Mir Md. Mozammal Hoque1*, Mausumi Rehnuma1, Shihab Uddin1, Sabbir Ahmed1, Md. Eusuf Sarker1 and Gautom Kumar Biswas2
1Dept. of Environmental Science and Resource Management, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail-1902, Bangladesh; 2Dept. of Environmental Technology, Jhenaidah Polytechnic Institute, Jhenaidah, Bangladesh.
*Correspondence: huqmbstu@gmail.com (Dr. Mir Md. Mozammal Hoque, Professor, Dept. of Environmental Science and Resource Management, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail-1902, Bangladesh).
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ABSTRACT
This study was conducted at Ukhiya Upazila of Cox’s Bazar district to find out the socio-environmental impacts due to Rohingya refugee's invasion of the study area. Both the quantitative and qualitative tools were used to analyzed data and information, in order to assess these impacts. According to the finding, 3918 acre natural and 1879 acre man-made forest coverage was damaged due to Rohingya refugees sheltering in the study area. This study finds out that 42% of the refugees living in the Kutupalong sheltering area are directly dependent on the forest for cooking wood of 1411 tons/day. Moreover, Rohingya`s are significantly affecting other natural resources including soil, agricultural land, and surface and ground-water of the study area. In fact, they using 18.26 million liters of water per day and the ground-water level has been depleted by 25 meters during the time period of 25 August 2017 to February 2018. Furthermore, ~9000 hectares of farming land with local crops (Boro, Aman, Betel leaf) and fruits had been permanently damaged as impacts of Rohingya migration on the area studied. We measured the noise level surroundings of the Rohingya camps, which was 1.5 times higher than the DoE recommended value for the residential area. Various life-threatening diseases were also identified towards the refugees among them diphtheria was most alarming. Moreover, Rohingya are also involved in various antisocial activities including smuggling, drug trafficking, robbery, snatch, theft, etc. Such societal degradation might trigger multiplicative impacts on the environment and overall socio-economic circumstances of the whole Teknaf area.
Keywords: Rohingya, Refugee, Environment, Betel leaf, Agricultural, Socio-economic, Ukhiya, and Myanmar.
Citation: Hoque MMM, Rehnuma M, Uddin S, Ahmed S, Sarker ME, and Biswas GK. (2021). Impacts of Rohingya migration on surrounding environment of Ukhiya, Bangladesh. Am. J. Pure Appl. Sci., 3(4), 106-112.
https://doi.org/10.34104/ajpab.021.01060112
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