</s>More than 650,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to neighboring Bangladesh after Myanmar’s army launched an atrocious attack on Rohingya villages in August. Although Myanmar claimed it was a crackdown against terrorists, the United Nations have said the operation amounted to “ethnic cleansing” to remove the minority from the Western Rakhine state.

However, the Rohingya people did not find relief in Cox’s Bazar, one of the largest refugee camps in the world, either. Diseases like cholera spread through the camp like wildfire. Babies were born out in the open on beaches. The Bangladesh government refused to issue birth certificates to Rohingya babies who are born into refugee camps, so technically, they do not exist. Without an identity card, the plight of the Rohignya is only exacerbated.

However, the situation quickly worsened when after just two or three months of escape from Myanmar, the Burmese civilian government, led by controversial Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, struck a deal with Bangladesh not just to stop the influx of Rohingya refugees but also to take back those who had made their way — through great peril — to Cox’s Bazar.

A top Myanmar official said Monday that a camp to host the Rohingya will be ready by next week. The repatriation process is expected to start from Jan 23.

Win Myat Aye, the Burmese minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, said Myanmar was holding a meeting with Bangladeshi officials to decide the number of Rohingya and how they will be scrutinized to be placed in the 124-acre Hla Po Khaung camp.

Currently, the camp will be able to accommodate 300,000 people in 625 building structures.

However, the agreement by the two neighboring countries have raised grave questions about the well-being of the Rohingya refugees and the feasibility of repatriation in the absence of a path to social and political integration— without which it will be tantamount to murder to send the refugees back to Myanmar where burning villages, throwing babies in fire and rape remain the prime oppression techniques by the Burmese army.

The United Nations and human rights groups have urged the Myanmar government to ensure safe and voluntary return of the refugees, while many are concerned whether the Rohingya would want to return to Myanmar in the first place. However, even if some refugees do choose to repatriate, there is little proof that appropriate measures will be placed to secure their basic human rights, citizenship or protection from further persecution.

“There are previous episodes of displacement and return of the Rohingya, and other ethnic minorities, in Burma over the last 20 years which do not inspire confidence,” a report by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan stated.

The Commons International Development Committee said it was “clear” that sexual violence remain weapons of war used by the Myanmar military. It also warned of the “chilling prospect” of the area becoming a “powder keg of radicalization.”

The committee also called the atrocities against Rohingya a “huge human tragedy.”

“Burma's actions have imposed human suffering on hundreds of thousands of people and presented the world with a huge bill for humanitarian relief estimated to amount to a billion pounds per year,” it said.

The fear of reprisal from the international community in response to these reported war crimes has forced Myanmar to repatriate 50-100 people per day. Apart from the fact that at this rate repatriation can take around a decade to complete, Myanmar’s army — which has control over Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Border Affairs — still seems unwilling to clear a path to citizenship and political inclusion for the people of Rohingya.

Even if repatriation can provide safety for refugee, proving prior residency in Myanmar will be difficult for the minority community who were either never issued residency documents or who lost them while fleeing the violence.

These questions raise serious questions about the viability of the entire process.</s>Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh have completed an agreement to repatriate scores of Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar to escape a brutal military crackdown.

Bangladesh issued a statement Tuesday saying the repatriations will begin next week, with the goal of completing the process within the next two years.

Dhaka says the repatriation process will give priority to "family units" and orphans and "children born out of unwarranted incidence" — a reference to children conceived by rape. The agreement calls for Bangladesh to set up five transit camps that will move the refugees into two reception areas in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

But international watchdog Amnesty International called the deal "premature", saying that Rohingya, who allegedly were not consulted for the deal, have no gaurantee of safety upon their return.

"The obfuscation and denials of the Myanmar authorities give no reason to hope that the rights of returning Rohingya would be protected, or that the reasons for their original flight no longer exist," James Gomez, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement Tuesday. “The Rohingya have an absolute right to return to and reside in Myanmar, but there must be no rush to return people to a system of apartheid. Any forcible returns would be a violation of international law."

