http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/267 2026-04-07T03:55:30Z 2026-04-07T03:55:30Z Nuruzzaman, Md. http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/4767 2026-02-18T10:23:26Z 2025-02-18T00:00:00Z

Towards Socially Responsive Shrimp Farming: Land Tenure, Institutions and Sustainability in selected Commercial Shrimp Farming areas in South-Western Bangladesh Nuruzzaman, Md. This study investigates the land tenurial dynamics along with farming systems and land use patterns, and analyses the institutional relations seeking the social responses across the shrimp farming areas of south-western coastal districts. The research aim was to understand the land tenure issues with associated institutions, refute the criticisms that have been recycled over the decades, and describe the antecedent process of commercial shrimp farming growth in Bangladesh. In contrast, the previous studies explored mainly socially unresponsive activities, including land grabbing, dispossession, and salinity intrusion caused by farming systems. Little has been done in the context of positive social responses that have happened over time by the smallholder shrimp farmers towards addressing the sustainability issues and environmental problems. Using a mixed method approach that combines quantitative surveys, qualitative interviews, focus group discussions and case studies, this research examined land tenure, farming systems and institutional roles in three central shrimp-producing coastal districts: Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira. The study found the departure of influential outsiders, the successive fragmentation of large shrimp farms into smaller ones, farming shrimp on their land, lower productivity and less profitability, which resulted in reduced land-related litigations and illegal encroachment on adjacent crop lands. Secure access to land initiated new farming systems, and the land owners innovated and adopted indigenous techniques. Integration of shrimp-finfish- rice-vegetable farming systems emerged across the south-western coastal region, seen as a landmark transformation in land use patterns in small-scale shrimp farming. Less stock density, minimum use of feed and fertiliser, recycling of household and farm iii materials under a closed system of water use are considered the farming systems as environmentally benign in nature. The institutional role for developing shrimp farming and its sustainability in the study areas was not very favorable, while the de facto institutions played better roles than public sector institutions (de jure institutions). Most respondents demand technical and financial support from the public sector extension department, research institutions and government banks. This study also developed a conceptual framework termed “Socially Responsive Shrimp Farming (SRSF)‟, consisting of a list of criteria picked up from the national and international codes and principles to examine whether field practices are socially responsive. The thesis concludes that the small-scale aqua-agriculture farming is a dynamic system with several interconnections and operated mostly by smallholder land owners has now converted into a family-driven small-scale polyculture system where varieties of aquatic and agricultural foods are produced both for the global and local markets. The study recommends further research on performance evaluation and monitoring of the farming systems, as well as assessing the interconnections to devise a resilience-enhancing production system without compromising the environmental issues for the future development of the shrimp sector in Bangladesh. This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

2025-02-18T00:00:00Z Sharmin, Subarna http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/3579 2025-02-09T04:01:23Z 2025-02-09T00:00:00Z

