climate change to the stakeholders, focusing on the following

specific activities to be carried out in the pilot phase:

Participating in regional Training of Trainers (ToT) on adaptation to change including Climate

Change issues,

Adapting and contextualizing the concept, training manual and learning materials

disseminated during ToT,

Training at least 150 government and non-government sector staffs and community leaders

on adaptation to change including climate change issues and resilient building.

Solicitation of the participants

The 6 events of trainings began with the training of Non Governmental Organization (NGO)

personnel at Bandarban, Chittagong. AF staffs with the help of Bandarban regional partner

organizations’ staffs collected detailed addresses of 25 local NGOs working actively for community

empowerment and livelihood capacity development in and around Bandarban. The Executive

Director of AF solicited nominations from the selected NGOs for trainees firstly via email and then

via sending official letters to the respective NGOs’ Executive Directors. Gender issue was considered

in the selection of trainees as each of the EDs was requested to nominate one of the female staffs

preferably.

In response to the request for nomination, 25 nominations were received. But due to the aggravated

political situation 2 of the trainees (From the NGO named Caritas) could not join the training

sessions.

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Logistics and venue

ICIMOD provided 2 of the nominated participants of AF with Training of Trainers (TOT) on

Adaptation to Climate Change at Nagarkot during 22-26 November 2013, where a basic structure for

organizing the trainings, maintaining schedule and organising each session were developed. The

structure reviews the milestones of planning, organising and evaluating the total training events. All

the basic components of each session were provided by ICIMOD to AF staffs, which afterwards was

shared with the selected resource persons and localized as per the context and current situations of

the CHT. According to that all the training materials were localized in the context of Bangladesh and

in some cases particularly in the context of Bandarban. Before finalizing the training dates and venue

all the materials for logistic support before, during and after the training were prepared by the AF.

The training was organized in Sangu Residential Hotel, Bandarban located at Don Bosco High School

Road, Jadi Para, Bandarban, Chittagong, Bangladesh from 17-20 December 2013. There were two

facilitators and five resource persons.

Facilitators:

Mr. Abdul Mannan, Program Officer (Monitoring), Arannayk Foundation

Ms Farhana Khan Pushpa, Asst. Training and Communication Officer, Arannayk Foundation

Resource persons:

1. Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed, Executive Director, Arannayk Foundation

2. Dr. M.A. Quddus, Senior Program Officer, Arannayk Foundation

3. Prof. Dr. Md. Kamal Hossain, Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong

university, Chittagong

4. Mr. Sudibya Kanti Khisa, Former CHTDB Director and Freelance Consultant, Dhaka

5. Dr. Md. Mohiuddin, Divisional Head, Forest Botany Division, Bangladesh Forest Research

Institute, Chittagong

Inauguration ceremony

On Tuesday December 17, 2013 formal inauguration of the ‘Training of Stakeholders on Adaptation

to Climate Change Issues in Chittagong Hill Tracts- Bandarban’ was held. The inaugural ceremony

was chaired by the Executive Director of Arannayk Foundation Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed. Bomoung

Circle Chief King U Chaw Prue was the Chief Guest and Mr. S.K. Moug, Member of Hill Regional

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Council was present as the special guest in the ceremony. Each of them made a formal address on

this occasion.

The Inauguration session started with an introductory speech of Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed, where he

introduced Arannayk Foundation to the audiences, elucidated its mission-vision and contributions

towards conserving forests all over the CHT. He also introduced International Centre for Integrated

Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and its collaboration history with AF followed by its vision. During

his speech, he introduced all the resource persons in the training. He then invited the special guest

Mr. K.S. Moung for his speech.

