The losses and suffering of the rural poor of Bangladesh during floods
are frequently in the attention of the world media. This is despite a
considerable investment in flood protection over the past three decad
es. This paper reports on distributional and socio-economic impacts of
selected flood control projects which were subject to multidisciplina
ry evaluations using both rapid appraisal and sample survey methods. F
lood protection has disadvantaged some groups, notably fishermen and b
oatmen, but has generally had a limited impact on work opportunities,
partly because some projects had little impact on agriculture. One con
sequence of differential impacts is new conflicts over the management
of water inside projects. Where there were benefits these accrued most
ly to larger landowners, but labourers and small farmers did also bene
fit There is little evidence that flood protection has stabilized the
economic condition of households. In four out of five projects studied
in detail flood losses were higher in the 1988 flood inside the proje
ct compared with unprotected control areas. Embankment failure (owing
to erosion and deliberate embankment cuts associated with conflicts) i
s a serious hazard, although embankments also act as refuges in peak f
loods.