Country Report for Central Asian Flyway Overview

A. Brief Introduction

Bangladesh is occupying a unique geographical location in the South Asia. Virtually, the delta

is the only drainage outlet for a vast complex river basin made up of the Ganges,

Brahmaputra and Meghna River and their network of tributaries. There are three broad

physiographic regions in the country. The floodplains occupy about 80 percent; terrace about

8 percent and hills about 12 percent of the land area. So it is evident that with 80 percent

floodplain, Bangladesh is a land of water and wetlands. According to the definition enunciated

in the Ramsar Convention, more than two-thirds of the country’s landmass may be classified

as wetlands. It is a country dominated by wetland encompassing a wide variety of dynamic

ecosystems such as that is estuaries, mangroves namely the Sundarbans, freshwater

marshes such as

haor1, swamps and rivers.

The wetlands are the important habitat of migratory waterbird population. There are about

628 bird species in Bangladesh, out of which 244 are Migratory. The wetlands are the abode

of about 70 species of resident waterbirds including ducks, grebe, cormorants, bitterns,

herons, egrets, storks, rails, jacanas, finfoot, waders, gulls, turns, skimmers etc. and many

other water dependant birds. As mentioned in the IUCN Red Book, about 100 species of

migratory birds regularly or occasionally visit the country.

"The Asia-Pacific Migratory Waterbird Conservation Strategy" 2001-2005, identified 50

species of migratory waterbirds as threatened, out of which 14 species occur in Bangladesh.

In addition to that eleven species of resident waterbirds are also identified as threatened.

(

Source:The Red Book of Threatened Birds of Bangladesh 2000)

The important threatened species are Masked Finfoot

(Heliopais personata), Indian Skimmer

(Rhynchops albicollis),

Black-headed Ibis (Treskeornis melanocephala), Greater Adjutant (L.

dubius),

Lesser Adjutant, Baikal Teal (Anas formosa), Baer's Pochard (Aythya baeri),

Ferruginous Pochard

(Aythya ferina), Wood snipe (Gallinago nemoricola), Norman's Green

shank

(Tringa guttifer), Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorynchus pygmeus).

The wetlands of Bangladesh are being degraded rapidly due to population pressure,

withdrawal of water for irrigation, destruction of swamp forest and many other anthropogenic

and natural causes. Large scale habitat conversion, unsustainable harvesting policies and

lack of ecological considerations have led to the destruction of valuable wetland habitat for

water birds and other associated biodiversity. Immediate action is required for restoring these

habitats and conserving the water birds in Bangladesh.