Over the last 12 and a half years, at least five Asian elephants, a critically endangered species in Bangladesh, are being killed on an average every year.
These causalities were recorded as the elephants faced obstructions in movement corridors and engaged in conflicts with humans.
The expansion of agriculture and human settlement, unplanned government and private establishments and destruction of corridors have all contributed to human-elephant conflicts and resulted in the decline.
According to a 2004 survey, the number of resident elephants in Bangladesh ranged between 196 and 227. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conducted the survey titled “Conservation of Asian Elephants in Bangladesh 2004.”
At that time, 83-100 migratory elephants occasionally stepped into Bangladesh from India. These migratory elephants were also found in the forests of Sylhet, Khagrachari, Sherpur, Jamalpur and Netrokona districts.
Nearly a decade has passed since that survey was conducted, and environmentalists say that the number has fallen significantly during this period although there is no data on the exact number of elephants in Bangladesh.
Since 2003, a total of 62 elephants have been killed in human-elephant conflicts; the number of humans killed in such conflicts is 226, shows that Forest Department’s latest data.
Conservationists say that the establishment of army cantonments, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) camps, construction of roads, human houses, India’s barbed wire fencing, destruction of forests and expansion of agricultural land blocked most of the movement corridors of these majestic animals.
These are also included in the list of nine risks for elephant conservation that the Forest Department identifies.
In 2004, there were 11 elephant corridors in Bangladesh, including nine in the greater Chittagong region. But most of these routes have been changed since due to human intervention in the form of establishments and roads.
Now, there are 12 such routes and most of them have been put into severe risks by the expansion of human structures and this had resulted in escalation in human-elephants conflicts, conservators said at a programme in Dhaka yesterday.
To mark the World Elephant Day 2015 for the first time in Bangladesh, the Forest Department organised a discussion at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka yesterday.
According to another IUCN survey conducted in 2006, there were 35,000-50,000 Asian elephants in 13 countries. Of them, 66.4% were found in the Indian subcontinent.
The highest number of Asian elephants were found in India with the population ranging from 20,000 to 24,000. Bangladesh ranked ninth in that list with 200-350 elephants. Nepal ranked right at the bottom with 41-50.
IUCN Programme Officer Mohammad Abdul Motaleb said that establishment of brick fields, army camps, houses and roads are creating obstruction in the elephant corridors.
For example, an army camp was built in the middle of one of the elephant corridors located between Naikkhongchhori in Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar, he said.
The forest office, which was there to monitor such issues, was shifted from the area to make room for the camp, said Motaleb.
Another corridor in that vicinity is also facing obstructions in the form of a under-construction road, brick fields and a crocodile firm, he added.
Chief Conservator of Forest Mohammad Yunus Ali said policymakers and people concerned with the issue will have to be aware of the obstructions that infrastructural development has been creating for these elephants.
“It requires policy-level decisions regarding whether establishments like army and BGB camps and other settlements will continue to create the obstructions,” he said adding that the number of elephants will come down to zero if this continues.
He emphasised on addressing these issues in the environment policy and the land zoning act, which are set to come into force soon.
Forest Conservator Tapan Kumar Dey said the government has undertaken a 10-year national action plan for elephant conservation.
The IUCN is also conducting an elephant census to make a corridor map and to find out the exact number of elephants in Bangladesh, Tapan said, adding that the results will be out by January next year.
He also said shortage of manpower has been hampering the monitoring of such issues.