Endangered biodiversity of Saint Martin’s coral habitat are being portrayed in an underwater photo exhibition at Biswa Sahitya Kendra’s Art Gallery in the city’s Banglamotor area now.
The three-day exhibition titled Endangered Lives was inaugurated through a discussion meeting at the Biswa Sahitya Kendra’s hall-room on Tuesday.
Marine conservation initiative Save Our Sea (SOS) and Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) are jointly organising this awareness event on the occasion of the UN declared International Day for Biological Diversity 2014.
Noted educationist, eminent activist and Vice President of BAPA Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed inaugurated the exhibition as chief guest, while Country Representative for IUCN Bangladesh Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad and Secretary of BAPA Abdul Matin were also present as special guests on the occasion. Moderated by Coordinator of SOS Mohammad Arju, the meeting was addressed by Joint Secretary of BAPA Shahjahan Mridha Benu and Secretary General of Riverine People Sheikh Rokon, among others.
The photos of this exhibition were taken by Executive Member of SOS and underwater photographer Sharif Sarwar.
Speaking about the event SOS coordinator Mohammad Arju said, “We have taken the opportunity brought to us by this year’s theme of Biodiversity Day on May 22; ‘Island Biodiversity.’ Saint Martin’s, the only coral-bearing island of Bangladesh, is the most important marine biodiversity hotspot of the country. This marine habitat is home to various endangered species. Unfortunately the marine area is not under any kind of protection. As a consequence, human activity is causing rapid deterioration in biodiversity.”
“We are running explorations in various parts of the Bay of Bengal and producing visual contents to distribute in public. We believe, dissemination of visual contents about underwater world among public hopefully will be effective to build awareness about marine conservation,” he said.
