Climate change: Nijhum Dwip falls prey to election politics

Standing vigil to protect the country from the onslaught of storms and devastation along the coast, on the southwest of Bangladesh lies the Sundarbans and on the southeast is a wall of forests and hills. But the coast of Noakhali that stretches between the two, lies unprotected and the large population of this area remain vulnerable to the vagaries of the sea.

In the 1940s a large island emerged from the sea near Hatiya at the confluence of the Bay of Bengal and the river Meghna.  Towards the start of the sixties, work began on creating a forest on the island at the behest of the government. Thousands of aerial root trees like kewra, gewa, bain, kankra were planted there. The trees flourished with time and another 'Sundarban' emerged. This was later named the Nijhum Dwip National Park. The mangrove forest gave hope to those who were vulnerable to the threats of climate change.

Yet there came a time when people began destroying this manmade forest. And various governments gave support to such destruction for the sake of votes and election politics.

According to investigations carried out by Prothom Alo, on one hand mangrove tree plantation had started and on the other, land was being prepared for the settlement of the homeless. Deforestation began for the sake of habitats and crop fields. Then again, in 2001 Nijhum Dwip was declared a national park and part of it was made into a reserved forest. But from then on further depletion of the forest began. In 2008 the island was declared a union parishad and most of its nine wards were within the area of the national park. The forest park thus slowly faced destruction. Yet according to the act pertaining to national parks and reserved forests, even plucking a leaf of a tree or removing the bark of a tree there is a crime, let alone setting up habitats and crop fields.

A research report published in the 'Environmental Challenges Journal' in 2012 said that in 1990 the forest area of Nijhum Dwip had been 10,422 acres. Then 20 years later in 2021 this decreased and stood at 6,021 acres. The destroyed forest was replaced with houses and agricultural fields, which was 42 per cent of the remaining forest area. The report said that till 2020 the forest land grew by another 750 acres.

According to another report published in the same year in the 'Global Journal of Human-Social Science', the most deforestation of Nijhum Dwip took place between 2001 and 2011. Nijhum Dwip had given people a sense of hope of protection from the frequent cyclones and tidal surges. But today as far as the eye can see, there is just destruction.

There was a beautiful tale of courage towards the beginning of this island. A brave man Osman one day tied a rope around his buffalo's neck, took a boat and crossed the canal from Muktariya ghat of Jahajmara union in Hatiya and arrived at an island. His entire herd of buffalo followed, swimming across the canal to join him and the other buffalo on the island. Osman built his homestead there on the deserted island and reared his buffaloes. He later went and brought his family to settle there too. That was in 1965 and this was the first human settlement on the island that had risen from the sea in the forties. The island was named Char Osman. Many people followed suit. But according to history, the 1970 cyclone wiped out all the people there, perhaps even Osman. Then in independent Bangladesh the island was named Nijhum Dwip.

According to historical records, Nijhum Dwip arose at the confluence of the Bay of Bengal and the river Meghna in the 1940s. There was a profusion of shrimps around the island and so the fishermen of Hatiya called it Ichhamatir Char. In 1959-60 the government of Pakistan at the time arranged for 650 acres of land on the char to provide permanent settlement to the landless. For five years back then there was no permanent settlement, until the 1965 saga of Osman and his buffaloes.

Prothom Alo investigations reveal that the destruction of this island began with the contradictory polices of the government. And this continued as part of the politics of votes and elections. After 1971, the government on one hand took initiative to create a forest on the island and on the other, to arrange for human settlement there. In 1988 the Ershad government took initiative to rehabilitate the landless there. The Nijhum Dwip Foundation was formed. Nine cluster villages and a colony were set up on the island. Fifty families were given permission to set up their homesteads in each cluster villages. Then 17 ponds were excavated in the village for drinking water and household purposes. Till 1990, a total of 491 families settled into the cluster villages and colony on Nijhum Dwip. The allocated land area stood at 982 acres.

Similarly, in 1998-2000 during the rule of Sheikh Hasina's government, the land ministry allocated 675.60 acres of land for 563 families. Next began work on the Char Development and Settlement Project (CDSP)-2. From 2002 to 2006 during the government of Khaleda Zia, in four phases under the same project another 922.90 acres of land was allocated for 839 families.

Then again in 2008 during the Awami League government Nijhum Dwip was declared a union and divided into nine wards. Then under the CDSP project in five phases from 2008 to 2013, another 2484 acres of land was allocated to 1,658 families. Thus the allocated land increased to stand at a total of 5064.50 acres.

In May and October last year, during visits to Nijhum Dwip, there was ample evidence of the forest being depleted further. There had been a kewra forest in the place where Hashim Uddin's house stands today. Hashim fell the trees there to clear 40 decimals of the forest to set up his home and crop fields. He has been accused in three cases by the forest department for cutting down trees of the reserved forest. This 65-year-old man regular appears in court. He has built a house in ward 6 of the Nijhum Dwip union and lives there with his wife and daughter.

