K M Asad
Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, wild elephants are losing their habitats to shrinking forests and human expansion. In Sherpur and Cox’s Bazar, infrastructure and settlements are blocking ancient migration routes, turning coexistence into conflict.
In northern Bangladesh, elephants once moved between India’s Garo Hills and Bangladesh’s forests through seasonal corridors now fragmented by the India–Bangladesh border fence and forest clearance, forcing herds into villages and farmland.
In Cox’s Bazar, the arrival of over one million Rohingya refugees since 2017 has cleared vast forest areas for camps and roads, cutting through elephant corridors and increasing human–elephant conflict.
Large infrastructure such as the Dohazari–Cox’s Bazar railway has further fragmented habitats, with around 720,000 trees felled across 27 kilometres of protected forest.
Across the country, elephants face isolated habitats, reduced resources, and rising mortality, raising urgent questions about conservation amid rapid development and displacement.
Fight for Home, 2022, Sherpur, Bangladesh.
In the weeks before the rice harvesting season, local villagers hardly sleep. They light fires night after night to scare away wild elephants, trying to keep their fields safe at night in Sherpur, Bangladesh on April 08, 2022.
Fight for Home, 2022, Sherpur, Bangladesh.
A group of wild elephants crossed the border between Bangladesh and India at Sherpur on December 24, 2022.
Fight for Home, 2022, Sherpur, Bangladesh
There were only a few days left before the rice harvest, the livelihood of most villagers in the area. But the night before, wild elephants had largely destroyed the local farmer's rice field in Sherpur, Bangladesh on April 08, 2022.
Fight for Home, 2025, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
A wildlife bridge gives access for elephants to cross the Dohazari Cox’s Bazar railway that cuts through approximately 27 kilometers of protected forest, including Chunati and Fasiakhali Wildlife Sanctuaries critical elephant habitats in Cox'x Bazar, Bangladesh on October 10, 2025. According to the Bangladesh Forest Department, more than 720,000 trees were felled during construction.