732 G. Wood cent. However, these statistics mask the human misery and negative impact on the earning capacity of most of the individuals, families and communities aected by the ¯oods. The livelihoods of many were forever transformed.
The immediate public sector response to these ¯ood events was to assume that a new pattern of more frequent excessive ¯ooding was emerging as a result of: systemic changes in the watershed, such as de-forestation in Nepal and Assam; possibly increased snow-melt from the Himalayas as a result of global warming; and sea-level rise from the same cause, impeding drainage from the delta. A new sense of urgency was prompted by the prospect of a new pattern and severity of ¯ooding, and by the evident misery caused by the ¯oods. Those with public sector responsibilities, both nationally and internationally, felt they would have to act. The Flood Action Plan (FAP) was conceived in 1989 in response. It originally consisted of 26 studies and pilot projects supported by 17 donors. The main objective of the FAP was to provide protection from ¯ooding by the construction of signi®cant engineering projects including major embankments, compartments and other related structures.
In 1991, Bangladesh was hit by a very severe cyclone. Winds, rain and a tidal storm surge aected a 150 km coastline around Chittagong. Rising water submerged densely populated oshore islands. An estimated 140,000 people died by drowning. A population of over 12 million was aected, 1.75 million houses were damaged, along with 6700 schools, coastal embankments, roads and ports.
In response to criticisms that the original FAP was heavily biased in favour of structural solutions, and did not include environmental and poverty concerns, the study and action programmes within FAP were extended to 33 (including major subcomponents), managed by the Flood Plan Co-ordination Organization (FPCO) and a Panel of Experts (POE). Eleven of these programmes were speci®cally mandated to consider gender issues.
The work within FAP culminated in October 1994 with a summary document and a portfolio of project proposals (FPCO, 1994). The World Bank, on its part, sent out this October 1994 report for comments from selected reviewers and communicated these to FPCO. A World Bank review mission in January 1995 produced an advisory memorandum to FPCO on the re-presentation of a framework document. UNDP and other agencies also made comments. A draft proposal document with a revised portfolio of projects (the March 1995 Document) was prepared by the FPCO with assistance from selected members of the Panel of Experts. This March 1995 Document and subsequent revisions are the basis of developing `ownership' within GOB of its contents.
In March 1995, the UNDP (which has been involved in the FAP from the outset, supporting studies and the FPCO), invited `a second professional opinion' on the process and its outputs by an independent group of individuals who had no prior involvement in the FAP process (Faaland et al., 1995). The timing of this exercise was prompted by a rapid shift within the donor community in basic strategy and priorities for natural resource management via funding of large-scale structural investments. This re¯ects a changing stance towards the environment and human ecology, which alters the terms of sectoral competition for donor support. It also re¯ects an increasing concern in Bangladesh that projects with irreversible consequences for the country and its people's livelihood strategies were being ®nalized without full debate and transparent decision-making. Some supporters as well as critics of FAP were converging on a broader agenda for water resources planning