Staff Reporter :
The annual deforestation rate in Bangladesh is almost double the global average, 2.6 percent.
About 66 square kilometer of tropical rain forests have been destroyed in Bangladesh in the last 18 years, which is a matter of concern, experts said.
According to the Forest Department, 2, 87,453 acres of forest land have been occupied all over the country. Of this, 1 lakh 38 thousand acres are reserved forest land.
Bangladesh is the home of 1952 species of invertebrates, 653 fish, 50 amphibians, 147 reptiles, 566 birds, and 127 mammalian species of which many of them are globally threatened.
Thirty-one species of vertebrates have gone extinct from Bangladesh over the last century. Many of the species are facing continuous threat of extinction due to deforestation and degradation of habitat caused by various anthropogenic activities.
Against this backdrop, the country will obser4ve the World Environment Day, 2022 as elsewhere around the world today with a view to creating mass awareness for conservation of nature and environment.
This year’s theme of the day is ‘Only One Earth: Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature’.
Different government and non-government organisations (NGOs) as well as educational institutions have chalked out elaborate programmes to observe the day.
President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday issued separate messages on the occasion of the day, wishing success of all programmes of the day.
In his message, the President said there is no alternative to build a close relation with the nature and environment for the existence of mankind in the world.
“Bangladesh is enriched with unique natural beauty. Geographical location, hills, rivers, forests and the Bay of Bengal has made Bangladesh into a splendorous land for living,” he said, adding that People of this country also depend on the nature for their livelihood.
President Abdul Hamid called upon all the concerned to take steps to save environment to make development sustainable.
He said the government has declared the important areas for biodiversity and environment as the ‘protected and environmentally critical areas’, and it has been taking and implementing development projects to manage the ecosystem and biodiversity of these areas.
