Sagar Biswas :
A parliamentary watchdog on Tuesday said the displaced Rohingya people so far have damaged forest properties, including trees, worth about Tk 1000 crore only in Cox’s Bazar district.
In this situation, the JS body directed the ministry concerned to submit a full-fledged report on environmental damage at earliest possible time and find out ways how to reduce the adverse impact on the environment.
The above decisions were taken with revealing the information in a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Forest and Environment held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, presided over by committee chairman Hasan Mahmud.
“The total environmental damage is more than Tk1000 crore. Of them, trees only were cut for about Tk 400 crore. The entire environment in Cox’s Bazar has been damaged severely due to Rohingya influx since August 25,” Hasan Mahmud said.
Expressing dissatisfaction, he said, “The Rohingyas are using millions of tonnes of woods for their cooking purpose each day. So, the JS committee has asked the ministry to ensure energy friendly cooking system at the Rohingya camps.”
“We cannot allow them to destroy our environment..…The environmental damage is an irreparable loss,” the JS body chief said.
The same JS body earlier on October 10 had revealed a preliminary report that the Rohingya people damaged forest properties in Cox’s Bazar area worth crores of taka. But the ministry concerned did not take any step in this regard.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests, however, in a report said that forest resources valued at about Tk 150 crore [U.S. $18 million] had been destroyed to accommodate the Rohingyas. As many as seven reserve forests, totaling about 2,500 acres, were wiped out in just intwo months in Cox’s Bazar district, as Rohingya refugees cut down trees for firewood and to construct makeshift shelters.
Assistant Director of the Directorate of Environment Saif-ul-Isma Asrab said it needs to relocate the refugees to another region at the earliest to control the situation.
The official further said Cox’s Bazar is already at a risk of climate change due to the rampant use of fossil fuel. “More than 200 hills that once teemed with trees have now become empty with the fresh Rohingya arrivals. It has also increased the threat of animal attacks in the region that is home to a wildlife sanctuary,” he said.
With 700,000 Rohingya already settled along Cox’s Bazar district after the latest exodus began on August 25. According to the latest estimates from U.N. officials, as many as 1.2 million Rohingyas have fled to southeastern district Cox’s Bazar since 1992.
The number of Rohingyas in the region has doubled the population of nearly 600,000 local people living in the region where about 15 refugee camps and settlements are situated.
Local officials said the Rohingyas have occupied 1,625 acres of forestland in Ukhia and 875 acres of forestland in Teknaf and have chopped more than one million trees to make way for their huts. They are also cutting hundreds of trees a day to use as firewood for cooking.
Forest Officer Abdul Mannan said seven Rohingyas, including children, have been killed in separate wild elephant attacks near the Balukhali refugee camp in the last months.
“The elephants usually use the same path for their movement. These animals identify their path by the trees around. If the trees are cut down, the elephants losing their way may enter areas populated by humans,” he cautioned.
Officials said the roadside beauty of Teknaf has already been destroyed. Beside, the tourist flow centring Cox’s Bazar sea beach will also be face debacle if the loss is not minimized.
Meanwhile, the unprecedented influx of Rohingya refugees is putting the ecologically fragile Cox’s Bazar region on the brink of an environmental disaster.
A senior official of Ministry of Environment and Forests requesting anonymity said they had initially tried to stop the Rohingyas from chopping down trees. “But some Rohingyas attacked three forest officials who attempted to discourage them,” he said.
