The Species Conservation programme in Bangladesh has attached priority to the national Biodiversity Action Plan formulation and its effective implementation. Specifically, monitoring and conservation of wildlife – both at population and species level to be supported; equally important will be its support to a comprehensive system of parks and protected areas in Bangladesh. In a bid to conserve agro-biodiversity, concerned policies, legislation and practices will be inventoried, studied and analyzed in depth and the environment friendly modes demonstrated, effectuated and advocated.

Ecosystems, habitats and species conserved, sustainably utilized and benefits shared.

Species Conservation and Protected Areas unit has the following objectives to meet:

1. Species conservation: Awareness, support and understanding are increased (built) for improved decision making and practice at all levels, for species conservation.
2. Protected area (PA): An ecologically representative and financially viable Protected Area system is established that takes account of multiple management objectives, connectivity, equitable distribution of costs and benefits, and the participation of stakeholders.
3. Agro-biodiversity: Policies, legislation and practices to find a sustainable agriculture for the country.

KEY AREA OF INTERVENTION

1. Species conservation and wildlife protection
2. Biodiversity and livelihood
3. Protected Area (PA) management
4. Agro-biodiversity and medicinal plants
5. ECA management
6. Bio-monitoring using Indicator species
7. Alien Invasive species (AIS)

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT

1. Preparation of the Red Book of Threatened Animals of Bangladesh
2. Delineation of the Bio-ecological Zones of Bangladesh
3. BNBG Network establishment
4. Conducted wildlife re-introduction feasibility study
5. Elephant habitat assessment, Population census and Elephant-human conflict assessment
6. Elephant management guideline preparation and sharing the same with the concerned agencies
7. Publication on Bengal Tiger in the Bangladesh Sundarbans
8. Publication on Conservation of Asian Elephants in Bangladesh
9. Publication on Butterflies of Bangladesh -an annotated checklist
10. Helped GoB and Capacity enhanced in MEAs (pre-SBSTTA, Nation Reports to CBD, Ramsar, CITIES)
11. In-house expert input provided to SBCP, Fish Pass, Climate Change and other projects

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

1. Assessment of biological resources including inventory of species, community participation, effective institutional mechanism
2. Ecologically representative PA management system
3. Community participation in PA management system
4. Eco-tourism for livelihood improvement and biodiversity conservation
5. Policies, legislations and best practices for biodiversity conservation
6. Trade and biodiversity (ABS, Bio-prospecting)
7. Awareness at all levels i.e. community, regional and national level