Decision support framework for sustainable land and water management in a floodplain

Abstract

Land and watel' are essential deltaic Illlodplain Te,ource; and their interdependence necessitates an integrated approach for sustainable land and water resources management, Sinee 1980s, snstainable development hJS become the key devdopment platming objective. However, detail procednre to achieve su;tainable land and water nse as part of sustainable development in a dellilie floodplain has been lacking. In this ,tudy, there are tvv'Ocompeting objective,: socio economic improvement and maintaining floodplain environment. lIow~ver, there arc t\.\'o constraints in attaining these two objectives. Socio eeonomk improvement must ensnre eqmtable distribution of land and water resources. To maintain l100dplain funetiollS, the ecosystem in the deltaic floodplain should bc safeguarded, The decision support framework has been developed for slislilinable land and wuter use, ineorpol'aling three objectives, maintaining Iloodplain functions, improving so~io economic condition and comphunce to constraints. Further, this research deyeloped the conc~pt of "lnvertcd Pyramld", whereby, the present generation is treated not only us users, but also as custodian of deltaic Iloodplain resources for futnre gelJeralions, ]n this slLldy, floodplain fnnctions have been defined for deltalC t100dplain To characterize lhe ftlnctions, a sct of indicators (e.g, flooded urea, condition of \vctland habitat, change of monsoon/dry season 11ow,ehmlge in infiltration area, etc.) have been developed. In addition to functions and physical indicators, to improve \oeio eco~omie condition, a set of sociul indicaton; have also been developed, ineluding (he availability of foodgrain, ~mployment opportunity, gross income, safe drinking wuter, etc. Therefore, for sustainable land and water management framework, eight sub-objectives, twenty-t,vo criteria and thirty six indicators have been developed. The developed decision support fmmework has beenle,ted in the Jamalpur districr, part of the Old Brahmaputra and Jamuna floodplain. The conslraints and opportunities have been calculaled for four types 0 I'land and water use based on physical 'L1itability, so~ial preferences, government policies and ,tratcgies in the study urea. RS, GIS, hydrodynamic ~nd hydrological models were L1,;cdto generatc data for assessment of indicator valLles and objective critcri~. !'or the study area, three land and water usc option., havc bcen developed to test the sustainable land and water usc framework. These options are, option A: autonomons development based on existing development trends, oprion H: implementation of regional water mal\ilgement plan in FAP 3,1, and option C: Balanced land <l11dwater use activilies dcvelopcd in this .\tudy based on policies and slrategic, assuming protecting Iloodpluin environmcnt as ~ocio economic impro\'ement without degrading lhe ceosystem und continuing 1100dplain fllnction for the future generation. These options have been evulUilled through mulli criteriu unalvsi, (MeA). Option B scored the highest Ln achicving thc objeclivc of socio e~onomic impl'Ovement. On the other h,mJ, option C ,cored much hIgher than optIOn 13 in protecting floodplain environment through main(C1iningfloodplain functions. To comply with constraints, Oprion C scored Lh~hLghest. Finally, the suggcsted decision framework will be helpflll to understand the interdependence of soeio-cconomie, ecological and en\'ironmental resourec, in developing an integrated management plan for sllslainabJc land and water managemcnt in a deltaic lloodplain.