Picture-1: The Chief Guest King U Chaw Prue while giving his inaugural speech as chief guest

Mr. K. S. Moung, special guest, Member, Chittagong Hill District regional council, Rangamati in his

speech appreciated the AF for its involvement in CHT region, especially in the conservation of village

common forests of Chimbuk belt and Rowangchari of Bandarban and supporting livelihoods of

indigenous communities. He said that Arannayk Foundation is their trusted friend and working with

people giving due respect to the tribal culture and regulations. He requested the participants to take

maximum benefit of the learning from the training. He also thanked AF and the ICIMOD for this

collaboration and requested not to limit this effective session only in the trainings but to implement

the outcome in the field level in and around Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Afterwards Bomoung Circle Chief King U Chaw Prue in his speech described his significant role in

establishing integrated agriculture in CHT as a professional Agricultural Engineer working with the

Government of Bangladesh and later with the UNDP. He said that he dreams for a greener

Bandarban having dense forest cover with abundance of water. He also expressed his gratitude

towards Arannayk Foundation and the ICIMOD for their collaboration in creating awareness about

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changes including climate change in Chittagong Hill Tracts, especially in the Bandarban. He shared

his observations on changes in Bandarban over time and requested Arannayk Foundation to work

closely with local level stakeholders to mitigate the negative effects of changes. He said that he

foresee a bright future for Bandarban due to its natural beauty, most pleasant tribal communities

and their entertaining behaviour. He expects that in near future there will be plenty of visitors. It

would require many quality hotels and even community based ecotourism to accommodate those

visitors. He thanked all the resource persons and specially mentioned the name of Mr. Sudibya Kanti

Khisa who worked closely with him in UNDP. He said that Mr. Khisa is fully conversant with the

changes of Chittagong Hill Tracts. He believed that the participants would be immensely benefited

from the training. He then opened the workshop.

After the speech of both, Special Guest and the Chief Guest, a video documentary was showed on

the activities of AF in Khagrachari of Chittagong Hill Tracts where 35 highly degraded hills of

Dighinala were brought under complete tree cover with indigenous species within three years.

Following the success of the first phase, during second phase another 100 hills were also brought

under project and the communities living in both old and new areas were supported for improving

their livelihood. Their income level has improved significantly due to capacity building support of AF

and the communities in the area are now practicing 18 different agro-forestry technologies. They

have established a revolving loan fund which ensured their access to credit without interest.

The Chief Guest and the Special Guest were highly impressed watching the video. The King Mr. Prue

said that it was his dream to make Bandarban green and he desired to have at least one community

managed village forest in each village. He requested Arannayk Foundation to work with him for

materializing his dream. He once again expressed his deep sense of gratitude to ICIMOD for the

collaborative program and promised to support Arannayk Foundation in all possible ways.

At the very end of the inauguration ceremony Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed once again expressed his

gratitude towards the special guest, chief guest and other guests such as Executive Directors of

NGOs and assured of working together with them for betterment of the people of Chittagong Hill

Tracts.

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Participant’s profile

The training sessions were participatory. The introductory session was started with introduction of

participants. Through participatory approach, backgrounds of the participants were assessed. The

findings were as follows:

Theme Participant’s number

Gender Male 12

Female 11

Age Above 30 18

Below 30 5

Educational qualifications Bachelors 16

Masters or above 7

Working experience Below 5 years 5

Above 5 years 18

Experience as trainer Yes 3

No 20

Experience as trainee Yes 6

No 17

Experience in climate

change

yes 13

No 10

Marital status Married 5

Unmarried 18

Ethnicity of tribal

participants

Bawm 1

Tripura 3

Chakma 5

Marma 10

Bengali 4

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Picture-2: Training participants along with trainers

The participants were also encouraged for setting-up few ground rules to be followed throughout

the training sessions, which were:

Maintaining punctuality

Keeping mobile phones silent while the sessions

Answering only important phone calls that too without disturbing

Not disturbing others

Asking directly to the resource persons or the facilitators if anything remains unclear

Maintaining harmony amongst all the participants

Respecting opinion of others

As the participants themselves set-up the rules, they promised to abide by the rules during the

training period which were truly followed by the participants during the training.

Technical sessions

There were seven technical sessions in the training. In each day, there were three technical sessions.

Third day was field visit and group works including presentation of group works. Fourth day had one

session followed by a group work for developing a plan of adaptation and sketching dream for

Bandarban 2030.

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Session-1: Change

Resource person: Mr. Sudibbya Kanti Khisha

Facilitator: Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed

Presentation: The session started with presentation of an overview on ‘Change’ in Chittagong Hill

Tracts in general and Bandarban in particular by Mr. Sudibbya Kanti Khisha. He shared his practical

experience of changes from 1960 to 2013 and also history of Bandarban since 1900 when CHT

Manual was developed. His presentation followed with questions and answers. Then the

participants were requested to do a group work to identify the changes they have observed in

Bandarban. The participants were arranged into three groups (8 in each group).

