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Why Turtles?

Found around the world in rivers, deserts, jungles, and our own backyards, it’s easy to assume tortoises and freshwater turtles will always be here. But the very traits that once helped them survive render them vulnerable to extinction today.
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Bangladesh 1 Bangladesh 3 Bangladesh 5 Bangladesh 8

Program

Bangladesh

Chittagong Hill Tracts

Bangladesh is home to 30 types of turtle and tortoise. Twenty-six (87%) of these are considered threatened with extinction.

Located in the most remote corner of southeastern Bangladesh, the Chittagong Hill Tracts encompass 13,295 square kilometers (5,133 sq. mi) of rugged montane old-growth forest and are home to at least 30 globally-important species of flora and fauna including 7 types of tortoise and freshwater turtle. There, Turtle Survival Alliance and our partners have established ten Indigenous Community Conservation Areas. These conservation agreements with local villages protect critical habitat for at least 30 threatened species including tortoises and freshwater turtles, tigers, pangolins, bears, and more. As an important step to involving the indigenous people in the protection of these community conservation areas and the fauna that inhabit them, hunters have been reformed and trained as ‘parabiologists.’

These parabiologists are in charge of monitoring and reporting any threats to their land as well as collecting research data. As traditional ways of making a livelihood in the Chittagong Hill Tracts have shifted to modern, often unsustainable practices, the Creative Conservation Alliance has been working with indigenous leaders for over six years to provide their villages with sustainable, alternative livelihoods. In Bhawal National Park, the creation of the CCA/Bangladesh Forest Department/TSA turtle breeding center was an important step for the conservation of the seven threatened tortoise and freshwater turtle species residing in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Not only does the facility ensure that populations of these species will survive in captivity within the country, but will also maintain breeding populations for intended progeny release.
In 2021, the program commenced its goal of repopulating the hills with turtles that once roamed freely there by releasing 10 captive bred and reared Asian Giant Tortoises affixed with radio transmitters into a community managed forest. Ninety percent of the reintroduced tortoises survived the first year indicating the initial success of the reintroduction effort. In addition, CCA engages with the Shrine of Bayazid Bostami in Chattogram to increase the population of Black Softshell Turtles at the Shrine, with the goal of one-day rewilding this Critically Endangered species to Bangladesh. The collaborative program relocates eggs deposited in nests along the Shrine ponds’ peripheries to incubators at the temple. To date, hundreds of hatchlings have been successfully hatched and added to the captive population.

Key Species

Key Species

Manouria emys phayrei

Asian Giant Tortoise

Critically Endangered

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Heosemys depressa

Arakan Forest Turtle

Critically Endangered

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Bangladesh

Lead Partners and Supporters

Creative Conservation Alliance,  Bangladesh Forest Department

Program Team

Shahriar Caesar Rahman
Chief Operating Officer

Creative Conservation Alliance

Fahim Zaman
Project Coordinator

Creative Conservation Alliance

Sourav Chakma
Research Officer

Creative Conservation Alliance

Etal Changma
Field Supervisor

Creative Conservation Alliance

Komol Guala
Animal Keeper

Creative Conservation Alliance

Madhab Chasha
Animal Keeper

Creative Conservation Alliance

Bijoy Chakma
Animal Keeper

Creative Conservation Alliance

Menrua Mro
Parabiologist

Creative Conservation Alliance

Langraw Mro
Parabiologist

Creative Conservation Alliance

Menlong Mro
Parabiologist

Creative Conservation Alliance

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