Forest Biodiversity and Deforestation in Bangladesh: The Latest Update

Located in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, Bangladesh is a tropical country in Southeast Asia and a transitional point for flora and fauna between the Indo-Himalayan and Indo-Chinese subregions. About 11% land area (1,429,000 hectares) of the country is covered with four major forest types: mixed-evergreen forests, deciduous forests, mangrove forests, and freshwater swamp forests. Though Bangladesh is a small and densely populated country, it 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. We have discussed the latest status of all the major vertebrate groups in this chapter. 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. In this chapter, we are going to discuss about the current management and conservation practices and issues related to the forests and wildlife of Bangladesh.