Group work: The resource persons were distributed to the three groups. They led the session in

order to identify the changes in the district. The three groups presented their findings on changes in

land-use, livelihood pattern, social context, weather pattern, cropping pattern and also added their

views of how people are adapting to these changes. There were strong similarities in findings of 3

groups. In the case of the changes of land use pattern they pointed out that there is serious decline

of tree cover and soil fertility in the hills reducing their fallow period of jhum cultivation to 3-4 years

from 15-20 years. They also mentioned that there are some exotic species now which are planted in

the hills replacing natural vegetation. Many of the agricultural crops is replaced by tobacco

cultivation both in plain land and even in gentle slopes of hills. While pointing out he changes in

livelihood pattern a striking change in the livelihood was noticed. Most of the inhabitants shifted to

other occupations like day laborer, services (NGO, Readymade Garments Industry), small scale

business (grocery shop, handicraft selling), etc. They claimed that agriculture is no more profitable

because of decline in production. In the case of presenting the social changes, all of the groups

mentioned that social binding is much weaker now compared to the past. Increasing poverty is

noted as one of the main factors for change. As regards behavior of weather, all groups mentioned

that the rainfall pattern is changing having no rain during peak monsoon period but they observed

either early or late rainfall in May or August-September. Scarcity of water due to reduced flow of

water in streams is considered as one of the main challenges for them. They also mentioned that

many of the hills are now having fruit orchards, teak or rubber plantations, banana plantation,

turmeric and ginger plantations, pineapple plantation, etc. Though the crops give quick return but

the top soil is lost after one or two harvests.

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Session-1 (Cont.): Changes & Drivers of change

Resource person: Mr. Sudibbya Kanti Khisha

Facilitators: Dr. Mohd. Abdul Quddus & Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed

Presentation: At the very beginning of this session a small discussion on the definition of change and

the participants’ point of view on this were discussed. Mr. Sudibbya Kanti Khisha, being a soil

conservation specialist shared his experience of changes in this region for last few years. In his

discussion, he highlighted the basic differences between intended and unintended, positive and

negative changes. The drivers of change were explained and few climatic and non-climatic drivers

were also pointed out. An example of the non-climatic driver- migration was shown where a huge

crowd of people were shown in the airport to see off their relatives for flying to middle east from

Bangladesh for earning foreign exchange were shown. The consequences of these changes in the

Hindu-Kush Himalayan region were discussed. Similarly he cited the examples of migration of people

from coastal areas due to river bank erosion and tornadoes like Aila and Sidr who are the victim of

climate change.

He also described the impact of changes which included:

o Farmers are losing seasonal crops

o Cropping cycles are changing

o Yield of agricultural crops are becoming more dependent on weather conditions

o People are looking for alternative livelihood options

o Due to prevailing drought, drought resistance varieties are needed

o More hardship for women

Picture-3: Facilitators clarifying the participant queries by simplifying the technical matters

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Group work: The participants were then requested to work in three groups to identify the drivers

for three major changes in Bandarban by each group mentioning whether the changes were due to

intentional or unintentional and climatic or non-climatic changes.

Picture-4: Participants while working in groups

According to the groups, the major change was in decline of water availability either for drinking or

for domestic use. They identified both intentional and unintentional drivers for such change. They

considered deforestation as the intentional change while reduced rainfall is due to climatic change

which is unintentional for the people of Bandarban. In addition, they regarded teak plantation,

Banana plantation, turmeric and ginger plantation, etc. as non-climatic drivers. They also mentioned

about migration of people from plain land (other parts of the country) as one of the main drivers for

change. They considered such change as the causes of reduced land availability for agriculture by the

tribal people.

