The Nishorgo Support Project, the Lawachara National Park, and the Chevron seismic survey: forest conservation or energy procurement in Bangladesh?

Mohammad Khan

doi:10.2458/v17i1.21700

Abstract

The paper focuses on the operation of a forest conservation project, the USAID-funded Nishorgo Support Project, and its operations in the Lawachhara National Park, Srimangal, Moulvibazar District, Bangladesh. The project has instituted a collaborative management approach. The participants include both state and non-state actors including the Bangladesh Government, the USAID, IUCN, NGOs, and local communities. In 2008 Chevron conducted a seismic survey for natural gas in the National Park, which violated municipal law. This placed the Nishorgo Project in a dilemma over its declared goal of forest conservation versus the interest of the state and Chevron in harnessing gas. This article analyses the interplay of the actors surrounding this critical moment, and argues the officially declared values, norms, and ideational elements guiding the project should be questioned. In establishing this argument, this paper uses the concept of "accountability communities" coined by Kanishka Jayasurya.Key words: Accountability communities, co-management approach, Nishorgo Project, Chevron, USAID, conservation, participation, governance.

Highlights

There is a relationship between neoliberal reform and new forms of environmental governance
It continues the historical process of commodifying nature that has been underway since the introduction of Locke's 'laissez faire' capitalism (Heynen et al 2007, p.10). Neoliberalism is both cause and consequence of the "reconfiguration of socio-natural systems". As part of this reconfiguration, the participation by non-state actors into natural resource management regimes reflects a new phase in the transition of global political governance into new forms of 'hybrid governance' or 'network governance' where multiple actors play a role in environmental regimes
To understand this innovation in governance, the political economist Kanishka Jayasuriya (2007, 2008) proposes the idea of 'accountability communities'. Participation of both state and non-state actors in governance gives birth to "accountability communities" that "constitute a public domain which shapes the organization of political authority that is crucial to the activities of governing" (Jayasuriya 2007, p.8)

Summary

Introduction

There is a relationship between neoliberal reform and new forms of environmental governance. Participation of both state and non-state actors in governance gives birth to "accountability communities" that "constitute a public domain which shapes the organization of political authority that is crucial to the activities of governing" (Jayasuriya 2007, p.8) He further cautions that "accountability remains anchored to specific technical or instrumental goals of the transnational policy regimes..."(ibid, p.2); that participation does not really result in a truly non-hierarchical and democratic policymaking process. Against this theoretical background, this paper offers an assessment of the USAID-sponsored Nishorgo Support Project (here in after Nishorgo Project), a forest conservation venture operating at the protected areas of Bangladesh. The moment occurred when Chevron, a US based multinational energy company, undertook a seismic survey within the area falling under the jurisdiction of the project in early 2008, thereby creating a fissure between the interests of conservation and energy procurement. The study enables us to investigate how strongly or weakly the participating actors of Nishorgo are tied to the declared goal of forest conservation, and how this commitment plays out

The Nishorgo project in Bangladesh

Findings

The implications of the project: conserving forest or procuring energy?