Mr. Nasir Ahmed is a Rohingya refugee, who has been engaged in planting trees in Cox’s Bazar in southern Bangladesh, the world’s biggest refugee camp. Mr. Ahmed receives cash for greening the refugee campsites where local forests were affected by the refugee influx in 2017, by far the largest and fastest refugee influx into Bangladesh.

Mr. Ahmed plays an important role in ongoing reforestation efforts which are involving the refugees like him to protect the campsites from the risk of landslides, flash floods, and higher temperatures, which can worsen humanitarian crises.

About a million Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMNs) currently reside in Bangladesh, which is vulnerable to tropical cyclones and accompanying storm surges, floods, and droughts due to its location in the Bay of Bengal and geomorphic features.

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Vast swathes of forests were cleared to build settlements to accommodate the refugees across 34 densely populated camps at Ukhiya and Teknaf sub-districts increasing the risk of disasters. According to the Bangladesh Forest Department, a total of 8,001 acres of forest including 6,164 acres inside camps and 1,837 acres outside, were lost due to the impacts of the influx.

“We didn’t realize there would be severe after-effects of clearing forests. It was unbearable to live without trees under the open sky in a tarpaulin shed with the sun’s blaze in the summer. We saw people die in the camp because of landslides in the rainy season. All hazards occurred due to deforestation,” Mr. Ahmed said in an interview.

Ahmed realized the value of vegetation and engaged in the plantation work as part of the ‘Cash for Work’ program of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is implemented by the World Food Program (WFP). He has been involved in the plantation exercise since 2019 and maintains the plants by regular watering, fencing, weed cleaning, and fertilizer application.

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