About 650,000 Rohingyas have fled into Bangladesh since last August, when Myanmar forces launched a scorched earth campaign against Rohingya villages in Rakhine state in response to attacks on Myanmar police outposts by Rohingya militants.

The refugees, living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district, have told human rights organizations of numerous atrocities committed by security forces, including the burning down of homes and entire villages, random shootings and rapes.

The United Nations has described the reported actions carried out by Myanmar forces as "a textbook case of ethnic cleansing." Myanmar dismisses the stories as exaggerated, and the army has cleared itself of any abuses.

Humanitarian groups say the children living in the overcrowded camps are suffering a host of illnesses, including anemia, diarrhea, diphtheria and cholera, due to malnutrition and poor sanitary conditions.

The Rohingya minority has been denied citizenship and other rights in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Myanmar views the Rohingya as immigrants from Bangladesh, despite the fact that many families have lived in Myanmar for generations.</s>Myanmar officials say a camp to house Rohingya Muslim and Hindu refugees who return from Bangladesh will be ready by its promised deadline next week.

Myanmar and Bangladesh had signed an agreement in November to repatriate Rohingya and had set up a working group last month to oversee the repatriation of people who had fled violence in the northern part of Rakhine state in western Myanmar.

Win Myat Aye, the minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, said Myanmar was hosting a one-day meeting with Bangladesh officials in the capital Naypyitaw to discuss the logistics of how many Rohingya will be allowed into Myanmar and how they will be scrutinized to be placed in the camps.

Officials plan to start the repatriation process from Jan. 23.

"We are planning ahead to be able accept the returnees from next week and we are sure that this will be done on time," said Dr. Win Myat Aye, the Union Minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement.

More than 650,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military launched a brutal crackdown in August following attacks on police posts by a militant group. Though Myanmar's army claimed it was a clearance operation against the terrorists, the United Nations, United States and others have said the operations were "ethnic cleansing" to remove the Rohingya from the country.

State-run media in Myanmar reported Monday the 124-acre Hla Po Khaung camp will accommodate about 30,000 people in 625 buildings and that at least 100 buildings are to be completed by the end of the month. It would be the first camp built in the repatriation process.

In the November agreement, Myanmar's civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, pledged to take measures to halt the outflow of Rohingya to Bangladesh and restore normalcy in the region. The U.N and rights groups have urged the Myanmar government to ensure the safe and voluntary return of the Rohingya refugees.

Japan's foreign minister on a visit to Myanmar last week urged Suu Kyi's government to guarantee the safe and voluntary return of the refugees.</s>Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to repatriate Rohingya displaced by an army crackdown "within two years", Dhaka said on Tuesday, outlining the first clear timeline for a return of hundreds of thousands of refugees.

The agreement says the process will be "completed preferably within two years from the commencement of repatriation", according to a statement from the Bangladeshi government following talks in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw.

The deal applies to Rohingya who fled Myanmar in two major outbreaks of violence since October 2016, when militants from the stateless Muslim minority first attacked border-guard posts in northern Rakhine state.

It does not cover Rohingya refugees who were living in Bangladesh prior to that date who the UN estimates the number at 200,000.

"During this two-day meeting, we agreed on the form that refugees will have to fill to be able to come back to Myanmar," Mohammad Sufiur Rahman, Bangladesh ambassador in Myanmar told AFP.

"We should be able to start the process in the coming days," he said, but added Myanmar's stated deadline of next week for starting Rohingya repatriation was "not possible".

The agreement follows a pact between the countries in November paving the way for repatriations from 23 January, a deadline that is likely to slip given the logistical challenges of the cross-border operation.

Myanmar has faced intense diplomatic pressure to allow the safe return of Rohingya refugees driven out by its army.

But many Rohingya in crowded camps in Bangladesh say they are reluctant to return to Rakhine state having fled atrocities including murder, rape and arson attacks on their homes.

