Protected Areas in Bangladesh
The establishment of three categories of protected areas, namely National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries and Game Reserves has been provided through the Bangladesh Wildlife Preservation Act, 1974 (amendment act 1994).
With the goal to conserve the biological diversity of the country, the Government of Bangladesh has declared 14 protected areas and is considering declaring more. Moreover, the Government of Bangladesh has recently declared 6 areas viz. Cox’s Bazar Teknak Sea Beach (10,465 ha), St. Martin’s Island (590 ha), Sonadia Island (4,916 ha), Hakaluki Haor (183,813 ha), Tanguar Haor (9,727 ha) and Marjat Baor (200 ha) as Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) under environmental conservation act, 1995.
Very recently, a part of the Sundarbans forest (59,600 hectares from its East, West and South sites) and 9,772 hectares of Tanguar Haor have been designated as Ramsar sites in the country. In addition, since February 4, 1999, UNESCO has classified 139,700 hectares of land in the Sundarbans covering three regions - East, West, and South - as World Heritage Sites.
Source: Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh (State of Environment Bangladesh 2001) - Bangladesh Forest Department
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