Sustainable Urban Wetland Management in Dhaka: Role, Status and Challenges Concerning Selected Urban Water Bodies Sharmin, Subarna Traditionally, urban wetlands have supported a multidimensional role in the city of Dhaka for a long time. However, due to challenges in the city, urban wetlands have become degraded and are presently unsustainable. Therefore, these urban wetlands urgently require improved management to revitalize them. The literature review of the research showed that there have been few specific studies on urban wetland management. Under these circumstances, considering all the constraints and challenges in the city, this research is an attempt to develop the ‘Sustainable Urban Wetland Management in Dhaka: Role, Status and Challenges Concerning Selected Urban Water Bodies’ which will further contribute to the development of the country. Thus, this research aims at the following objectives: (1) To explore the current scenario and existing role of urban wetlands in Dhaka, (2) To identify the challenges of urban wetland management and use in the city, (3) To assess the water quality parameter tests for identification of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem conservation capabilities , (4) To identify the external factors and how these factors have influenced the variation of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) concentration across selected urban wetlands, (5) To make recommendations for sustainable conservation and management of the urban wetlands based on the overall observations of the study. In fulfilling the above objectives, an analytical framework has been developed as Urban Wetland Sustainability Framework (UWSF) Model - 1 according to the five attributes of sustainability that will provide the basis for investigating the current status, existing role and challenges of urban wetland on management and use according to the stakeholder’s perceptions concerning sustainability paradigm in the study areas. This research has also enabled the development of the Urban Wetland Sustainability Framework (UWSF) Model - 2 for identifying external factors and how these factors influence the variation of average Dissolved Oxygen (DO) concentration that can contribute to the sustainability of urban wetland from the perspective of water quality. In terms of methodology, this research has been conducted utilizing both primary and secondary data from different sources. Primary data has been collected through semi-structured questionnaire surveys with thirty number samples of study area stakeholders’ perceptions, semi-structured interviews with thirteen samples from different organizations and institutions for stakeholder expert’s perceptions and author perceptions by personal field observation. In this regard, a five-point Likert scale has been used to collect required information from these stakeholder’s perceptions as well. Further, primary data has been collected through the water quality assessment on ten parameters including Temperature, pH, DO, Biochemical Oxygen Demand v (BOD5), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Turbidity, Nitrate-Nitrogen (NO3-N), Phosphate (PO4), Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) and Electrical Conductivity (EC) in the Department of Environment (DoE) laboratory during the months of October, November and December 2020 to investigate the quality of water and its suitability for aquatic biodiversity conservation. Present research further investigated the external factors and how these factors are influencing the variation of average DO concentration across selected urban wetlands by author personal field observation. In this connection, six external factors have been selected as water pollution from sewerage effluent, water pollution from industrial effluent, population density, presence of surrounding shaded trees and vegetations, air pollution and existing wetland management structures. In this research, a total of seven study areas have been selected within and near to the capital city of Dhaka. These are Dhanmondi Lake, Gulshan-Baridhara Lake, Hatirjheel Lake, Ramna Lake, Diabari Bottola Lake, Ashulia urban wetland and Birulia urban wetland. The results of the research objectives are (I) The current scenario and existing role of selected urban wetlands have been identified according to the UWSF Model – 1, as degradation of biodiversity status, low resilience to climatic impacts, limited provisions of livelihood, inconducive policy and low institutional embeddedness of community (II) The challenges of urban wetland management and use in the selected urban wetlands have been identified according to the UWSF Model – 1, as wetlands water quality degradation by pollution through human interventions and natural activities, unplanned urban development, severe fish mortality, over population pressure, lack of community and stakeholder involvement on conservation and management, increase of over paved concrete areas in the city that are producing heat, destruction of aquatic ecosystems by decreasing DO, bed level reduction of water bodies through accumulation of sludge, lack of proper functioning of drainage infrastructures, lack of livelihood restrictions on the urban context, lack of awareness on policies and adequacy of policy regime among stakeholders, lack of proper implementation of policies in the water sectors for sustainable management, lack of awareness on valuation of water bodies, lack of sustainable conservation, maintenance and management of urban wetlands etc. (III) From the results of water quality parameter assessment, the selected urban wetlands are highly dominated by anthropogenic and natural activities and at serious risk for poor aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem enhancement in the city (IV) According to the UWSF Model – 2, the study identified that average DO concentration has been affected mainly by existing wetland management structures, water pollution from industrial effluent, population density, water pollution from sewerage effluent, air pollution and presence of surrounding shaded trees and vegetations in that order. From the vi analysis, this research showed that, if the number of total external factors decreases then the average DO concentration across urban wetlands increases. Conversely, if the number of total external factors increases, then the average DO concentration across urban wetlands decreases. Therefore, there is a strong relationship between the selected external factors and their influence on the average DO concentration across the selected urban wetlands. Therefore, sustainable policies and management plans for all these factors must be implemented for the selected urban wetlands respectively (V) Based on the overall finding and analysis, this research has proposed recommendations for sustainable conservation and management of urban wetlands in the capital. This information will further help to implement sustainable management of specific wetland areas in the city and throughout the country as well. A Dissertation Submitted to the University of Dhaka for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies.

