Bangladesh plans stronger habitat protection, early-warning systems and community involvement as shrinking corridors and human activity intensify risks to wild elephants.
Bangladesh will take coordinated measures to ensure safer coexistence between people and elephants, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo said Saturday, warning that the country’s wild elephants face a serious threat.
“Elephant conservation is not only about protecting the number of a species. It is also linked to elephant habitats and movement corridors, ecological balance, and the safety and livelihoods of people living alongside elephants,” Mintoo said.
He was speaking as chief guest at a discussion titled “Elephant Conservation: Existing Challenges and Way Forward” at the Shailprapat Auditorium of the Tourism Building in Agargaon, Dhaka.
The event was jointly organised by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), IUCN Bangladesh, Creative Conservation Alliance, Abhaya Aranya and Deep Ecology and Snake Conservation Foundation.
Mintoo said wild elephants are an important part of Bangladesh’s natural heritage and ecosystem but their survival is currently under serious threat.
Wild elephants are mainly found in Sherpur, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, Netrokona, Sunamganj, Sylhet, Chattogram, the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Cox’s Bazar, he said.
There were an estimated 268 elephants in Bangladesh in 2016, while according to the Forest Department, 146 elephants died between 2016 and 2025, the minister said.
He attributed the growing human-elephant conflict to shrinking habitats and movement corridors, deforestation, food shortages, road and railway construction, climate change and electric traps.
When elephants enter settlements or farmland, both people and elephants face risks, Mintoo said.
He said measures would therefore focus not only on responding after conflicts occur but also on protecting elephant habitats and movement corridors, identifying conflict-prone areas, strengthening early-warning systems and improving rapid response mechanisms.
The minister also stressed the importance of involving local communities as key partners in conservation efforts.
Asian elephants require large areas for movement, while Bangladesh is one of the world’s most densely populated countries, making elephant conservation a complex task that cannot be handled by a single institution, Mintoo said.
He called for effective coordination among the Forest Department, law enforcement agencies, local administration, infrastructure authorities, conservation organisations, researchers, and local communities.
Expressing concern over elephant hunting and trafficking in remote border areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Mintoo said coordination between the Forest Department and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) would need to be strengthened to improve surveillance in those areas.
He also stressed that plans for infrastructure projects, including border roads, should take traditional elephant routes into account from the planning stage and provide safe passage for elephants and other large wildlife.
On the welfare of captive elephants, the minister said proper records of their licences, numbers and conditions must be maintained and regular monitoring ensured.
Allegations of elephants being kept in chains, beaten or abused in the name of training, as well as their use in circuses and other commercial activities, should be examined seriously through appropriate legal and institutional processes, he said.
He also called for appropriate medical care and responsible treatment of elephants kept under human supervision.
Outlining future measures, Mintoo said the government would strengthen efforts to protect elephant habitats and movement corridors, reduce human-elephant conflict with the involvement of local communities, regularly monitor the number, location, licences and welfare of captive elephants, and improve coordination among government institutions, conservation organisations, researchers, legal experts and local communities.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, former adviser and chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, chaired the meeting.
Special guests included Sherpur-2 lawmaker Mohammad Fahim Chowdhury, ornithologist and wildlife expert Muhammad Ali Reza Khan, and Shamima Begum, additional secretary for administration at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Representatives of the organising organisations, officials from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Forest Department, representatives of government and private organisations, foreign and local experts, researchers, environmentalists, conservationists, legal experts, stakeholders involved in elephant and wildlife conservation, and print and electronic media journalists also attended the meeting.
