Problem overview:

     Awareness and visions: Flooding has become a very serious problem in the flood plains of Bangladesh, affecting agriculture and ruining ecological condition. Conventional flood management practices are no longer applicable, proper management is needed.

     Meeting information requirements: Keeping records of past experiences can become useful data for decision making in the future. Flood management schemes in Bangladesh were based on such past experience records and flood impact assessment.

Background in summary:

     The floodplain of 3 great rivers: Bangladesh is a deltaic country with an area of 144,900 sq. km most of which is basically the floodplain of the three greatest rivers of the world - the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna (GBM). The floodplain of these rivers has many resources of ecological and economic importance.

     Flood damages land use and agriculture: About one-fifth to one-third of the country is flooded by overflowing over to varying degrees during monsoon each year. The seasonal flooding characteristics have an important influence on physical and biological properties of soil and therefore have an important bearing on the land-use and agricultural potential. The total flood damage was USS 774.68 million in 1988 (5.09% of GDP) and US$ 8.42 million in 1994 (0.04% of GDP).

     Previous flood control measures: Structural flood control measures for protection against river flooding is provided mainly by earthen embankments so far been provided to 60% of the flood potential area. Non-structural measures include flood forecasting and warning, flood preparedness and flood proofing. However, the flood control projects have increased risk of flooding downstream.

     Manual for EIA of flood control: Realizing the far reaching implications of environmental impacts of flood control activities over the last 30 years, manuals for environmental impact assessment, one for small scale and one for large scale projects have been put into practice in recent years. The manuals have been developed on the basis of experiences gathered from flood control activities over the years. Guidelines with regard to methodological approaches for environmental impact assessment are available in these manuals.

     Change in flood projects decision-making: The Government has brought about a change in its decision-making procedure with regard to processing of the projects. It is now mandatory to consider project benefits/disbenefits as well as project impacts in a more comprehensive way at the project planning stage.

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
1	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	2	Cost efficient.
1	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		2	Participation of the community
2	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	2	Participation of resource owners/users
2	Socio-cultural adaptability.	-	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
2	Level of development adaptability.	-	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
2	Style of government adaptability.	2	Ability to attract political interest/support
2	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	-	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:       Many of the environmental consequences can only be evaluated qualitatively and therefore can not be included in a conventional economic analysis. However, there are evidences that environmental degradation has a direct bearing on economic performances. From the evaluation of 17 representative flood control and drainage projects all over Bangladesh, the Flood Action Plan Study of 1992 noted that 'no case was found in which the overall conclusions from the economic analysis differed from the more qualitative and broader based judgements in the environmental evaluation'. Sustainability of the project:   Adaptability of the project to other situations:       Process of decision making and implementation:      Meeting information requirements: This is not an unusual finding in the context of Bangladesh, which is basically a floodplain country. Flood control projects in Bangladesh often encircle ecologically rich wetlands in order to convert them into economically productive agricultural lands. Therefore when environmental impacts are internal such as reduction of open water fisheries or degradation of soil quality, they affect the economic performance of the project itself. On the other hand when the environmental impacts are external such as higher flood level or siltation in rivers outside the project area, the resultant conflict between outsiders and insiders often results in public cuts. Where the projects have severe external impact, such public cuts are widespread because the floodplain is densely populated and most of the farmers have small land holding. Therefore the capacity to absorb any loss on the part of impacted population because of a project is limited. Such external impacts also indirectly affect project's economic performance. Cost efficiency: