A trivial news emanating from Boalkhali of Chattogram caught me off guard. The news reads three lives perished in an attack by elephant herd. One met the death while gardening his cultivable land. The other person was struck by an elephant while he was picking arum leaves behind a saw-mill. An elderly man was trampled down by a herd of elephants after he had finished his morning prayers. Earlier, two baby elephants had been killed: one was drowned in a pond and another one was electrocuted by a trap set by villagers. Villagers claimed more and more elephants descended on villages, located on the fringes of forests of South Chattogram and Bandarban, in search of food. This is happening due to shortages of foods in the woods.
This tragedy is a stark reminder that trappings of development are making a heavy dent in the nature. The result is obvious: the elephants could not sustain in receding forests and devoured the surrounding paddy fields on far too many occasions.
This tragic encounter is also taking place in other parts of Bangladesh: in Moulvibazar wild cats are caught by locals while they try to catch fish. In villages close to Sundarban, Royal Bengal Tigers often prey on livestock. In Rajshahi, a mango orchard is occupied by Shamuk Khol birds' nests, prompting local administration to issue notice against orchard owner of causing any damage to the nests and doling out compensation.
Stray incidents call for urgent policy action so that man and wild can live in harmony. Many of our neighboring countries make great progress in this regard, significantly reducing incidence of tragic encounters and loss of property. Bangladesh can draw lessons from them.
To accommodate growing population, houses are being built in cultivable lands. Cultivable lands are being used to grow cash crops that fetch more money for farmers. Moreover, for the sustenance of growing population, forests turn into cultivable lands. For this reason we see paddy fields invade forests where elephants roam free. Trees used to grow in the woods were cut down and agricultural land were transformed into orchards. So desperate birds like Shamuk Khol make nests on mango tree tops. Pisciculture is so widespread and profitable that no pond or ditch is left unused for desperate "mechho bagh" or Fish Tigers to fill their stomach. Thin vegetation, disappearance of mangrove forests due to increased human settlement and agricultural activity are pushing the deer stock further from the reach of tigers. Evidently the hungry Maharajas raided the nearby villages in search of food and made headlines on the newspaper.
Development and preservation of forest can go hand in hand, contrary to the argument that stresses on the tradeoff between the two. A symbiotic relationship could be explored so that the two could coexist in harmony.
Peasants would not lay traps if there were incentive /compensation to damaged crops stemming from marauding elephants. Subject to the report of forestry officials in the wake of such incident, local administration could hand down cash or subsidized rice, more than the value of damaged crops,to the victims. In this situation, any approaching herd of elephant does not pose any threat to harvest, so the peasant is no longer hostile to elephants. Meanwhile, the starving elephant gets an alternate source of food in the paddy fields and becomes more docile at a later date.
Shamuk Khol nest incident in Rajshahi is an eye opener. There local administration gave words to the orchard owner that he would be duly compensated and issued a notice for not obliterating the nests. The assurance and local support from the villagers salvaged the nests.
Similarly, Sunderban villagers could be given wild hogs or piglets so that the tigers prey on them instead of the cattle. Proper training can be introduced to take care of the mangrove forests. In addition, subsidized rice could be distributed among villagers who comply government instructions to preserve the forest and to be kind to the wild.
Local administration and forestry officials could initiate advocacy campaign in the target area in a bid to disseminate information on incentives. Awareness building is at the core of this advocacy campaign. Special job program and scholarship for children at school in target area could also be introduced.
Most of our public fund is squandered away because of corrupted projects and mismanagement. Projects aimed to preservation of the wild will not demand more money. Government could easily allocate fund for this kind of initiative that will in the end bridge two hostile communities.
In Africa, parents of a newborn of a primitive society take the umbilical cord to a nearby forest and bury it. It is done so that the baby develops a bond to mother nature and performs its duty diligently at a later stage.
This kind of practice is conspicuously absent in our society, which receives lights of education and enjoys all the marvels of modernity. Government cannot sit idle and needs to act fast.
