Chakaria Sundarbans nears extinction as shrimp farming takes over

If you cruise through the Ujantia canal up to its estuary with the Matamuhuri river of Cox's Bazar, you will see the last remnants of a mangrove forest, almost obliterated from the country's south-eastern landscape.

Popularly known as Chakaria Sundarbans, the forest once acted as a shield against natural catastrophes and served as a source of livelihood for coastal people. 

It also used to be home to the Bengal tiger, crocodile, monitor lizard, deer, langur, wildcat, reticulated python, and a host of birds.

The natural treasure trove now exists only on a few hundred acres out of its original 45,000 acres spanning across Purbo Borobeula, Paschim Borobeula, Rampura, Charandwip, Bodorkhali, and Moheshkhali.

The vast tracts of the forest have been wiped out, mostly in three decades, along with its flora and fauna to make space for shrimp farming and salt production.

Kamal Hossen, professor of Institute of Forestry and Environmental Science at Chattogram University, said Chakaria Sundarbans is older than the Sundarbans in Khulna and Satkhira.

"We lost this majestic mangrove forest to the wrong policy taken during the Ershad's regime. The forest was sacrificed for farming of shrimp, which the then government branded as white gold," he told this newspaper. 

"A thousand acres of forestland was also leased out to influential people."

The forest used to host the Bengal tiger among other important wildlife species, he said, adding some hundred acres of it still exists but that too are being preyed upon by the grabbers.

As per the Forest Department data from last year, 238 grabbers have occupied a total of 2,500 acres of the forestland over the years.

Sirajul Islam Chowdhury Babla, chairman of Purbo Borobeula union parishad of Chakaria upazila, said tidal surge intrudes far deeper into his village, thanks to clearing of the mangrove forest.

"During the 1991 cyclone, the devastation caused by the cyclone would have been much less, had the mangrove forest not been destroyed," he said, recounting the massive cyclone that battered the coastal areas of Chattogram and Cox's Bazar killing thousands of people.

As per the Chattogram Coastal Forest Division, 25,000 acres of the forest were declared reserved in 1903.

The then British government relocated 262 landless families to the mangrove forest leasing out around 4,000 acres of forestland in 1929, thus beginning the deforestation.

Mohammed Abdur Rahman, divisional forest officer of Chattogram Coastal Forest Division, said the Chakaria Sundarbans had tigers in the Pakistan era and deer till 1980.

Around 10,000 acres of the mangrove forest was leased out in the light of the country's first Shrimp Farming Policy adopted in 1985 during Ershad's tenure.

"The policy declares land that is eligible for shrimp farming could be leased out enabling the authorities concerned to lease out forestland. The decision was taken to benefit politically connected people as it ignored the science behind the shrimp farming in the mangrove forest," he added. 

Replying to a question, Md Farhan Tajim, senior fisheries officer of Chakaria Upazila Fisheries Office, said they leased out 587 plots to various organisations and individuals from 7,000 acres of forest in the '80s in light of the Shrimp Farming Policy.

A study done in 2020 by Institute of Forestry and Environmental Science at Chattogram University and Rangamati Science and Technology University found that in 1974, the forest had 25,000 acres and it reduced to 170 acres in 2012 due to shrimp and salt production.

Besides, the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies of Rajshahi University and the University of Education Freiburg, Germany conducted a study on Chakaria Sundarbans in 2013.

It found the mangrove forest in Shaharbil union decreased by about 29.28 percent accounting for 3681.76 acres. In Dulahazara union, it was 30.92 percent or 3509.92 acres"

Shrimp farming and salt production have increased enormously, contributing to the ravaging of the forest in every union, the study found.