Program

Bangladesh

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.