Hashim Uddin said that the land office had made arrangements for land to set up his homestead. However, he was unwilling to show any documents in this regard. He told Prothom Alo, he had taken part in clearing the forest for homesteads under the leadership of the chairman at the time, Meraj Uddin.

Around 30 to 40 metres southwest of Hashem Uddin's homestead is a corrugated tin house belonging to Shahabuddin (60). He is originally from Jahajmara union in Hatiya. When Nijhum Dwip was declared a union in 2008, he and a few of his landless neighbours moved over here. He contacted the first UP chairman of Nijhum Dwip, the Awami League-backed Meraj Uddin and set up home in ward 6.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Shahbuddin said, "When we came to Nijhum Dwip, the only vacant spaces were along the coast of the sea and banks of the river. Homesteads cannot be set up there. The forest land was high. Tree had to be cut to build any habitat there. With permission from Meraj chairman I cut down the trees and built my homestead."

A visit to the area on 10 May saw that around 40 to 50 metres away from Shahabuddin's house, the people had dug the ground, raised an area by one or one-and-a-half feet where they constructed their corrugated tin homes. Families of six to seven members each live in the houses set in this area surrounded by crop lands. The wooden poles used for these houses are made from trees of the mangroves forest.

A trip around the island revealed trees have been chopped down here and there. There are bare tree stumps and branches all over. Children are collecting the branches for firewood. The stumps of trees peeking out from the crop fields indicate that these were once forest areas.

Local people say that in 2003 during the BNP-Jamaat government, Nijhum Dwip was a ward of Jahajmara union of Hatiya upazila. Jamaat activist Tajul Islam was elected member of this ward back then. Under his leadership, the landless came in large numbers to set up their habitats on Nijhum Dwip. When asked about the matter, Tajul Islam claims that he used his political influence as well exerted his sheer labour to start a settlement on Nijhum Dwip. But he laments he received no support. Speaking to Prothom Alo in May this year, Tajul Islam said, "I struggled, relentlessly urged the administration, to establish a settlement on Nijhum Dwip. But now the people here have forgotten me." He also claims to have worked the hardest to set up Nijhum Dwip as a union.

Former chief conservator of forests and former country representative of ICUN, Ishtiaque Uddin, told Prothom Alo, "There is political instigation behind the all the grabbing of forests around the country. Nijhum Dwip is a glaring example. Whichever government came to power would create scope for settlement on the island in order to increase supporters and voters. And the people would use this opportunity to clear away the trees of the forest." He said that in this manner 50 per cent of the forest has been destroyed, rendering the environment of Nijhum Dwip vulnerable.

After Nijhum Dwip was declared a union in 2008, the island went under Awami League control. Meraj was chairman with the backing of Hatiya's member of parliament at the time, Mohammad Ali. Later Meraj became president of Nijhum Dwip Awami League. It is alleged that under Mohammad Ali's protection, Meraj and his associates carried out extensive grabbing of the forest. Many of those who assisted Meraj, even bought land and set up homes there at cheap cost.

Local people say even before he became chairman, Meraj had close contact with pirates. That gave him the most clout on Nijhum Dwip. He and his close relatives began cutting down trees and creating plots of land. Following an application under the right to information act, it was learnt from the forest department that up till 2016 the forest department has filed nine cases against Meraj.

Abdul Malek (62) is related to Meraj through his in-laws and his homestead is to the east of Bandartila Bazar on Nijhum Dwip. He identifies himself as the division convener of Bastuhara League and is known by the locals as 'Malek neta'. Speaking to Prothom Alo, he said, "I have worked hard to establish homes for the homeless here, but the forest department repeatedly obstructed me. Those who were living here from beforehand also hampered my efforts. Later there were clashes between the outsiders and the locals."

On 23 April 2022 a group of 8 to 10 people were seen digging up the soil in Bou Bazar of Nijhum Dwip. They were planning to lay foundation for houses. Some of them were ripping out gewa saplings to clear the forest. When the patrolling forest officers reached the spot, they fled. The forest department employees later seized nine kewra tree stumps, seven kewra logs, 900 gewa saplings, a large chopper, spades and saws. The forest department later filed cases against six persons. The case statement said that the preparation to build houses was being carried out in the forest department's reserved area.

Such pictures of forest grabbing appeared in several case statements of the forest department. According information received through application under the right to information act, from 2001 till 2024 the forest department filed 161 cases under the forest act. A total of 1,140 persons have been charged in these cases. Some of the accused have been sentenced to imprisonment or fines and some have been released. There are 70 cases under trial at present.

In the statement of another case filed in 2018, it was said that on 10 February that year a group of 20  to 22 persons were seen chopping down trees on the new char south of the Chhoakhali forest camp in Nijhum Dwip. They were led by the Nijhum Dwip chairman of the time, Meraj Uddin. Later 428 kewra tree stumps, a basket full of ringed tree barks, an axe and a chopper was seized from there.