Session-2: Climate change

Resource person: Dr. Mohd. Abdul Quddus

Facilitator: Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed

Presentation: The session started with an introduction to the concept, context of Climate change by

Dr. Quddus. He described the process of global climate change and its impact in Bangladesh with

special reference to Chittagong Hill Tracts. He also described the sources of green house gases and

its relation with Global Warming. He also shared the impact of global warming on sea level rise with

each degree raise in the global temperature. Through participatory methods, the participants were

requested to identify the impact of sea level rise on the Chittagong Hill Tracts. They said that many

climate victims might move to CHT making competition for settlement which will create further

conflict between plain Landers and the hilly people.

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Picture-5: Dr. Quddus delivering his presentation on Climate change facts & scenarios

The facilitator in his discussion mentioned that tropical deforestation is one of the main contributors

to the global climate change. He said that emission from deforestation contributes to 20% of GHG.

CHT, having more than 90% land under hills and natural forest cover experienced serious

deforestation in recent year. So, the participants were made aware of negative impact of

deforestation. Simultaneously they were given clear understanding of REDD+. The main message

given to them was that there is an upcoming possible opportunity of earning money by the

community from conserving forests rather than selling trees from the forests. The facilitator stated

the status of REDD+ in Bangladesh.

Session-3: Impacts of climate change on ecosystem (water, vegetation, and land) and

Biodiversity

Resource person: Prof. Dr. Kamal Hossain

Facilitator: Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed

Presentation: Prof. Dr. Kamal Hossain is a silviculturist by profession and made extensive survey of

Chittagong Hill Tracts. He is familiar with most of the plants of the area. He shared his experience in

changes from 1971 to 2013. He described ecosystem and biodiversity and their services for the

livelihoods of people living in the area. Then he showed some of the plants through PowerPoint

presentation which were found once in abundance but now rarely available. Some of the plants

were directly related to food and fruits while others were important for wildlife. He presented a list

of threatened plants and animals in Bangladesh (Red List of Threatened Species).

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Figure-6: Prof. Dr. Kamal Hossain sharing his finding on climate change impacts on Ecosystem

Prof. Dr. Kamal’s presentation created a sense of obligation to all the participants. The participants

were very happy which was evident from their feedback at the end of the day in our assessment

system.

Session-4: Impacts of Climate Change on Livelihoods

Resource person: Dr. Md. Mohiuddin

Facilitator: Mr. Sudibbya Kanti Khisha & Dr. Mohd. Abdul Quddus

Presentation: The session was divided into two parts: in the first part Dr. Mohd. Abdul Quddus gave

a brief concept about livelihood and the sustainable livelihood framework which included human

capital, natural capital, financial capital, social capital and physical capital. In the second part Mr.

Khisa cited some examples of natural capital and social capital with respect to people of Chittagong

Hill Tracts.

Later Dr. Mohiuddin made an elaborated presentation on the livelihoods of different tribes in

Bandarban. He related the changes with ecosystem services, biodiversity and climate change. He

highlighted the distribution of different food producing plants with availability of moisture (water),

canopy cover and soil conditions.

Dr. Md. Mohiuddin is widely known to many of the participants for his research work in the area. He

made his presentation very interesting through sharing his knowledge with some of their colloquial

langue. He recommended some of the ppossible solutions for mitigating, adapting and coping with

the changes.

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Session-5: Adaptation

Resource person: Dr. Mohd. Abdul Quddus

Facilitator: Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed

Presentation:

The session started with a brief introduction on adaptation. For better understanding pictorial

examples of various adaptation behaviors and technologies were shown. Adaptation was later

explained as a continuous process where close and continuous observation is needed.

Many of the participants had trouble in understanding the differences between coping and

adaptation. This problem was solved using a chart and few practical examples of these two terms. At

the very end the strategies of adaptation and coping were discussed, where localized examples for

each term was explained. As an example of diversification of income and employment opportunities,

green belt afforestation, homestead planting and agro-forestry were cited as adaptation strategies

and cultivation of suitable short duration crops immediately after flood, safe storage of foods, seeds

and other assets as few of the coping strategies.

Session-6: Adaptation Planning

Resource person: Prof. Dr. Mohammed Kamal Hossain

Facilitator: Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed & Dr. Mohd. Abdul Quddus

Presentation: In this session some examples of short term and long term adaptation planning

techniques were discussed. For Bandarban few short term examples prevailing in the area such as

growing high value crops in small area for cash, bio-intensive farming, organic farming were

discussed and for long term plans protecting forests for water, improved shifting cultivation

incorporating high value crops with traditional crops, mechanization in agriculture were discussed.

