Patterns and extent of threats to the protected areas of Bangladesh: The need for a relook at conservation strategies

Abstract

The protected areas of Bangladesh are subject to a range of threats, making the country’s biodiversity conservation programme fragile. Understanding the type, pattern, and extent of these threats is a crucial step towards effective protected area management. This study attempted to assess the relative severity of threats to protected areas and the degree of susceptibility of protected areas to those threats. 102 officials from the 34 protected areas were interviewed electronically. Ten potential threats were identified. The most severe threats were: fund shortages and policy level disorganization; illegal tree cutting; unsustainable forest resource extraction; forestland encroachment; and wildlife poaching and smuggling. The findings indicate that protected areas throughout the entire ecosystem are at risk, and that threats vary geographically. One-third of the protected areas were susceptible to 80 per cent of the threats. Protected areas in the tropical moist evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of hilly regions were highly subject to illegal wood cutting; while those in tropical moist deciduous forests of plain land area were prone to encroachment for settlement and agriculture, and those in mangrove forests of littoral zones were extremely vulnerable to wildlife poaching. Developing rapid strategies to mitigate for these threats, with multi-sectorial coordination and stakeholder involvement, is essential to managing protected areas properly and to reduce the continuing loss of biodiversity in Bangladesh.