Rohingya refugee crisis threatening forests

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Rohingya refugee crisis threatening forests
by Sumit Chowdhury \| 18-06-2018 02:00 0
The forests in Ukhiya and Teknaf areas of Bangladesh will perish by 2019 if Rohingya habitation continues to overuse natural resources in those areas, experts said today. Around 1.94 lakh Rohingya families residing in Ukhiya and Teknaf burn almost 2, 250 tonnes of firewood daily for cooking and they collect them from the nearby forests. Around 60% forest land in Ukhiya and 41% in Teknaf will perish very soon if the present situation continues and the natural ecology of the area has already collapsed due to overuse of natural resources. According to the higher officials of the government, forest land as big as four football grounds are being destroyed everyday for cooking food for the Rohingya families. The natural water resources around the Rohingya camps have become polluted by human waste. The 21 canals, chhoras and jhiris around the Rohingya camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf areas have already been polluted for excessive use locals used to depend on those for water. Unplanned installation of deep tube-wells also impacted the underground water scenario. A survey by COAST Trust on 50 blocks of four Rohingya camps showed that among the 300 tube-wells 70% does not work. Special fund is needed for restoring environment and the natural resources in the area, COAST Trust said. A part of the international relief money allocated for the Rohingya refugees needs to be used for the restoration purpose. Presence of radioactive elements above the normal level was found in waters both above and under the ground in the two areas. The salt level was also found to be higher than usual in the water of the areas. The water will dry up in the areas very soon if nothing is done to prevent this. Source: The Daily Star

Dormant user Sumit Chowdhury

6 Comments

Gyeongrin mentor says :
Hello Sumit
As the report suggests a special fund to solve this problem by borrowing quotes, it does seem that the government should prioritize this issue more. Other suggestion about alternative energy source from our fellow ambassadors are good but is possible if only there would be enough support. I hope the two countries could reach an acceptable solution.
Thanks for the report
Posted 21-06-2018 15:18

Joon Ho Mentor says :
Hello Sumit, this does not seem good or sound better to both of Bangladeshi government and Rohingya people. Though there are several existent reasons for them to live there (I won't mention why since there are tons of reasons), but they cannot also move inner the land of Bangladeshi unless they get some legal admission or acceptance for it.
Rather than keeping them in degraded land, some international aid or support and administrative guidance must be implemented for them, and for Bangladeshi, since they won't want their land like so.

Hope it gets figured out well, and share more stories about this if you come up with new information!
Posted 20-06-2018 16:04

Bharat Adhikari says :
Need to protect the forest. Thanks for sharing.:)
Posted 19-06-2018 11:49

Sumit Chowdhury says :
Local and International NGO's and organizations are working relentlessly to tackle this situation. Hope a permanent solution will be found by the two countries.

Posted 18-06-2018 23:01

Deepak Subedi says :
Hello Sumit, Namaste
Government should launch alternate cooking methods for all people and forest should be protected, use of bio-gas or solar energy is better option.
Thanks for sharing.
Posted 18-06-2018 21:26