OUR INVOLVEMENT IN ROHINGYA REFUGEE INFLUX RESPONSE

With the earlier migrated Rohingya Refugees in 90s, now Bangladesh is hosting about a million of Rohingya Refugees in hilly terrain of Ukhiya and Teknaf at Cox’s Bazar – the southernmost district of the country, sitting at the edge of the Bay of Bengal.

The refugee influx has affected the life and livelihood of the host community of Cox’s Bazar district. Most of the local inhabitants of this area are resource poor who depend on the natural resources, such as Forest and Sea for their basic livelihood. The emergency is putting immense pressure on scarce natural resources in the area, resulting in degraded natural forests, barren hills and an emerging water crisis. Clearance of forest cover in the upstream for creating the camps has resulted siltation in the down streams, canals and agricultural field. As a result, water scarcity and gradual reduction of agricultural production has been predicted in the area. Moreover, host communities are suffering from price hike of daily necessities due to an added demand of about one million refugees.