Despite that, Myanmar authorities have pressed ahead with the construction of a "temporary camp" in Rakhine's Maungdaw district.

Eventually the site "will accommodate about 30,000 people in its 625 buildings" before they can be resettled permanently, Myanmar's state media reported this week. But only a fraction of the buildings have been finished.

Officials from Myanmar and Bangladesh met on Monday to discuss how to implement another deal, signed on 23 November, on the return of more than 650,000 Rohingya who escaped an army crackdown since late August.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has for years denied Rohingya citizenship, freedom of movement and access to many basic services such as healthcare and education. They are considered illegal immigrants from mainly Muslim Bangladesh.

The authorities have said returnees could apply for citizenship if they can show their forebears have lived in Myanmar. But the latest deal – like the one in 1992 – does not guarantee citizenship and it is unclear how many would qualify.

Monday's meeting in Myanmar's capital Naypyitaw was the first for a joint working group set up to hammer out the details of the November repatriation agreement. The group is made up of civil servants from both countries.

Last month, Bangladeshi officials said they had sent a list of 100,000 names to Myanmar for the first round of repatriation. Myanmar is yet to publicly endorse the list or even confirm it has received the names.

Bangladesh officials had said they would begin the process this month by sharing with Myanmar authorities a list of 100,000 Rohingya, picked at random from among registered refugees.

A Myanmar agency set up to oversee repatriation said in a statement recently that two temporary "repatriation and assessment camps" and one other site to accommodate returnees had been set up.

With inputs from AFP and Reuters</s>A top Myanmar official said on Monday that a camp to house Rohingya Muslim and Hindu refugees, who return from Bangladesh, will be ready by its promised deadline next week.

More than 650,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar’s military launched a brutal crackdown in August following attacks on police posts by a militant group. Though Myanmar’s army claimed it was a clearance operation against the terrorists, the United Nations, United States and others have said the operations were “ethnic cleansing” to remove the Rohingya from the country.

Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement in November to repatriate Rohingya and set up a working group last month to oversee the repatriation of people who had fled violence in the northern part of Rakhine state in western Myanmar.

Win Myat Aye, the minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, said Myanmar was hosting a one-day meeting Monday with Bangladesh officials in the capital Naypyitaw to discuss the logistics of how many Rohingya will be allowed into Myanmar and how they will be scrutinized to be placed in the camps.

Officials plan to start the repatriation process from Jan. 23.

“We are planning ahead to be able to accept the returnees from next week and we are sure that this will be done on time,” Win Myat Aye said.

The UN refugee agency said it is not involved in the process but is willing to play a “constructive role” in the process if allowed, specifically in registering the refugees and helping to determine whether they are returning to Myanmar voluntarily.

“Our involvement in the process and our full access to areas of return in Myanmar can help to build confidence for all concerned, including the refugees,” said Vivian Tan, UNHCR’s senior regional communication officer.

In the November agreement, Myanmar’s civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, pledged to take measures to halt the outflow of Rohingya to Bangladesh and restore normalcy in the region. The UN and rights groups have urged the Myanmar government to ensure the safe and voluntary return of the Rohingya refugees.

Many have questioned whether Rohingya would return to Myanmar under the current circumstances.

Japan’s foreign minister on a visit to Myanmar last week urged Suu Kyi’s government to guarantee the safe and voluntary return of the refugees.

State-run media in Myanmar reported Monday the 124-acre Hla Po Khaung camp will accommodate about 30,000 people in 625 buildings and that at least 100 buildings are to be completed by the end of the month. It would be the first camp built in the repatriation process.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>A Rohingya refugee woman cooks dinner at Palong Khali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh January 9, 2018. — Reuters picYANGON, Jan 16 — Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to repatriate Rohingya displaced by an army crackdown “within two years”, Dhaka said today, outlining the first clear timeline for a return of hundreds of thousands of refugees.

