Bangladesh Creates New Protected Area for Trapped Elephants at Border
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📰 The quick summary: Bangladesh plans to create a new protected area for elephants in its conflict-prone northeast region, improving conservation efforts for the critically endangered species while addressing the rising human-elephant conflicts.
📈 One key stat: The northeastern elephant habitat stretches approximately 41 kilometers along the India-Bangladesh border, covering about 200 square kilometers, most of which is currently occupied by human settlements and croplands.
💬 One key quote: “Declaring the conflict-prone zone as a ‘protected area’ is a good initiative; however, it will be a challenge to maintain the status as the region is almost full of human settlement and croplands,” Mohammed Mostafa Feeroz, a zoology professor at Jahangirnagar University, told Mongabay.
1️⃣ The big picture: Bangladesh is taking action to protect elephants in its northeastern region by planning to declare it a protected area. This move comes in response to increasing human-elephant conflicts caused by elephants being trapped on the Bangladesh side due to border fencing installed by India. These non-resident elephants from India’s Meghalaya state can no longer return to their home range through their traditional migration corridors. The Indian elephants, critically endangered in Bangladesh with only about 268 resident elephants in the wild, now face new challenges as they search for food in increasingly human-populated areas. This protection initiative follows a Mongabay report highlighting the crisis earlier this year.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: The protected status will give these trapped elephants a designated space where conservation efforts can be prioritized. Local communities can benefit from more structured management through Elephant Response Teams that provide early warnings about elephant movements and raise conservation awareness. This initiative aligns with broader regional conservation agreements like the Siem Reap Declaration for Asian Elephant Conservation, potentially strengthening transboundary cooperation. The government’s quick response following media coverage demonstrates increased attention to wildlife conservation issues. The plan builds upon Bangladesh’s existing conservation framework that includes compensation for human-wildlife conflict victims and could serve as a model for other elephant range countries.
3️⃣ What’s next: Conservation experts recommend opening the four existing elephant corridors between Bangladesh and India so herds can resume their natural migration patterns. They suggest changing local cropping patterns to plants elephants avoid, like green chili, to reduce farm damage. Bilateral discussions between Bangladesh and India need to accelerate to implement their 2020 protocol on transboundary elephant conservation management.
Read the full story here: Mongabay – Bangladesh plans new ‘protected area’ for elephants in its conflict-prone northeast
