The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN) have launched an action plan to prevent deaths of Rohingya from wild elephant attacks at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar.

At least 10 Rohingya refugees, including young children, have so far been killed in such incidents at the Kutupalong settlement, according to UNHCR.

“This partnership is critical not only to ensure the conservation of elephants, but to protect refugees,” said a news report of UNHCR on Friday.

A taskforce has also been formed to work with both the local host community and refugees, in close consultation with the Bangladesh Forest Department and the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner's Office.

The taskforce will install watch-towers at key lookout points around the refugee settlement and organise an Elephant Response Team to raise an alarm if elephants enter the camp.

The IUCN is also consulting with elephant experts to look at creating an elephant corridor, so the animals can travel safely on their migratory routes and avoid encounters with people living nearby.   

The highly congested refugee site, which houses around 560,000 refugees who fled Myanmar, used to be forest land but is now crowded with tens of thousands of refugee shelters and services. The site lies along one of Asian elephants' main migratory routes between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Asian elephants are a critically endangered species in Bangladesh, thought to number just 268.      

“Behaviourally, elephants always follow their traditional routes and corridors for regular movement. If they find any obstacles within it, they try to break it,” said IUCN in the survey report carried out to assess the scale of the problem.     

The survey, which covered a hilly area of 70 square kilometres, revealed frequent elephant movement around the refugee settlement area, with the highest concentration of movements along the west boundary. It estimated that as many as 45 elephants could currently be active around the site.

Under the joint programme by UNHCR and IUCN, the taskforce will also set up elephant routes and corridors so refugees know what areas to avoid during an incident. It will also implement an awareness campaign regarding the risks.

In this regard, Kevin Allen, UNHCR's head of emergency operations in Cox's Bazar district, said, “This partnership is critical not only to ensure the conservation of elephants, but to protect refugees, a number of whom have tragically already lost their lives.”

Other plans include carrying out environmental education and awareness among refugees and the host communities about the importance of forest resources as well as taking steps to improve the environment in the refugee settlement areas and nearby surroundings.

The project leaders will also advocate for reforestation programmes to ensure that natural resources and shared environment are better protected.