The agreement says the process will be “completed preferably within 02 (two) years from the commencement of repatriation”, according to a statement from the Bangladeshi government following talks in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw.

The deal applies to Rohingya who fled Myanmar in two major outbreaks of violence since October 2016, when militants from the stateless Muslim minority first attacked border-guard posts in northern Rakhine state.

It does not cover Rohingya refugees who were living in Bangladesh prior to that date who the UN estimates number at 200,000.

“During this two-day meeting, we agreed on the form that refugees will have to fill to be able to come back to Myanmar,” Mohammad Sufiur Rahman, Bangladesh ambassador in Myanmar told AFP.

“We should be able to start the process in the coming days,” he said, but added Myanmar’s stated deadline of next week for starting Rohingya repatriation was “not possible”.

The agreement follows a pact between the countries in November paving the way for repatriations from January 23, a deadline that is likely to slip given the logistical challenges of the cross-border operation.

Myanmar has faced intense diplomatic pressure to allow the safe return of Rohingya refugees driven out by its army.

But many Rohingya in crowded camps in Bangladesh say they are reluctant to return to Rakhine state having fled atrocities including murder, rape and arson attacks on their homes.

Despite that, Myanmar authorities have pressed ahead with the construction of a “temporary camp” in Rakhine’s Maungdaw district.

Eventually the site “will accommodate about 30,000 people in its 625 buildings” before they can be resettled permanently, Myanmar’s state media reported this week.

But only a fraction of the buildings have been finished. — AFP</s>Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Bangladesh and Myanmar on Tuesday finalized a two-year timeline to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled from persecution and violence.

The Rohingya Muslim minority will begin to leave Bangladesh, with Myanmar agreeing to accept 1,500 a week with the goal of taking back more than 700,000 refugees within two years.

"We have signed a very positive treaty. After several discussions, Myanmar has agreed to complete the repatriation process preferably within two years from the day it commences," Sufiur Rahman, Bangladesh's ambassador to Myanmar, said.

"We have proposed to repatriate 15,000 Rohingyas every week but they [Myanmar] did not agree to it," he added."They [Myanmar] have taken some preparations for the Rohingyas. They have agreed to take back 300 Rohingyas per day. Some 1,500 Rohingyas will be sent back in a week."

The number of Rohingya sent back every week will increase after three months, Rahman said.

The "physical arrangement" was decided at the first meeting of the Joint Working Group on the return of the displaced Rohingyas from Rakhine State. The meeting was held on Monday and Tuesday in the city of Naypyidaw.

Under the agreement, returnees would be received initially in Myanmar in two reception centers and be temporarily sheltered while officials rebuild the houses for them to move into.

Many displaced Rohingya in Bangladesh, however, remain concerned about returning to Myanmar.

"We are still not clear about what agreement was signed," Sirajul Mostofa, a community leader in a Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazaar, said.

"Our first priority is, they have to grant us citizenship as Rohingyas. Secondly, they have to give back our lands. Thirdly, our security must be ensured internationally. Otherwise, this is not good for us."

A wave of Rohingya migrants began exiting Myanmar last year when military attacks led to widespread violence in Rahkine State -- including allegations of rape, torture and killings.

Last week, Myanmar's military admitted to killing 10 Rohingya Muslims found in a mass grave</s>A top Myanmar official said Monday that a camp to house Rohingya Muslim and Hindu refugees who return from Bangladesh will be ready by its promised deadline next week.

More than 650,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh after Myanmar’s military launched a brutal crackdown in August following attacks on police posts by a militant group. Though Myanmar’s army claimed it was a clearance operation against the terrorists, the United Nations, U.S. and others have said the operations were “ethnic cleansing” to remove the...</s>LOOK out from the high-ground in the middle of Kutupalong and two sights fill the eyes: Myanmar’s green hills silhouetted in the east and dehydrated, denuded mounds pocked by the blue-black tarpaulin sheets of makeshift shelters everywhere else.

