Journals Proceedings

Abstract

For the district of Natore, in the last decade or so, aquaculture has played a significant role in improving the locals’ socio-economic status. It is only in recent years that the negative impacts of unplanned pond-cutting have become profound and are introducing severe environmental and economic issues. This report encompasses the present status of Gurudaspur, Natore’s villages of Nazirpur and Chapila unions where fish-farmers and agricultural farmers alike are facing problems such as water-logging, loss of agricultural land for crops and fruit trees and economic losses. For this study, ArcGIS is used to analyze the images to show the land transformation from 2001 to 2016; through participatory rural approach (PRA) and using investigations by the authors, it was validated that many agricultural lands were converted to fish ponds as the croplands could not stand the amounts of water that inundated the lands. It was also found that although the conversion rate was steady from 2001 to 2010, between 2011 and 2016 almost half the remaining croplands were made into ponds. Although, till now, aquaculture is the primary and a good source of income for the Natore locals, without initiatives by government to restrict more unplanned pond-cutting and dissemination of training, as well as establishment of proper drainage canals, Gurudaspur will soon face several environmental, geographical and economic challenges. The research, furthermore, has important policy implications that need to be undertaken before the negative impacts result in irreversible damage to Natore’s residents and its environment.