The Moratilla or the dead hili' gets shaven and stripped off its green foliage everyday, pushing the forests far and far away for Mayarani Tripura, making it difficult for her to gather the firewood and logs for her personal use and sale.

Mayarani. 35. makes a living out of the forest . something she had inherited from her family in the Moratilla village , 35 km north west of Khagrachhari hill town near the frontier with the Indian state of Tripura.

At the crack of dawn everyday, she sets out with other village women to the forest or what has remained of it. in the hills off Panchhari thana where the metalled road ends.

Trudging down the herring bone road gets easy for some time. The road rolls down through the green hills to Tabalchhari from the Panchhari bazar which is 25 km off Khagrachhari .

But the vanishing forests under pressure of wood cutters like her and the professionals, feeding a booming trade in the lulls of Chittagong today, is making it increasingly difficult for them to gain new grounds on the forests.

Once part of the rain forests where teak, civet and others valuable timbers abounded, the forests are virtually gone.

Near the approaches to the Moratilla. a huge Civet tree with its branches and twigs missing-stand guard on the road near a bend where members of the Armed Police Battalion keep watch on the road, a vital link to civilisation for the people who live in the area.

Home to a mixed tribal population of Chakmas, Tripuras. Marmas and settlers from the plains, the Moratilia has very little farmland on the foot of the hills below, forcing the tribes people use the hills for their ancient slash and burn agriculture.

But the vanishing forests too make It difficult for them to practice the art.

So the trees remain the only resource for us. Mayarani said as she trudged up and down the hills along with her husband, who was lucky to return with a log of. not so mature. s(l korot la raintree).

Dir firewood she gathered and I he log would bring the family some respite To buy food mainly rice which still sells it Tk 1 1 per kg

Barm Kumar Tripura, a middle .ig< il man was smoking a tribal long pipe at a makeshift tea house on a bend of the road approaching Mayarani’s village

Barni offered a stoic but simple answer to our query . There is forest and hills and nothing else for us to work on.

"No one offers us a job other than the traders who come with trucks every day to collect the woods." he said.

Usha Marma. a 45-year-old man resting for a cup of tea nodded his approval. He was carrying a log which he reckons would fetch him Tk 100 per cubic feet.

What happens if the forests are no more? Bamf took a long drag on the long pipe ana amidst the mist of smoke which covered his face in pointed his fingers upward to say God will take care

Jaan Bikash Chakma. a local coordinator of the Sustainable Environment Management Programme (SEMP) run by the Ministry of Forests and Environment with help from UNDP is worried about his future.

Unless the people are provided with help they would continue to get help from the forest which is on the verge of saturation. he said. "We need to provide them with alternatives.’ he added.

The tribes people however, have their own answers. Dev Ranjan. a youth without job. feels that if they are provided with help in the form of seeds for horticulture, saplings to raise trees at homes they would have a chance to try their luck.

But water remains a big problem for any such venture. Surya Kumar, also carrying a log waiting for wood collectors' truck said