For better understanding of the participants’ mitigation, precaution and adaptation were defined.

Field visit:

The location selected for field visit was a Community Conserved Area (CCA) named Bijoy para in

Rowangchari, Bandarban who have been conserving the adjacent forest for their own community

also known as Village Common Forest (VCF). Their VCF is not only a home for various wild species

like bear, boar, deer, various bird species but also provides year long water storage within it. With

the help of a GFS the community people have ensured well managed water supply for all of the

families directly from the VCF. This constant water supply also has helped the community to practice

agro-forestry and ensure food security. The tribal community had been managing the forest for last

50 years mainly for water. There is a committee which oversees the management of the forest. The

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chief of the committee is Headman of the area. Without his permission, nobody can harvest either

any bamboo or any tree. Illegal harvesting is punishable offense. For any illegal harvest, one has to

pay Tk 500 along with returning the forest resource. For repeated offense, the person or family is

ousted from the community. The water from this forest is run though some streams. One of the

main streams is used as water collection site through establishment of a dam (like one in Dulikhel).

Water from the forest runs through this dam. A water distribution system is established by an NGO

named CCDB. Community members get water right at their door step. On the foothill there is a big

pond where fish culture project is taken up. Rest of the water which goes down to their doorstep

keeping them healthy and they are good drinking water from the forest. They are using the water for

cultivating vegetables.

Picture-7: Participants visiting GFS in the Village Common Forest (VCF)

This kind of water distribution system without using any generator or electricity is called

Gravitational Flow System (GFS) of water distribution. Arannayk Foundation has also set similar

system in its project. Water is very scarce in Chittagong Hill Tracts. Most of the people suffer from

water borne diseases in Bandarban. Access to water is reduced due to high rate of deforestation. In

most of the stream now people get water only for 3-5 months during rainy season. In the past they

used to get water almost 9-10 months. Now people are making dig hole in the steam for storing

water and collection of water for their daily use.

Brief information regarding the community has been given below:

Name: Bijoy para

Location: Rowangchari, Bandarban

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Year of establishment of VCF: 1960

Distance from Bandarban town: 20 km

Family: 28

Population: 104

Community centre (UNICEF school): 1

Schools: 2

Village Common Forest: 165 acres

Gravity Water Flow system (GFS): 1

Pond: 3

Tube-well: 5

Sanitary latrine: 22

Education: Secondary School Certificate-8

Higher Secondary School-4

Present school enrolment: 100% (children of 6-10 years)

Occupation: Agriculture, fisheries, day-labourer, shop keeping, business, service

All participants visited the community and were divided into 3 groups to compare the past and

present situation of the community. The timeframe was selected of 25-30 years for better

comparison. Major tool of investigation was Focused Group Discussion (FGD) along with Key

Informant Interviews (KII) separately for each of the groups. Their findings along with their

suggestions have been noted down:

Picture-8: Resource persons, Participants and Local community members in one frame before starting back

towards training venue

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Previous scenario: The community members have been practicing shifting cultivation and didn’t give

much emphasis of planting fruit yielding trees. Though there were schools in other areas but the

community people were not much interested in taking education. The community was dependent

on traditional healers for their ailments.

There were plenty of tree species (wild Jackfruit, Uri mango, Gutguttya trees that provide good

wood and fruits for wild animal, medicinal plants, Civit, Bamboo etc.), animals (tiger, bear, deer,

monkey, wild boar etc.) and natural water sources (rainwater, natural well and stream) in and

around the community. The communication system was not good. There were seasonal diseases

such as malaria and cholera. Many of the dwellers died due to those diseases. They also found that

there was scarcity of skilled manpower due to lack of proper education and training and it led to the

lack of leadership quality in the community members. There was not much exposure to the outside

world. A poor quality of market system directed them to un-wealthy financial condition. But the

most positive part was that there was better social harmony within the community members.

Present scenario: Matured and big trees are gone along with loss of wild animals. Water availability

is greatly reduced. The infrastructure has improved. Time taken to travel to different places reduced.

