City Desk :
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin on Wednesday said despite having scarce resources, Bangladesh is making utmost efforts for the protection, conservation and development of the country’s environment and biodiversity.
“Bangladesh expects the cooperation and support from its all developing partners, including the European Union, in all these areas,” he said while speaking at a meeting here.
The bilateral meeting between Bangladesh Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shahab Uddin and the European Union Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whitley at the Secretariat, said a press release said.
Shahab Uddin said at least US$ 800 billion needs to be allocated for the implementation of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, while 50 percent of the total allocation needs to be allocated for the conservation of biodiversity in developing countries.
He said the Constitution of Bangladesh has made the conservation of biodiversity mandatory.
Bangladesh has signed the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Biodiversity Protocol and the Nagoya Protocol, the environment minister said, adding “To this end, the government enacted the Biodiversity Act-2017 and the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2016-21”.
He said 5.77 percent of the country has been declared as a natural reserve area with 48 protected areas and 13 ecologically critical areas.
In addition, Shahab Uddin said, about 6.20 percent of the total marine area has been declared as the Marine Protected Area.
Charles Whitley said the European Union would double its financing for biodiversity conservation, while the EU cooperation in the areas of technology transfer, renewable energy, clean energy, climate adaptation and mitigation efforts would continue to grow exponentially.
