In the springs of eastern Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts, a fish that scientists feared was nearly gone is coming back. The putitor mahseer (Tor putitora), an endangered species native to South Asia, had all but vanished from the region’s waterways. Now, thanks to a conservation effort led by Indigenous communities, the springs are flowing again — and so are the fish.
At a glance
- Putitor mahseer: Tor putitora is an endangered fish native to South Asia, ranging from Bangladesh west to Pakistan, where it is the national fish. Scientists had feared the species was on the verge of disappearing from Bangladesh entirely.
- Village Common Forests: These traditional conservation zones in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are managed by Indigenous communities, who have revived the link between healthy forests and reliable springs — the key habitat for the fish.
- Watershed co-management: The USAID- and UNDP-backed CHT Watershed Co-Management Activity, launched in 2016 C.E., has recorded measurable spring recovery and fish population revival within three years of forest protection beginning.
What was lost — and why
Lika Chakma, 37, grew up in Digholchari Hajachara, a village where springs once flowed year-round. She remembers the putitor mahseer as a common sight. That changed when logging stripped the surrounding forests and quarrying removed rocks from streambeds — the very structures that give the fish shelter and breeding habitat.
Without tree cover, rain stopped soaking into the ground. Groundwater dried up. Springs that had run continuously through living memory went silent in the dry months.
Climate change has deepened the problem. A 2016 C.E. study found that the Chittagong Hill Tracts now receives more rain in monsoon season but less in the dry season — a pattern that makes unreliable springs even more precarious for aquatic species. The putitor mahseer, already stressed by habitat loss and overfishing, had little margin left.
How the recovery works
The CHT Watershed Co-Management Activity (CHTWCA) runs under the UNDP’s Strengthening Inclusive Development in Chittagong Hill Tracts Project, implemented with the Chittagong Hill Tracts Ministry and USAID support. It trains and deploys community members as conservation volunteers — people like Lika — who monitor headwaters, restrict fishing in restored springs, and lead the push to stop illegal logging.
The logic is straightforward: forests act like sponges. They slow rainfall, let water percolate into the ground, and recharge the aquifers that feed the springs. Bring back the forest, and the springs return. Bring back the springs, and the fish follow.
Village Common Forest (VCF) management committees have backed this up with enforceable rules. No harvesting of forest resources without committee approval. No catching fish from restored springs. Violations carry a fine of 5,000 taka (roughly $45) per fish — a serious deterrent in a rural economy. In one documented case from 2022 C.E., a man caught four fish from a protected spring and was fined 20,000 taka ($180).
“If necessary, we buy fish from the market to meet our protein demand, but we do not catch fish from springs,” Lika said. The rule applies to everyone.
Springs returning, fish reappearing
Within three years of forest conservation beginning, Lika reported that the Digholchari Hajachara spring was “returning to its old nature.” Community mobilizer Bihita Bidhan Khisa, working with the UNDP, confirmed that many springs in the area have stabilized — including through the dry season — following forest protection efforts.
The approach also protects communities downstream. By keeping fish populations healthy in headwater springs — off-limits to fishing — the program creates a natural reservoir of breeding adults. Fish move downstream, giving communities outside the protected zones a sustainable harvest.
Benoy Kumar Barman, senior scientist at WorldFish, a global development NGO with a Bangladesh office, called the putitor mahseer’s revival “an amazing matter.” Scientists had placed the species close to extinction in Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s own Red List of threatened species classifies it as extremely rare in natural habitat.
Rooted in Indigenous knowledge
Village Common Forests are not a new invention. They are a revival of traditional stewardship systems that Indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts maintained for generations — systems built on the understanding that forest health and water health are inseparable. The CHTWCA has worked to restore legal recognition and practical authority to these systems rather than replace them with outside management.
This matters not just for the fish. Freshwater biodiversity is declining faster than terrestrial or marine biodiversity globally, and South Asia’s river systems face some of the heaviest pressure. Approaches that combine Indigenous governance with formal institutional support — as this program does — offer a model that other regions are watching.
The CHTWCA program is slated to run for ten years from its 2016 C.E. start date, and early results have given conservationists reason for cautious optimism.
Still, the putitor mahseer remains under severe threat across Bangladesh. Overfishing, habitat loss, and worsening climate impacts mean that the gains in Digholchari Hajachara and neighboring villages represent a foothold, not a recovery. Scaling up what’s working — and sustaining it beyond the program’s funding window — is the challenge that remains.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Mongabay
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Ghana creates a new marine protected area at Cape Three Points
- Indigenous land rights win at COP30 covers 160 million hectares
- The Good News for Humankind archive on Bangladesh
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