Wetland Entitlement and Sustainable Livelihood of Local Users in Bangladesh: A Case Study of Hakaluki Haor Communities

Local wetland-dependent communities in Bangladesh face numerous challenges in attaining sustainable livelihoods. To understand this phenomenon, it is imperative to explore the factors that prevent them from acquiring the necessary endowments for livelihood sustainability. Notably, literature exploring these is very scant. Using the Entitlement Theory proposed by Amartya Sen, we analyzed how the wetland management and policy of Bangladesh affected the legal entitlement and livelihood endowments of local wetland-dependent communities. Hakaluki Haor, Bangladesh, was selected as a case. Primary data were collected from four groups of participants, namely local users, local and national level administrative officials, officials of non-government organizations, and experts on environment and natural resources. A total of 31 interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview schedule. Our findings reveal that both intrinsic limitations and implementation barriers of the wetland management policy barred many users from attaining legal entitlement to wetland resources. We observed that users’ limited entitlement to resources impeded their access to at least four types of livelihood endowments, namely the natural, financial, human, and social, required for a sustainable livelihood.