A rain forest is in the making in northeastern Bangladesh and the men who for years stripped it of its inhabitants are now its guards.
The 1,250 hectares (3,125 acres) reserve is home to more than 50 species of plants and rare animals including hollock gibbons.
Boars, deer, snakes and wild poultry are also plenty in the Lawachara forest in the Srimangal district, 220 km (130 miles) from the capital Dhaka.
The forest is being developed by the government, with help from U.S. aid organization USAID and other local non-government groups who decided that the best people to protect it are the poachers who illegally benefited from it for years.
"We have made them part of patrol teams because their experience as illegal loggers and thieves now help to keep other poachers at bay," Rafiqur Rahman, one of the leaders of the forest protection program, told Reuters.
"They know who the other loggers may be, their tactics of operation, where they belong and where they sell the stolen logs," he explained.
USAID gives the former poachers a monthly salary of 2,250 taka ($32). They are also trained in raising cattle, or fishing, and their families often receive a sewing machine to help supplement their income.
Forest officer Abul Bashar Miah said illegal felling of trees had diminished by nearly 90 percent since the ex-poachers started patrolling the forest some three years ago.
"They are rough and tough, work sincerely and help us a lot," added junior officer Hemayet Hossain.
The government is trying to develop Lawachara into a tourist attraction and a research site. Students often trek to the forest on school trips and families sometimes picnic beneath the trees.
But with USAID pulling out in May 2008, some officials fear the government may not be able to sustain the guards' wages and that they will go back to poaching, Rahman said.
"They will team up with those who poach the trees now and will do more harm together," he added.
Some guards are already unhappy. They complain that the police often harass them because of their criminal record and that their salaries are not enough to keep up with rising prices.
"The meager monthly fee we get from USAID is no longer enough to feed our families. Prices have gone up and we have pleaded with the foresters to give us higher wages," said guard Ahad Ali.
"When we started, they assured to raise our pay gradually. We are doing good and honest jobs. But they are not keeping their word," he said.Reuters via Scientific American