2025-02-09T00:00:00Z Paul, Shankor http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/3466 2024-11-19T09:48:22Z 2024-11-19T00:00:00Z

Political Ecology of Disasters: An Examination of Vulnerability in South-West Coastal areas of Bangladesh Paul, Shankor The study examines vulnerability and disasters with the lens of political ecology. The contemporary research is mostly applying the apolitical approach that overlooks the causation of differential vulnerabilities and the risk of disasters. The literature is still silent to find answers of ‘how the power led process and drivers are shaping/changing the ecology of an area and causing differential vulnerabilities and risks in the society? There is still no specific answer on ‘why a section of people are facing life-long vulnerabilities and placing in unsafe conditions? On this backdrop, the research sets three major aims: i) to examine the power-led processes and drivers of ecological change of an area causing differential vulnerabilities and risks of disaster; ii) to define underlying factors of differential vulnerabilities and risks in the society; and iii) to mapping of people and places being gradually vulnerable to disaster in South-West coastal areas of Bangladesh. The research systematically examines the existing processes and drivers of ecological changes in south-west coastal study areas that causing differential vulnerabilities and risk of disaster. The apolitical analysis of vulnerability rarely attempts to examine power-driven processes of ecological change that forces a section of people to be vulnerable and stay at risk in situation of disaster. The study has made a specific focus on assessing human-environment interactions through analysing three interlinked processes (i.e., traditional, functional, and historical) and power-led drivers of ecological change in study areas. It applies three forms of analysis: i) situation analysis; ii) spatial data (satellite remote sensing data) analysis, and iii) perception analysis to find the answers to research queries. The analytical findings reveals the functions of three diverse processes and several power-led drivers in changing ecology of south west coastal areas and causing differential vulnerabilities and risks of disasters. This also defined a set of underlying factors, which are active to create unsafe condition and risk situation for a section of people in the society. The study also examines changing scenarios of landscape changes in south-west coastal study areas from 1980 to 2020. The landscape change process visualises five specific areas: i) agricultural land; ii) settlements and homestead vegetation; iii) shrimp firms and water bodies; iv) rivers, and v) forest areas. i The findings reveal a declining trend of agricultural land but an increasing trend of human settlement & homestead vegetation, and shrimp firming & water bodies that refer to the functions of human-induced actions in modification of the natural environment, as well as changing ecology of south-west coastal areas. The competitive and conflicting human actions are contributing to making maximum benefits for the rich and powerful, where the poor and vulnerable people become the main losers. The people’s perception has defined a positive correlation of power relations with prevailing discriminations, landlessness, and exclusion from the decision-making process and practices in south-west coastal areas of Bangladesh. The study potentially examines root causes, dynamic pressures, and unsafe conditions in line with the Pressure and Release (PAR) model, which is causally linked with the progression of vulnerabilities and the risk of disasters. The analysis refers to a statement that people, who live in unsafe conditions are at risk of disaster if they face external hazards. The study finds out that the statement is not fully correct in the context of south-west coastal areas of Bangladesh. It signifies that the people, who are in unsafe conditions always living in a disaster like situation due to their lifelong vulnerabilities. And it is not always required the functions of external hazards for their risk situation. The research further suggested a set of actions for reducing the adverse impacts of causal factors for differential vulnerabilities and the risk of disasters in the society. Finally, the study further identifies the proportionate vulnerability of the people and places as a key concern of changing ecology. This is taken into consideration for developing a framework for ecological resilience as a safeguard for the vulnerable people and places in south-west coastal areas of Bangladesh. It is expected that the findings will guide new researchers, development planners and policymakers to realize and consider the forces of power-led process and drivers of ecological change in national development planning, policy formulation and strategic documentation that may add value to achieve sustainable development in Bangladesh. This Dissertation is submitted to the Faculty of social sciences, University of Dhaka as Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Development Studies.

2024-11-19T00:00:00Z Yakub, Mohamad http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/3112 2024-03-20T03:23:01Z 2024-03-20T00:00:00Z

Freedom of livelihood choice a study in socio-economic security of the poor in selected rural and urban areas of Bangladesh Yakub, Mohamad This thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

2024-03-20T00:00:00Z