That jarring contrast in Bangladesh’s landscape is new. It’s an indirect consequence of brutal military operations in Myanmar that forced 650,000 Rohingya refugees into the country, the majority since August 2017. Most of their journeys have involved witnessing horrendous atrocities, flight from burning villages, and then stumbling through forests or battling monsoon-charged waters in search of safety.

Along the way, they pitched camp wherever they found space and turned to the local forest for everything from shelter to fuel. Satellite images show a clear difference in forest cover between October 2016 and November 2017 that looks similar to the aftermath of clear cutting. They continue to rely on the forest in Bangladesh.

As the refugees poured in through various points along the border, the Bangladeshi military tried to round them up around the existing Kutupalong and Balukhali settlements – in such numbers that they merged into the world’s largest refugee camp.

The weight and rate of that influx have created an additional environmental crisis in Bangladesh’s sensitive border district, stripping away 4,000 acres (1,618.74ha) of forest land, according to numbers from an internal Bangladesh forestry department report shared with Mongabay. Crucial groundwater supplies have also been depleted and contaminated, according to the World Health Organisation.

SEE ALSO: Diphtheria hits Rohingya camps amid rising evidence of genocide

It is a crisis borne of chaos that has not only tipped a delicate balance on Bangladesh’s water-scarce and cyclone prone southeastern tip but also accentuates the humanitarian challenges for both refugees and an overwhelmed local population.

There are now almost one million refugees, including those from previous influxes, living in an area hit by cyclones in each of the previous three years and where, in the worst parts, refugees say they have to live on two pots of water a day.

“It was like a jungle, all of this. There were trees and fruit plantations,” said Rehana Begum, a local Bangladeshi whose home now lies in the middle of the mega-camp. “Now there are so many homes here but they only appeared over the last two or three months.”

Those homes are simply tarpaulin sheets fastened to bamboo poles and pinned into patches of earth the refugees hacked from the hills. From inside the Kutupalong-Balukhali camp, the lines of those tents and hills they cling to are impossible to see past – a sea of dust and plastic that repeats into the horizon, scarcely a tree in sight. Satellite imagery provides a startling overview of those 1.5 square miles (4sq km): from August 2017 onward, Kutupalong’s brown mass creeps steadily outward, eating farther into the government Teknaf Game Reserve that surrounds it until it joins with the smaller Balukhali camp to the south.

“From the late seventies, whenever the Rohingya people came to Bangladesh, they settled down in Teknaf and Ukhia areas and basically in forest land, as there is no [other] available space in those areas,” said Ali Kabir, the Bangladeshi forestry department’s officer for Cox’s Bazar South, the district the Kutupalong-Balukhali camp falls under.

While the Muslim minority from Myanmar’s western Rakhine state have previously fled to Bangladesh in the tens of thousands after operations by the Burmese military in 1978, 1991 and with increasing frequency over the past 10 years, the most recent influx, and corresponding changes, have been far more intense.

“They are cutting down the hills, they’re chopping all the trees, herbs, shrubs then erecting their shelters. As a result, the topography of that area has been greatly damaged,” Kabir said.

The view by satellite also shows a not-quite-browned but visibly thinning ring of green around the camps, especially to the west.

It is from the west that every day, all day, a constant stream of Rohingya men, as well as some women and children, are found wading through puddles, bowed under the loads of firewood each has to go hunting for several times a week. Eight hundred tons of fuel wood are now needed daily, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The sheer weight of that demand created by the refugees in just the Kutupalong-Balukhali camp’s surroundings – and more spread through other camps – has forced the forests to rapidly recede. That doesn’t include the thousands of babies who will be born in coming months.

The camp’s overwhelming brownness does gradually give way to more greenery on foot-beaten paths that lead away from it, but mile upon mile of vestigial tree stumps and scythed-down shrubbery offer no more than a hint of how far the forest has retreated. What had been a 6-mile (9.6km) round trip when the newest Rohingya refugees first arrived has doubled into 12 miles (19.3km) with entire days spent walking and cutting trees.

