IUCN Bangladesh

This publication contains keynote papers, full papers and abstracts presented during the sessions of the day-long programme organized by the IUCN Bangladesh Country Office on 22 December 2014 as part of the IUCN Red List's 50th anniversary campaign. The programme included two technical sessions which highlighted research papers carried out by individuals and institutions in a contribution to enrich the knowledge of wildlife in Bangladesh in a wider context.

Tiger populations worldwide are in tremendous pressure of extinction. Bangladesh, harboring one of the largest remaining populations of wild tigers in the vast areas of Sundarban mangrove forest, has therefore a great responsibility to protect this beautiful creature.

The recent increase in exposure to natural hazards among the communities of Bangladesh is linked to the new generation of threats posed by climate variability and change resulting from anthropogenic activity. Adaptation is not a new approach, but there are still a number of challenges inherent in adaptation and in building resilience to climate-induced threats.

The Bangladesh Sundarban delta, comprising the mangrove forest and neighbouring landscape, supports the largest array of life forms among ecosystems of a similar type. However, over the last twenty-five years, the high rate of human entrance into the mangrove, followed by the mushrooming growth of shrimp farming on the periphery, has caused severe damange to the entire ecosystem.

The Bangladesh Sundarban delta, comprising the mangrove forest and neighbouring landscape, supports the largest array of life forms among ecosystems of a similar type. However, over the last twenty-five years, the high rate of human entrance into the mangrove, followed by the mushrooming growth of shrimp farming on the periphery, has caused severe damange to the entire ecosystem.

To address the lack of sufficent knowledge on wetland biodiversity in Tanguar Haor, a comprehensive survey on biodiversity was conducted to understand the present status, habitat classification, population density and diversity of wildlife. The main goal of this book is to share information on the biodiversity of and threats to flora in Tanguar Haor. The text includes species profiles for the most important and popular plant species in Tanguar Haor, to facilitate plant identification.

Wetlands are amongst the Earth's most productive ecosystems. In Bangladesh these are of great importance because of the extensive food webs and rich biodiversity they support. In the past, wetlands have been undervalued.

Bangladesh is the innocent victim of climate change due to its low riparian flat coastal landscape and high population density with poor financial capacity to respond to the adverse impact of climate change. Natural hazards like floods, droughts, cyclones and sea level rise are increasing day by day that will push poorer section of the population to the very margin of survival.

It is now unequivocally established that climate change is a reality, and the adversities of climatic transformations pose one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. The publication on "Protocol for Monitoring of Impacts of Climate Change and Climate Variability in Bangladesh" is a modest yet pioneering attempt to proffer a systemic methodology to quantify and record the impacts of climate change across selected key sectors.