Major changes have been noticed in the occupation of the community members. Most of them are

earning their living by managing grocery-shop, doing small scale business, cultivating seasonal

vegetables, working as day labourers or cultivating tobacco. A reduced amount of dependency on

natural healer has been noticed along with an increased rate of education. Currently there are 2

schools present in the community and almost all of the children of 6-10years are attending schools.

There are hospitals and doctors in the area and now they don’t depend on traditional healers. No

infectious diseases have occurred in the past 5-10 years. Rate of Malaria infestation is reduced. They

have year-round access to water because of GFS. Number of wild animals present in the VCF is more

that other areas. More financial and technological supports have been provided by different

organizations, namely CCDB, Tahzingdong, Caritas, UNICEF, Taunga, UNDP and at the same time

assistance to aged, widow, Handicapped people have been provided by the Government.

Group presentation: Bandarban-Vision 2030

At the very end of the technical sessions the participants were asked to sketch Bandarban with

successful adaptation plan in the year 2030. A rough guideline from the facilitators and resource

persons was given to each randomly formed group though they were asked not to stick only to the

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guideline but also to widen their imagination and portray their expectations of ‘Bandarban-Vision

2030’.

The groups came up with a greener Bandarban having dense vegetation in all hills. They wished to

have a self-dependent Bandarban where every cast and gender will live in harmony. There will be

well managed water sources all over the area. Gravitational Flow System (GFS) of water supply is

considered for sustained supply of water to each household. They dreamt for a university in

Bandarbans and several four and five star hotels to accommodate tourists. They also thought of

branding mineral water from the spring. With abundance of water, they dreamt to several fisheries

project and good agricultural harvest. They dreamt for a happy, pollution free, corruption free

modern city, enjoying living in the areas with equal rights.

They desired to have 80% of people educated within 2030. They want to promote eco-tourism. Since

shifting cultivation is a part of their culture they expect to keep on doing this in a sustainable way

along with other AIGAs. Many of the inhabitants are ignorant of the issue of sustainable agriculture

and forestry. Thus they are looking forward to have proper guideline for performing these activities

in a sustainable way from various individuals and/or organizations.

Picture-9: Product of motivational session; how a group of participants wants to see Bandarban on 20130

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Since they by now do not have that financial capital, proper technological facilities or even proper

motivation or training on the above mentioned sectors they expect to have support from different

GO-NGOs to come forward and help them to build a sustainable management system in and

surrounding Bandarban. They want to have more crop varieties suitable to hills. Their expectation is

to build a poverty free Bandarban, where everyone will have strong social bond, which will be a

model not only for CHT but for entire Bangladesh.

Picture-10: Group representatives presenting how their group wants to see their Bandarban on 20130

Concluding session

The concluding session was chaired by the Executive Director of Arannayk Foundation Mr. Farid

Uddin Ahmed and the King Mr. Prue was the Chief Guest. He was impressed with the outcome of the

training. He wanted Arannayk Foundation to assist him in developing at least one village common

forest in each village. He also emphasized on the need for training local leaders such as Headman

and Karbari on change including climate change. He said that after capacity building if follow up

support for adaptation to changes through improving livelihood is not addressed, its objective will

not be achieved. He thanked the organizer, participants and the ICIMOD for taking an excellent

initiative.

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Picture-11: Participants taking certificates from the Bomang circle chief

The participants were given certificate of participation by the King Mr. Prue at the very end. Two

representatives of the participants shared their views on the training. They highly appreciated the

approach and methodology of the training and expressed their highest gratitude to the AF-ICIMOD

collaboration for arranging the training. They also requested to provide further help in

implementation of their lessons in the field. The King in his concluding speech requested the AF to

incorporate local leaders (Karbari, Headman) in the future training.

Impact of the training

One of the participants Mr. Bir Bahadur Tripura, in his remarks shared his reaction to the

participants. He said that he could learn about need for conservation of VCF through this training. To

his knowledge, one of the VCF near to his working area at Lama (30 km from Bandarban) has sold

out 40,000 cft of wood for Tk 150,000. After having a visit to Bijoy Para he realized the importance of

VCF for water supply. He requested the organizer to support the VCF management in Lama to stop

selling trees. The AF promised to provide necessary support including cash to stop felling trees from

the VCF. The Chief Guest also took note of the area and agreed to take up the matter.

