Eight years ago, the natural habitat of the Hail Haor wetland on the eastern shores of northern Bangladesh was in a poor state, with aquatic plants dying and fish and wildfowl dis­appearing.

Since then, a programme granting fishing rights to locals and training them in fisheries management has reversed the decline. But it is not only the natural environment that has benefited. Locals are enjoying a 140 per cent increase in fish catches and a 33 per cent rise in their incomes.