The human-elephant conflicts, mainly resulting from anthropogenic causes, have now become a regular phenomenon in the country, with such incidents spiking recently. According to the Forest Department, as many as 66 elephants have been killed with 236 humans losing their lives in human-elephant conflicts in the last 14 years.

At least six people, Rohingya refugees, were trampled to death last year in Cox's Bazar alone, once again drawing attention to the growing number of fatalities. An estimate by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reads that some 760 out of 920 conflicts occurred centring crop damage from January 2014 to May 2016 in Rangunia, Khurusia, Jaldi and Chunati areas of Chittagong, and in Bandarban. 

Wildlife researchers apprehend that the construction of temporary camps for Rohingya people, by blocking the passages of wild elephants, may trigger the risk of elephant-human conflicts further in the Cox's Bazar region. As much as 4,000 acres of hills and protected forest areas adjacent to Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary were destroyed while 2,000 acres of forestland have been acquired for setting up temporary shelters for Rohingya people.

The latest survey conducted by the IUCN revealed that Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary is the home to 60-70 Asian elephants. However, camps were set up blocking the elephant routes. To mitigate the elephant-human conflicts, the Rohingya people should be relocated to a designated spot. 

Asian elephants are forest-dwelling animals which are often called the 'engineers' of the forest as they play a significant role in maintaining the ecosystems they inhabit. They are an indicator of good forest health. As a large herbivorous mammal, elephants require abundant foraging material and water for drinking and bathing. They prefer a mosaic of habitat with patches of forest, scrub forest, banana groves, forest clearings, intermittent open spaces, succulent grasslands, and savanna. 

A study shows that human settlements, agricultural lands, roads and highways, brick fields, army cantonments, village markets were constructed within or near the elephant movement routes and corridors. This further created human-elephant conflicts and resulted in human casualties, elephant deaths and damages to crops and properties. As elephants always follow their fixed routes and corridors during movement, construction of infrastructure have largely affected their mobility.