Violence in Rakhine State of Myanmar forcibly displaced nearly one million Rohingya. They took refuge, from August 25, 2017 to the time of writing, in Cox's Bazar–Teknaf Peninsula of Bangladesh. Initially, nearly 2,000 ha of forested lands had to be cleared to accommodate them in one of the most ecologically critical areas (ECA) in the Peninsula. To support Rohingyas livelihoods, fuelwood collection and illegal logging have become widespread since their arrival, causing severe environmental degradation, including loss of a vast amount of forest cover. To devise conservation and protection strategies for a highly sensitive ecosystem, it is imperative to understand the degree of forest cover deterioration and associated impacts related to Rohingya emigration. This study employed satellite images and collateral data to monitor and model spatiotemporal patterns of forest cover degradation and loss of ecosystem function in Cox's Bazar–Teknaf Peninsula. Supervised classification method was used to derive multi-date land use/cover data which was then utilized to monitor spatiotemporal pattern of forest cover change from 2017 to 2019. A projection of forest cover loss was also carried out using the Markov chain with cellular automata technique. Dynamic modeling was performed to predict changes in forest covers, assuming that displaced Rohingya continues to reside in this environmentally sensitive location. The result revealed that 3,130 ha of forested lands of different categories were transformed into either refugee camps or Rohingya influenced degraded forests between 2017 and 2019. Prediction showed that around 5,115 ha of forest cover may experience loss from 2019 to 2027. Furthermore, aboveground biomass and carbon stock estimation indicated a consistent and substantial loss during the study period, which is likely to swell if present deforestation rate continues. The findings have considerable implications in developing conservation decisions, priority interventions and public policies to save the ECA of Bangladesh.

中文翻译：

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与罗兴亚人涌入相关的森林退化和生态系统功能丧失的时空格局：地理空间方法

缅甸若开邦的暴力事件迫使近 100 万罗兴亚人流离失所。从 2017 年 8 月 25 日到撰写本文时，他们在考克斯巴扎尔避难——孟加拉国泰克纳夫半岛。最初，必须清除近 2,000 公顷的林地，以将它们安置在半岛上生态最关键的地区 (ECA) 之一。为了维持罗兴亚人的生计，薪柴收集和非法采伐自抵达以来就变得普遍，造成了严重的环境退化，包括大量森林覆盖的丧失。要为高度敏感的生态系统制定保护和保护策略，必须了解森林覆盖退化的程度以及与罗兴亚移民相关的相关影响。这项研究利用卫星图像和附带数据来监测和模拟考克斯巴扎尔森林覆盖退化和生态系统功能丧失的时空模式——泰克纳夫半岛。使用监督分类方法导出多日期土地利用/覆盖数据，然后用于监测 2017 年至 2019 年森林覆盖变化的时空格局。还使用马尔可夫链和元胞自动机技术进行森林覆盖损失的预测. 假设流离失所的罗兴亚人继续居住在这个环境敏感的地区，我们进行了动态建模以预测森林覆盖的变化。结果显示，在 2017 年至 2019 年期间，3,130 公顷不同类别的林地被转变为难民营或受罗兴亚人影响的退化森林。预测显示，2019 年至 2027 年约有 5,115 公顷的森林覆盖面积可能会减少。此外，地上生物量和碳储量估计表明，研究期间出现了持续且大量的损失，如果目前的森林砍伐率继续下去，损失可能会扩大。研究结果对制定保护决策、优先干预措施和公共政策以拯救孟加拉国的非洲经委会具有重要意义。