The route winds on and on, offering no shade from the Bangladeshi dry season’s unfiltered sun. Everywhere there is either someone carrying loads or sat down by the side on one of the numerous breaks they have to take. Barefoot, both men and women wrap themselves in simple pieces of cloth, known as lungis, paired with a vest or blouse and no protection from the elements. Few carry water and some even drink from muddied puddles created a few days earlier by unexpected rains.

“I don’t know how to count the miles I’m walking but I start very early in the morning and get to the forest by about 10 o’clock,” said Ayub Ali, who fled Maungdaw township in Myanmar in September. He spends an hour hacking away at the trees with his machete, the universal tool of Rohingya and Bangladeshi villagers, before ambling his way home, resting regularly by leaning against a stack of branches taller than himself.

SEE ALSO: Blockchain technology employed to give Rohingya refugees identity cards

Now in his 60s, Ali has never before had to actually collect wood but now makes the arduous journey two or three times a week. Few of the refugees recall ever having to do such work in Myanmar, where they would simply buy wood or gas from local suppliers.

With the search for firewood becoming more strenuous and many worried about what they will do when the impending cyclone season adds extra challenges and strains, some Rohingya appear to be stockpiling the treasured commodity. While most houses have branches drying out on their roofs, some have stacks taking up whole corners of their homes.

Around 1,000 football fields worth of timber would be needed to supply the refugees for a single year, according to Graham Eastmond, who coordinates the shelter sector for the international humanitarian response.

Many out collecting firewood are children, some with adults but others sent along with siblings and friends by parents who also have to make sure they are in the camps to collect their aid supplies – which usually offer no alternative fuel for cooking on.

Not everyone is able to walk the whole way, especially some of the youngest children. Instead, they can be found along the route, or even in the camp itself, hacking at the ground to free left behind tree stumps or pulling at wiry roots – a task almost as tedious as the longer journey because of how little fuel they can scavenge.

A lot of that fuel also poses health risks for the refugees as it produces more smoke that becomes trapped in their confined living spaces.

“When they’re cooking green fuel, they’re going to get sicker a lot faster; eye infections, respiratory infections,” said an environmental consultant involved in the emergency response, who could not be named as he was not cleared to speak to media. “It’s just really unhealthy to be cooking green wood and its worse for the forest too because if you’re cooking green wood, it means you’re cooking on the last of it.”

The majority of deforested land has been government-owned, according to forestry official Kabir. Almost half of that land was part of the 15-year-old government Social Forestry Program – now decimated.

The program relied on public land and quick-growing trees that could, within a decade, provide local communities a sustainable income through selling the highly-valued timber used for furniture.

“About 2,000 acres of social forestry has been completely destroyed…almost 1,000 poor people are involved in this programme,” Kabir said, noting that local Bangladeshis have handed in a petition requesting the government compensate them for the lost land.

In contrast to previous influxes of Rohingya refugees, many local Bangladeshis have tolerated the Rohingya – if not willingly, at least after prompts by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – but also grumble about how long they will stay.

Rehana Begum, the area resident who saw dozens of refugee families move in around her, said she accepted them as fellow Muslims but complains about how much the area has changed and even accuses the refugees of stealing from her. But a nearby group of Rohingya say it is not their fault, and there was nowhere else for them to settle.

While there have been genuine concerns for local Bangladeshis about the damage done to the environment and increasing pressure on resources, many do appear to have taken advantage of the situation. Some refugees have reported Bangladeshis demanding small fees from them while collecting wood or for settling on nearby land, and there are signs of a growing trade in firewood.

SEE ALSO: Burma, Bangladesh to agree plan for repatriation of Rohingya refugees

Though Kabir denied any wood was being brought in from outside the camp area, as they have existing stringent checks for smuggled timber along the route, the signs are there.

