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Bangladesh’s way forward to biodiversity conservation
The global biodiversity is in a bad shape and a couple of numbers can confirm that: 12.5 percent of the world’s eight million species will be lost forever in the next few decades; and between 1970 and 2020, big animals’ numbers reduced by 68 percent. For Bangladesh, the numbers are not any better. Two studies led by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Bangladesh and the Forest Department, and supported by the World Bank, showed that 24 percent animal species (data of 2015) and 39.4 percent of plant species (data of 2023) of the country will be extinct soon, if no measures are taken to save them.
Although these numbers are relatively recent, biodiversity loss was recognised as a problem much earlier. That’s why the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted by the world in 1992, the 2010 Biodiversity Targets were set in 2002, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (2011-2020) and Aichi Biodiversity Targets were adopted in 2010, and in 2015, the world agreed upon the 14th and the 15th Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aiming at biodiversity conservation.
In the same vein, in December 2022 in a meeting in Montreal, Canada, the countries adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to save the world’s remaining biodiversity by 2050. This most ambitious-ever global plan to conserve biodiversity is also known as the “Biodiversity Plan” and has two main parts. The first part has four global goals to be achieved by 2050—protection and restoration of biodiversity, prosperity with nature, fair sharing of the benefits from biodiversity, and enhanced investment and collaboration. The second part includes 23 global targets to be achieved by 2030. The first eight targets refer to reducing threats to biodiversity, the next five talk about sustainable use and benefit-sharing to meet people’s needs and the final 10 outline different tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming biodiversity conservation.
While many of these targets are qualitative in nature, some have ambitious numbers to fulfil. For example, Targets 2 and 3 talk about restoring 30 percent degraded ecosystems and conserving another 30 percent of diverse ecosystems, respectively. Target 18 wants to reduce harmful incentives every year by at least $500 billion, while every year $200 billion should be allocated for biodiversity from a wide range of sources as envisaged by Target 19.
I believe Bangladesh is already a part of this new global plan. Our recent legal instruments, for example, Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) Management Rule, 2016, Protected Area (PA) Management Rule, 2017, and Bangladesh Biodiversity, Act 2017, are in line with the Biodiversity Plan, and these also have provisions to create new funds for conservation actions. Species conservation action plans, such as those on vultures (2016-2025), gharials (2016-2015), tigers (2018-2027), elephants (2018-2027), dolphins (2021-2030), and sharks and rays (2023-2033), also indicate our progress in conservation planning. Numerous projects implemented since late 1990s underscore Bangladesh’s participatory and co-management experience—one of the oldest and latest examples are Management of Aquatic Ecosystem through Community Husbandry (1998-2003) and Protibesh (2021-2026) projects, respectively.
I also think, in some cases, Bangladesh exceeds the Biodiversity Plan’s expectations. In 2011, the 15th Amendment of the Bangladesh Constitution confirmed that preservation of biodiversity is the state’s responsibility. In 2019, Bangladesh Parliament unanimously adopted a motion on “Planetary Emergency” bringing biodiversity loss and climate emergency together. In the same line, the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan (2022-2041) and the National Adaptation Plan (NAP2050, 2023-2050) have integrated biodiversity conservation and climate change actions for dual benefits.
To take the Biodiversity Plan forward over the next decade or so, Bangladesh could take three specific actions. First, we need to contextualise it in our own way. The Department of Environment and environment ministry are currently updating the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), which should align with country’s recently adopted Green and Climate Resilient Development Policy. It should mainstream our 30 years’ experience of co-management of ecosystems by strongly adopting the ECA and PA Rules in all projects in and around biodiversity-rich areas. To maximise our financial resource utilisation, we should blend our climate and conservation actions. As the NAP2050 has strongly adopted Nature-based Solutions (NbS), the updated NBSAP should appreciate the climate emergency.
Second, Bangladesh should adopt evidence-guided policy making. To do that, it can establish a conservation portal for Bangladesh managed by the Forest Department to map out the portfolios of all recent-past and on-going conservation projects. In this way, we will know what to fund, where to fund, and how to fund, in real time. Finally, we need sustainable financing for conservation. By using the experience of climate budget and gender budget, the government should prepare a conservation budget through a collaboration between finance and environment ministries. Similar to Bangladesh Climate Fiscal Framework, (2020), they should also prepare Bangladesh Conservation Fiscal Framework to guide the country’s conservation funding. After all, national finance will be crucial for implementing the updated NBSAP.
Dr Haseeb Md Irfanullah
is independent consultant working on environment, climate change, and research system and visiting research fellow at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB). He can be reached at hmirfanullah@outlook.com.