Pittachhara Conservation Initiative: A man’s fight to protect private forest patches in Khagrachhari
Ever since the Bangalis started to move in the Chattogram Hill Tracts, the increased population led to the thinning of the native forest. Mahfuz Ahmed Russel - fashion buyer turned conservationist - and friends took the extraordinary initiative to build a sanctuary, rich with biodiversity. Now they would like to expand, but problems abound
When Mahfuz Ahmed Russel shared his location with us via Google Maps, it showed nothing on the default view of the app. We waited for the weak mobile network to load more details. Still nothing.
Turned out, there was actually nothing of the sorts of things we looked for. The nearest motorable road ended about two kilometres away, and there were hardly any large human-made structures in the vicinity.
Yet, when we reached the place - firstly through a local paved road and then a mud road on a bike followed by a short trek on the hillocks - we found it to be the 'richest' place in the area as opposed to the 'nothingness' shown on google maps.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The richness of the place was in terms of biodiversity - in both animals and plants - while the adjacent hills were covered in monoculture plantations of a number of commercial plant species.
The preservation of biodiversity of this small piece of land, located in Matiranga upazila in Khagrachhari, was possible thanks to the passionate work of Russel, who, in association with a few friends, bought these hills with exactly this purpose in mind.
Ever since the Bangalis started to move in the Chattogram Hill Tracts, the increased population led to the thinning of native forest, which was a part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. Khagrachhari district is no different, where most of the forest land is replaced by human habitats and monoculture. Now, only a few patches of fragmented forest remain here and there, 'waiting' to come under cultivation or plantation any day.
The forest was once very rich, needless to mention. There were bears, leopards, deer and elephants among the flagship animal species.
Russel and his friends now own and preserve 23 acres of forest under an initiative called Pittachhara Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Initiative. The initiative also tries to protect other fragments of forests in the surrounding area, spanning over a four sq Km area, by motivating the villagers to stop hunting.
The result is mixed. The locals said hunting has reduced. But hunting is not the only problem at hand.
"Even if we can stop hunting - which is surely a big problem - where would wildlife go if there is no forest? In the last dry season alone, more than 130 acres of forest have been cleared for teak and acacia plantation," Russel shared the grim situation with The Business Standard.
The remaining patches are really rich in biodiversity.
In just two short tours through the forest, we came across a Bengal slow loris, two species of squirrels, three species of snake, a pig-tailed macaque and many species of birds including jungle fowl. We also saw the footprints of wild cat species and other smaller animals we could not identify.
Many wildlife enthusiasts and conservationists in the country are aware of the biodiversity of the place.
"Since Pittachhara is relatively well-vegetated and holds an active hill stream, the area supports approximately 150 species of resident and migratory birds including the regional endemic Cachar Bulbul and globally Near Threatened species like the Red-breasted Parakeet," Sayam U Chowdhury, a conservation biologist and PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, said.
"The area also supports globally Endangered Slow Loris, Vulnerable Pig-tailed Macaque, 10 other mammals species and a minimum of 20 species of herpetofauna," he added.
The initiative is now trying to purchase more forest land, but the problems are immense. In some cases the ownerships are questionable, and in others, the owners are not cooperating. Funding is also a big problem, which is currently non-existent.
The beginning of the story
Mahfuz Russel started the initiative six years back. He has been living in the forest since. Before that, he actually had a polar-opposite life in Manchester, England.
But the seed of love for nature was probably sown into Russel when he was a little child.
"I was born in Dhaka, but my father, who was a government employee, got transferred to Patuakhali in the late 1970s. It was a small town at that time. There were many trees around our house and a canal and a river nearby. There were many birds and animals; deer would come crossing that canal. I would spend my days with insects, plants and birds.
I think it was when I fell in love with nature," Russel said.
After doing his MBA, Russel worked for two years in the RMG buying sector. Then he moved to the UK to study Fashion Marketing. After completing his studies, he worked for four years in the same sector and climbed the career ladder up to a buying manager.
At that stage, Russel realised that this was not what he wanted in his life. He donated two-thirds of his possessions and started spending more time in nature. For some time, he worked as a volunteer and backpacked in different places in South America, Europe and Africa. He even climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2010.
A sustainable lifestyle- that is what Russel sought. He started to mingle with like-minded people and groups and learnt organic gardening, beekeeping for endangered species, alternative house building etc.
Russel also lived with indigenous communities in the Amazon to see if this lifestyle can actually give people peace of mind. He also wanted to master a self-sufficient and moneyless lifestyle.
Eventually, he sold his home in Manchester and returned to Bangladesh, especially to accompany his ageing mother. But he knew he could not live in the city anymore. With the help of some childhood friends, Russel found the above-mentioned forested land which he eventually bought.
At this stage, Russel didn't mean to be a conservationist. But when he noticed that the local communities hunt wildlife in an unsustainable manner, he decided to intervene.
Now, the forest department would do nothing to protect the wildlife, as these forested lands are all privately owned. So, Russel started going door to door in the surrounding villages to motivate people to stop hunting.
But it was not an easy job. Many of the hunters actually got infuriated at first. They wouldn't take advice from an outsider. They were even suspicious about Russel, thinking he must have done some crime and came here to escape the law.
However, as Russel continuously helped the locals with their education, livelihood and medical needs whenever he could, he gained some level of acceptance among the locals who started to listen to him.
"Hunting has reduced by at least 50%," said Mohammad Yusuf from Purbo Khedachhara, adding, "it was achieved through postering and campaigns in the villages."
A long way to go
Since Russel settled in his jungle house in Purbo Khedachhara, a lot of hills have been cleared for plantation.
The reality is different for the locals than that of the forest-loving urbanites. As we asked one of the local men the name of a beautiful tree, he said, "eta baje gaach [this is a useless tree]."
We met Sachindra Tripura, 70, in Hemango Karbari Para, a few kilometres away from where Russel lives. Sachindra is a living witness to the forests' long-lost biodiversity. About 30 years back, he was mauled by a bear while cutting bamboo in the forest.
Villagers said the mama bear had lost her cub a few days earlier to local hunters.
For people like Sachindra Tripura who returned from the jaws of death with perpetual scars and a dislocated shoulder, the forest is not a good thing. Of course, after a little chit-chat, Sachindra admitted that when there were forests, he got to hunt a lot of animals, and collected bamboo and other necessities from there.
For most of the locals, razing the forest for implementing some profitable projects like plantation, agriculture or supplying fuel for brickfields seems to be a rational choice.
Pittachhara Initiative understands this problem and is devising a plan to address it. It hopes to build a jungle resort and carefully organise guided tours for nature-conscious tourists, earn some money in the process, and share it with the locals so they (the latter) find motivation in conserving the remaining forests.
"When the villagers will see they can earn money from showing trees to the tourists, they won't replace the native plants with commercial varieties anymore," the founder of Pittachhara Initiative hoped.
Russel added that he wants to demonstrate to the local communities that there are alternative livelihood options like mushroom cultivation etc, which do not require much forest clearing.
The initiative has also begun to mull over pushing for legal reform.
"We also want to go to the High Court for directives on legally protecting private forest lands," said Russel while expressing disappointment about the absence of legal protection for such forests.
Although there is still a long way to go, Russel is hopeful.
"We will continue our work. More stakeholders and parties will slowly join hands, sit together to decide what serves the best interest of all, including the wildlife, and reach a consensus to protect and conserve the wild," he concluded.