Muhammad Araf, 27, is a new arrival in the Balukhali refugee camp and one of the Rohingya who have gone into business buying bundles of wood for about 25 cents each and then selling them for about a 12 cent profit per bundle.

Every morning small electric buggies carrying bundles of firewood wrapped in red string head for the camps and surrounding villages.

He said it was local Bangladeshis who were bringing the wood in from somewhere north of Kutupalong, though he did not know exactly where. Without the government monitoring it, it is hard to know exactly how much the trade in wood is also affecting the forestry even beyond the camps’ immediate surroundings.

The Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf districts that run along Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar have long had problems with water. Usable groundwater supplies in some parts are much deeper than usual, which makes getting to them hard and limits how much can be used in an area that already had around 300,000 Rohingya refugees living in it, mostly from influxes since 1991.

That problem, according to a 2012 study by the University of Dhaka, is caused by a high amount of rainwater running off into the nearby River Naf and Bay of Bengal – a problem expected to be exacerbated by mass deforestation reducing the amount of vegetation to pull water into the underground aquifers. The IUCN also highlighted the region as one of 10 in Bangladesh that are severely vulnerable to saline water from the sea contaminating sweet-water sources locals may otherwise have been able to draw from.

“The more water that goes, the less that gets recharged into the aquifers because that water runs right out to the sea. It doesn’t trickle down like it’s supposed to,” said the environmental consultant who asked to have his name withheld.

In the Hakimpara refugee camp, a quarter of shallow tube wells have already dried up, according to aid group Doctors Without Borders.

Adding to the pressure on water supplies is the fallout of a chaotic response to the rapid influx. Latrines were installed hastily to meet one of the fastest movements of refugees in a generation and many were poorly built or not put in the right areas.

Leaking latrines, open defecation and tube wells placed too close to latrines have polluted the groundwater, leading to more than 60 percent used by the refugees being contaminated, the WHO warned.

Kabir, the Bangladeshi forestry official, says the easiest solution is to begin repatriating the refugees. While the government has signed an agreement with Myanmar and even submitted a list of the first 100,000 refugees, such a process would be long even if not opposed by both international organizations and the refugees themselves, who fear being exposed to exactly the same dangers if returned without their rights being guaranteed.

More realistically, plans are being made to harness existing nurseries and nurture more in order to start reforestation around the camps. Part of that will include eco-terracing – quickly plugging some greenery back into the stripped-down hills to provide some protection against landslides when monsoon rains, and potentially cyclones, hit in the coming months.

SEE ALSO: UN flags plight of ‘forgotten’ Rohingya children in central Rakhine

By using existing nurseries as well as offering cash-for-work, aid agencies are hoping to involve the local population and ease tensions between the two communities.

They are also hoping to limit how many Rohingya are turning to the forests for firewood by improving the stoves they use and offering alternatives fuels like gas or briquettes based on harvested rice husks or coconuts – though some of these options are limited by season.

Shelter coordinator for the international humanitarian response Eastmond said the scale of the environmental impact and the discussions they are now having has highlighted how little priority has been placed on providing disaster victims with fuel supplies.

“It should be a sector in itself, it never gets looked at quick enough – that’s the argument,” he said.

In the meantime, Rohingya refugees like Sunjuddin, who arrived after an attack on his village in Maungdaw during the Muslim Eid festival in September, said he can see the trees disappearing but they have no other option.

“This is difficult, it’s draining to do this every day,” he said. “But we need to eat and there’s nothing else to cook on.”

This article is by Kaamil Ahmed, a foreign correspondent who has reported on conflicts, labor and the environment in South Asia and the Middle East. You can find him on Twitter at @kaamilahmed. Originally published on Mongabay.
Win Myat Aye, Myanmar's minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, announced that his country would begin repatriating Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh beginning on January 23, 2018. Burmese officials also promised that a newly built camp for repatriated refugees would also be finished by that date.