- Bangladesh is planning to declare a major elephant habitat in its northeast, which has recently seen a rise in human-elephant conflicts, a protected area.
- Bangladesh is one of the few countries home to Indian elephants, with an estimated presence of 268 “residents” in its wild. The species is critically endangered within Bangladesh, where they primarily inhabit the southern hilly forests and parts of the northeast.
- The elephants in the northeast are “non-residents,” visiting from neighboring India, which has fenced its border, leaving the elephants trapped in Bangladesh. Naturally, the conflict here has risen recently.
- While experts consider the government’s move beneficial for conservation of the species, they also suggest establishing transboundary cooperation so that the elephants can continue to move through their usual corridors.
In response to rising human-elephant conflicts, Bangladesh is planning to declare the elephant habitats in its northeastern parts a protected area for the species.
The country is one of the few where Indian elephants (Elephas maximus indicus) are found, with an estimated wild population of 268 resident elephants, all in the southern districts. The IUCN declared the species critically endangered within Bangladesh, where they primarily inhabit the southern hilly forests, and also the northeastern parts.
The elephants of the northeastern habitat are considered “non-residents,” which weren’t counted in the census: They migrated from neighboring India’s Meghalaya state a few years ago as they’ve done for generations, but they haven’t been able to return since 2019 due to the closed elephant passage at the international border installed and maintained by India. Consequently, the trapped elephants roam the region in search of food through the seasons. Conflicts between humans and elephants thus rose over the years.
Following a story about the crisis published by Mongabay on March 12 this year, the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) sent a team of forest officials and experts to visit the region and subsequently made the decision to declare the zone “protected.”
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, advisor to the ministry told Mongabay, “I personally visited the area on May 26, to understand the gravity of the situation. Initially, we are working on declaring the area as protected and finding ways to reduce conflicts and damages. At the same time, we will continue to talk to India to find a sustainable solution.”
“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.
“The northeastern elephant habitat is mostly a long stretch of about 41 kilometers [25.4 miles] area in three districts — Sherpur, Mymensingh and Netrokona — alongside the international border,” Feeroz said. “If we count 5 km [3.1 mi] inside the border for the entire length, the area is approximately 200 square kilometers [77 square miles], and most of it is occupied by human settlements and croplands.”
Though the forest cover in the region is currently limited for different reasons, including increased human settlement and degradation, historically, the region has always been dominated by sal (Shorea robusta) forests.
“A comprehensive management plan, including engaging adequate numbers of the Elephant Response Team [ERT] in the conflict-prone zone, needs to be deployed to avoid conflicts and damages,” Feeroz said.
ERTs are usually formed by local people who play a major role in raising awareness about elephants in various ways, like providing information about elephant herds’ movements and creating awareness among the locals about elephant conservation and the proper treatment of wild animals.
A.B.M. Sarwar Alam, IUCN Bangladesh’s program manager, suggested changing the cropping pattern in the region.
“Since the elephant herd mostly destroys rice and vegetable farms for their food, the farmers can cultivate alternative crops like green chilli, which the elephants do not like to eat,” he said.
However, Feeroz emphasized the need to open the four existing elephant corridors between Bangladesh and India so that the herd can continue their migration back. Otherwise, he said, the area will become a hostile place for both humans and elephants in the long run.
Besides declaring the area protected and advancing their conservation ideas, both experts expressed the need to solve the crisis through bilateral discussions between Bangladesh and India.
Bangladesh and India signed a protocol in 2020 regarding the transboundary elephant conflicts and their management. However, finalizing the terms and conditions of operating the protocol is still underway.
Besides the protocol, the Siem Reap Declaration for Asian Elephant Conservation, adopted by all 13 Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) range countries in 2025, would be a good instrument for solving the crisis, said Feeroz. According to the declaration, the elephant range countries — which together hold fewer than 50,000 wild elephants — are supposed to enhance transboundary cooperation for elephant conservation both bilaterally and multilaterally.
Status of Asian elephants and their conservation in Bangladesh
According to IUCN Bangladesh data, Bangladesh has recorded the presence of elephants in 44 forest ranges, covering 1,518 km2 (586 mi2), and 12 elephant corridors. Elephant routes are the paths the species use daily for food and other needs, while corridors are the areas where elephants pass from one habitat to another. In the southern region, they mostly live in Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts and Cox’s Bazar districts, according to IUCN Bangladesh’s Status of the Asian Elephant in Bangladesh.
The elephants living in the country’s forest are termed residents, and those that frequently move in and out from neighboring countries, India and Myanmar, are termed non-residents.
According to the Bangladesh Forest Department, between 2017 and 2021, at least 50 elephants were killed in Bangladesh in conflicts between humans and elephants. The highest annual death toll was 34 in the year 2021.
In 2018, the government developed a 10-year Elephant Conservation Action Plan to guide the implementation of elephant conservation activities nationwide.
Alongside this, under a project called Sustainable Forests & Livelihoods (SUFAL), the forest department, along with NGOs like IUCN Bangladesh, has engaged local communities in conflict-prone areas by forming ERTs as a conservation tool to mitigate human-elephant conflict.
Considering the loss of human lives and resources, in 2010, Bangladesh introduced a compensation package for families that lost members and resources like households and crop fields to attacks by wild animals. Later, in 2021, the compensation package was updated to include additional benefits.
The country already has 56 protected areas, including national parks and sanctuaries, that are playing an important role in forest and wildlife conservation.
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Asian elephants fall victim to poor development policies in Bangladesh
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