<i>Save endangered elephants</i>
Unplanned settlement, cultivation a problem
A wild Asiatic elephant foraging in a forest of Teknaf. Photo: IUCN
Unplanned human settlement and cultivation on elephant habitat is causing a human-elephant conflict in Bangladesh. The result each year is around 32 human and four elephant deaths, said experts yesterday. Many more are injured and the damage to crops amounts to Tk 3 crore in the country's north-eastern and south-eastern regions, they said. The findings were revealed at a workshop, “Conservation of Asian elephants in Bangladesh”, organised by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in collaboration with the Forest Department and Ministry of Environment and Forest. It was held at the auditorium of the Forest Department in the city. There are around 250 elephants in Bangladesh at present while another 100 occasionally migrate from neighbouring India and Myanmar. A common characteristic about them is that they are all struggling to survive, said the experts. Poaching, lack of food and water, accidental deaths from electrocution, mines (at the Myanmar border) and mudslides due to hill cutting are pushing the creatures to their limits, they said. The government should take immediate steps to protect the Asian elephant, one of the critically endangered animals in Bangladesh, and conserve its habitat, they urged. Dr M Monirul H Khan, a Jahangirnagar University teacher, while presenting a keynote paper suggested preserving the core elephant habitats from human intrusion and keeping their corridors free for their movement. The workshop also launched an IUCN publication, “The Asian Elephants and Associated Human-Elephant Conflict in South-Eastern Bangladesh”, under a project supported by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The publication contains selected information on the status, biology, ecology and behaviour of Asian elephants based on a series of geographic information system-based maps on routes, corridors, conflict areas, crop damage and sighting areas of the creatures. Altogether 62 maps of nine sites will allow the local community to gain greater understanding of suitable areas for settlement and cultivation. The Joint Secretary (Development), Ministry of Environment, Dr Mohammad Nasiruddin, was present as the chief guest. Bangladesh Forest Department's Chief Conservator of Forests Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad and DCCF Yunus Ali, IUCN Bangladesh Country Representative Prof Niaz Ahmed Khan, Wildlife Division Conservator of Forest Tapan Kumar Dey and reptile expert Dr SM Rashid also spoke at the workshop.
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