Dhaka: State Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shaikh Faridul Islam has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to safeguarding biodiversity and addressing climate change challenges. “Our government is very sincere about protecting biodiversity, nature, and tackling climate change risks,” he stated during a workshop on the ‘Conservation and Restoration Initiatives in the Sundarbans Region (CRIS) Project’ at a hotel in the capital.
According to United News of Bangladesh, the state minister emphasized that these environmental priorities were part of the government’s election manifesto and have been actively pursued since then. The workshop, he noted, marked the start of a process whose success would depend on effective implementation through careful planning and execution.
Highlighting the Sundarbans’ ecological importance, the state minister expressed concern over the reactive nature of current conservation efforts. He warned of the severe threats posed by human activities, including illegal fishing practices and wildlife poaching, which could undermine the natural resilience of the Sundarbans against cyclones.
Shaikh Faridul called for stringent measures to curb illegal activities in the forest and urged the Forest Department to fully leverage its resources. He also pointed out the lack of buffer zones around ecologically sensitive areas adjacent to the Sundarbans, which often leads to wildlife, such as tigers, straying into human settlements.
The minister urged the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to incorporate plantation-based buffer zones in the CRIS project to prevent wildlife from entering populated areas directly. He also raised concerns about the diminishing freshwater flow into the Sundarbans due to the Farakka Barrage and obstructed river connections with the Padma, which have exacerbated salinity and diseases in the region.
The CRIS project, backed by Agence Fran§aise de D©veloppement (AFD), is a three-year initiative aimed at conserving the Sundarbans. The Forest Department, under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, is executing the project, with the IUCN Bangladesh Country Office spearheading its implementation.