A look through papers of the land ministry reveals that after 1998, land of Nijhum Dwip was arranged in accordance to the agricultural khas land management and settlement policy. There is a clear lack of coordination between the land ministry and the forest  department in this regard. The government allocated land in one name to the forest department, and the same land under a different name to the forest department.

The matter of forest land was not taken into cognizance when identifying khas land on Nijhum Dwip. The land ministry even overlooked this in official notifications. A notification in 1998 states that no khas land, or khas land marked by the government for afforestation by the forest department, in the area of the notification as forest land, can be given on lease/settlement without consulting the land ministry and the ministry of forests and environment. Yet in the case of land given out for settlements in Nijhum Dwip, trees planted by the forest department and even water bodies have been handed over to the homeless according maps that were drafted.

The Noakhali coastal forest department Char Osman beat office is located in a corner of Namar Bazar of Nijhum Dwip. The government allocated to the forest department the forest land that runs along the right bank of the canal from the river in front of the office, stretching up till Muktariya canal. This area is known as Char Komola. Yet the documents of the land office identifies much of this area as Char Muhit and had allocated land here to the homeless. When they cut trees to set up home, they come into confrontation with the forest department, leading to agitation. In the same manner, the land ministry and the forest ministry have made settlements for land in four chars under different names.

Amid this lack of coordination and administrative indiscipline, tree felling continues unabated. The forest officers shirk their responsibility by saying they are helpless. Jahajmara range official Saiful Islam, speaking to Prothom Alo, said that according to official records, the forest area of Nijhum Dwip is 40,390 acres. But as this has not been demarcated, the forest department can do nothing.

On 8 April 2009, 40,390 acres of land on 11 chars of Nijhum Dwip were declared as the Nijhum Dwip National Park. But the government only surveyed Osman Char. As a result, the forest department can only lay claim to this. There has been no survey of the remaining chars and no boundary has been fixed. The government has given these lands to the forest department through gazette.

In this backdrop, a journalist Rafiq Uddin Enayet in Hatiya filed a writ with the Supreme Court in 2014 for a demarcation to protect the Nijhum Dwip National Part, On 11 May 2015 the court directed an eight-member expert team comprising Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, Ainun Nishat and others to be formed to look into the state of Nijhum Dwip. On 19 October 2016 the team of experts visited the Nijhum Dwip National Park. Taking the observations of the expert team into cognizance, the court issued several directives from 15 May 2017 to 25 February 2018. Significant among these are a survey to be carried of the Nijhum Dwip National Park area, a cancelation of the land settlements and relocation of these who had already settled there, and not to allocate new land for settlement any further.

However, till now no effective measures have been adopted. When as why no measures had been taken, range officer of the Jahajmara range forest department, SM Saifur Rahman, told Prothom Alo, "I have repeatedly send letters to the UNO for a survey. In the letter I have also mentioned the court order and the task force decision. But I have no idea why no action has been taken."

Hatiya's UNO Md Ibne Al Zaid Hossain told Prothom Alo, "Taking the importance of the forest into consideration, we have sent letters to the higher authorities. We hope that measures will be taken shortly to run a survey of the forest land." As to why this has not been done so far, he said he has joined Hatiya recently and the UNO will know better why nothing was done so far.

From 28 August 2023 till 9April 2024 Suraiya Akhter had been the UNO at Hatiya. She is now in charge of Subarnachar in Noakhali. She said, while speaking to Prothom Alo, "There was a political government before this. We would face all sorts of pressure of we tried to take any measures." She says, the land on Nijhum Dwip was given for settlements long ago. In fact, there were even instances where the government had made certain land allocations and then the same land was allocated to others under CDSP. Or the land has been given to someone, but someone else has occupied it. The survey was never carried out amid all these complications.

The forest department claims that after the co-management committee of the department was created in 2014, deforestation came to a halt in Nijhum Dwip. However, a recent trip to Noakhali saw that trees are still being felled, houses being erected and crops being grown. Strategically, first houses are built by the side of the forest, then the trees are cut down and crop land created. And the union parishad is even making unpaved roads to lead to these unlawfully constructed houses. This has given rise to a propensity to build more settlements along the forests.

Md Selim and his family, a resident of ward 6, would live in the Bandartila area of Nijhum Dwip. Later he built his homestead at Mukhali, ward 2. He built this on forest land. He has even excavated a pond and alongside the forest grows aman paddy. Many others have done the same.

Nijhum Dwip resident Shafi Ahmed is a mason. He said, most of those living on the periphery of the forest do not have government settlement. They hope that eventually they will get the settlement. Many have even submitted applications to the land office for settlement deeds.

[Mahbubur Rahman, Noakhali, has helped in preparing this report.]

*This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir