Home ›› 22 Mar 2022 ›› Nation
While the world celebrates the International Day of Forests on Monday with the theme “Forests and Sustainable Production and Consumption”, more than 46,000 acres of forest land in Cox’s Bazar remain under illegal occupation.
A recent joint research by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) and Youth Environment Society (YES) found that 43,568 people and 696 organisations are illegally occupying these forest lands under the nose of the Forest Department. Of the 46,000 acres of land 14,372 acres have been leased out to different government organisations, the research found.
The Rohingya influx left a critical impact on the forest land in Cox’s Bazar as thousands of hectares have been destroyed for making makeshift camps and collecting firewood. An additional 7,00,000 Rohingyas fled into Bangladesh since August 2017 following military operations in northern Rakhine State in Myanmar.
From 2017 to 2020, a total of 13,000 hectares of forest land under the Ukhia, Hwaikyang and Teknaf ranges has encroached. Of which 6,164 acres were reportedly encroached by the Rohingyas, and more land will be degraded if the collection of firewood continues, says the report.
The Rohingya influx also puts a “critical impact” on the groundwater, soil, terrain and wildlife in Cox’s Bazar, said Rameez Ahmed, chief advisor of YES, one of the participants of the joint research.
Researchers from BELA and YES said that the local administration and the forest department are failing miserably to conserve these forest lands.
However, these lands have long been illegally occupied by unscrupulous people, and the Deputy Commissioner’s Office is leasing out these lands to these ‘syndicates’ branding the land Khas land so that they have legal status. Whereas the Forest Department, which is the designated authority to look over the reserve forest in the region, is proving to be incapacitated to stop these illegal occupations, officials from both the organisations claimed.
“There is a competition to encroach these forest lands, home to invaluable forest resources. In some cases, government officials, who are supposed to protect these forest lands, are horning in on to these illegal activities for their own benefit,” said Rameez, an official of YES.
During a recent visit to Dakkhin Jhilangja of Cox’s Bazar Sadar upazila, The Business Post has found thousands of houses which were established after felling invaluable century-old trees and flattening hillocks, deforestation of forests in the region.
Over 12,000 makeshift sheds have been established, flattening at least four hills in Ukhiya’s Kutupalong area, where over 1,00,000 Rohingyas are currently residing. The same condition is prevailing at the hills along the Ukhiya’s Jaliapalong, Inani, Sonarpara, Monkhali, Balukhali and others.
Md Sarwar Alam, forest officer of Cox’s Bazar Forest Department (South), blamed the initial mismanagement of the local administration after the sudden influx of the Rohingyas five years back. “The government was not prepared to host such a huge number of Rohingyas and therefore, the Rohingyas had destroyed the forestlands, hills and trees to build their houses and make a living in a haphazard manner.”
“As the situation went out of control, we along with different government, private and international organisations tried to mitigate these crises by providing with alternative options so that they do not destroy the forest lands,” he said.
“We provided them with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), built camps at deserted places in Ukhiya and provide them with food and cash assistance so that they do not have to depend on natural resources,” said the forest officer.
A World Bank research “Rohingya Refugee Camps and Forest Loss in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh: An Inquiry Using Remote Sensing and Econometric Approaches” states that about 52,629 hectares of land among the total land of Cox’s Bazar have been designated as forest land.
The researchers used Satellite Image and Remote Sensing technology to measure the rate of deforestation in the region and found that over 12,807 hectares of forest land were destroyed during 2017 and 2020; of which, the Rohingyas destroyed 1,337 hectares and over 11,470 hectares were destroyed by the locals of Cox’s Bazar, which indicates that the Rohingya influx cannot be solely blamed for this kind of massive deforestation in the region.
“We have found that, in each one to five kilometres, where the Rohingyas have resided, about 2,600 hectares forest were destroyed; whereas more than 7,700 hectares of forest land (under the same parameters), which amounts to one-third of the total forest land of the region were destroyed in other areas where locals reside. Therefore, the Rohingyas cannot be blamed for this hazardous condition of the forests of the region,” said a researcher of the project seeking anonymity.
Stating the allegations as baseless, the Deputy Commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, Md Mamunur Rashid told The Business Post that he or the district administration is not legally authorised to permit any person or organisation to use the forest lands or hills.
“Only the concerned ministry can authorise these settlements or lease out the forest lands, so the allegations made against us is completely baseless,” the DC said.