Ms. Sherly Maswe Prue (a trainer, CCDB) also shared her views on the training. She thanked AF-

ICIMOD for arranging the training that helped her to realize how vulnerable the natural resources

are. Few of the issues that they knew for a very long time was never a matter of concern for them,

like: the only fresh water source for CHT is the natural forests but due to various types of changes

these forests are being destroyed. She told that she would try to mainstream the lessons in their

livelihood program.

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Feedback & suggestions

The participants gave their written feedback on the training for improvement. Each of the

participants was given cards to write their feedback and suggestions.

The following points were emerged:

The training was most useful to widening their understanding on change including climate

change

They realized that a massive program is needed to create awareness among tribal

communities for taking necessary steps to stop negative changes.

Group works were very useful for learning

Though some changes are positive, there are many changes which are affecting their

livelihood.

They have learned that CHT is rich in biodiversity but it is gradually disappearing due to

improper anthropogenic activities

Got a very good idea of climate change and green house gases and their impact on livelihood

Realized impact of deforestation and its impact on livelihood

From field visit we realized the importance of VCF and its ecosystem services especially in

sustainable water supply.

Field visit was extremely useful

Video presentation was very good. More video presentations on changes and its impact on

livelihood needed

PowerPoint presentations were good

Resource persons were respectful to the participants

Learned roles of different stakeholders in management of changes and its impact

Good combination of lectures and practices

Training has created a dream for change within the participants

Training has provided an opportunity to revisit the people with change lens.

Same training should be given to Headmen and Karbari

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Lessons learned

The major learning we got from this training event could be summarized (as well as adaptation

measures) as follows:

1. Field visit to show land use change and its impact on livelihood vis-à-vis best practices was

found very useful to widen their understanding. It also helped motivating participants in

conservation and management of natural resources. They also had a clear understanding of

ecosystem services from the natural forests and its contribution to livelihood. From group

presentations on adaptation planning, it was observed that, participants were sensitized

about deforestation and its impact.

2. Using resource persons who are known to them for their works and from their community

was a good choice. It helped building rapport and sharing practical knowledge about

changes. Dr. Mohiuddin, Mr. Sudibya Kanti Khisa and Dr. Kamal Hossian are known for their

extensive field works in Bandarban. Moreover, they were familiar with good works of

Arannayk Foundation.

3. It was found that the participants were more interested to know more about the changes in

Bandarban. During planning of next training to be held during 20-23 January 2014 some

adjustments were made considering level of participants and their nature of work.

4. Participants were drawn from different NGOs. Most of them had been working on livelihood

but they were not quite conversant about the impact of biodiversity and forests on

livelihood. In adaptation plan, most of the participants agreed to mainstream the issue of

water and NRM for improving livelihood.

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List of participants

Uwaiching marma Rafiqul Islam Thoui saching Marma Unai Ching Marma (FF,AKS) (PC, TARANGO) (PC, DPOD) (FF, BNKS)

U chaw nue marma Prue may shing Sudipan Khisa Tapati Baruya (EC member, Tahzingdong) (FF, Humanitarian Foundation) (Area Manager, CCDB) (AMLO, Green Hill)

Riya Chakma Sherly Maswe Prue Paiching U Stiphan Tripura (Community Organizer, BIBARTAN) (Trainer, CCDB) (PC, TAHZINGDONG) (Field Supervisor, TOYMU)

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Aung Chaw Mong Bilkis Begum Maya Chakma Janet Vnpar Naco (Admin & HRO, BNKS) (Trainer, TOYMU) (Nutrition Officer cum master trainer, Green Hill) (PC, GRAUS)

Bright Chakmaa Bir Bahadur Tripura Masainue marma Bir Bahadur Tripura (PC, GRAUS ) (Coordinator CSP & LDP, AGAPE) (FF, RDO) (PC, Humanitarian Foundation)

Md. Hossain MongSaNo Marma Rupati Chakma (PC, N.Z. Ekata Mohila Samiti) (ED, RDO) (Accountant, BIBARTAN)