Any encounter with wild tiger may end up with tragic consequences. But that does not bar humans to preserve endangered species like tigers. Because we know the value of such species in nature and have the vision about what the world will look like without them. For this reason, elephant trek, Shamuk Khol nest, safe preying zone for fish tigers and undisturbed habitat for Royal Bengal tigers should be included in our development agenda. A society is recognized as developed when it mourns loss of its wild. Do we really progress to that stage?
This tragedy is a stark reminder that trappings of development are making a heavy dent in the nature. The result is obvious: the elephants could not sustain in receding forests and devoured the surrounding paddy fields on far too many occasions.
This tragic encounter is also taking place in other parts of Bangladesh: in Moulvibazar wild cats are caught by locals while they try to catch fish. In villages close to Sundarban, Royal Bengal Tigers often prey on livestock. In Rajshahi, a mango orchard is occupied by Shamuk Khol birds' nests, prompting local administration to issue notice against orchard owner of causing any damage to the nests and doling out compensation.
Stray incidents call for urgent policy action so that man and wild can live in harmony. Many of our neighboring countries make great progress in this regard, significantly reducing incidence of tragic encounters and loss of property. Bangladesh can draw lessons from them.
To accommodate growing population, houses are being built in cultivable lands. Cultivable lands are being used to grow cash crops that fetch more money for farmers. Moreover, for the sustenance of growing population, forests turn into cultivable lands. For this reason we see paddy fields invade forests where elephants roam free. Trees used to grow in the woods were cut down and agricultural land were transformed into orchards. So desperate birds like Shamuk Khol make nests on mango tree tops. Pisciculture is so widespread and profitable that no pond or ditch is left unused for desperate "mechho bagh" or Fish Tigers to fill their stomach. Thin vegetation, disappearance of mangrove forests due to increased human settlement and agricultural activity are pushing the deer stock further from the reach of tigers. Evidently the hungry Maharajas raided the nearby villages in search of food and made headlines on the newspaper.
Development and preservation of forest can go hand in hand, contrary to the argument that stresses on the tradeoff between the two. A symbiotic relationship could be explored so that the two could coexist in harmony.
Peasants would not lay traps if there were incentive /compensation to damaged crops stemming from marauding elephants. Subject to the report of forestry officials in the wake of such incident, local administration could hand down cash or subsidized rice, more than the value of damaged crops,to the victims. In this situation, any approaching herd of elephant does not pose any threat to harvest, so the peasant is no longer hostile to elephants. Meanwhile, the starving elephant gets an alternate source of food in the paddy fields and becomes more docile at a later date.
Shamuk Khol nest incident in Rajshahi is an eye opener. There local administration gave words to the orchard owner that he would be duly compensated and issued a notice for not obliterating the nests. The assurance and local support from the villagers salvaged the nests.
Similarly, Sunderban villagers could be given wild hogs or piglets so that the tigers prey on them instead of the cattle. Proper training can be introduced to take care of the mangrove forests. In addition, subsidized rice could be distributed among villagers who comply government instructions to preserve the forest and to be kind to the wild.
Local administration and forestry officials could initiate advocacy campaign in the target area in a bid to disseminate information on incentives. Awareness building is at the core of this advocacy campaign. Special job program and scholarship for children at school in target area could also be introduced.
Most of our public fund is squandered away because of corrupted projects and mismanagement. Projects aimed to preservation of the wild will not demand more money. Government could easily allocate fund for this kind of initiative that will in the end bridge two hostile communities.
In Africa, parents of a newborn of a primitive society take the umbilical cord to a nearby forest and bury it. It is done so that the baby develops a bond to mother nature and performs its duty diligently at a later stage.
This kind of practice is conspicuously absent in our society, which receives lights of education and enjoys all the marvels of modernity. Government cannot sit idle and needs to act fast.
Any encounter with wild tiger may end up with tragic consequences. But that does not bar humans to preserve endangered species like tigers. Because we know the value of such species in nature and have the vision about what the world will look like without them. For this reason, elephant trek, Shamuk Khol nest, safe preying zone for fish tigers and undisturbed habitat for Royal Bengal tigers should be included in our development agenda. A society is recognized as developed when it mourns loss of its wild. Do we really progress to that stage?
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