ZCZC
BSS–51
GOVT-INITIATIVES-FOR-VULTURES
Government working to save vultures: Shahab
DHAKA, Sept 5, 2020 (BSS) – Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Md. Shahab Uddin said here today that the contribution of nature cleaners ‘Vulture’ in the protection of the environment is undeniable.
The minister said this while addressing an online seminar as chief guest organized by the Forest Department on the occasion of International Vulture Awareness Day 2020 from his official residence here today.
He also said, “The government is implementing various programs for the conservation of vultures. We all have to perform responsibilities from our respective positions to make it a success.”
“Day by day this
beneficial bird is getting lost from the nature. Initiatives have been taken to raise public awareness to save this endangered vulture,” he added.
Referring to various activities of the government in vulture conservation, the minister said that diclofenac, a harmful drug for vultures, was banned across the country in 2010.
Moves are afoot to ban ketotifen in the treatment of animals that are food of vultures in the country.
He continued: “The ‘Bangladesh National Vulture Conservation Committee’ has been formed in 2013. In 2014, two regions of the country were declared as safe areas for vultures. In 2016, a ten-year (2016-2025) Bangladesh Vulture Conservation Action Plan has been formulated, which is working as a long-term framework for the protection of vultures in Bangladesh and all kinds of activities are being carried out for the conservation of vultures with the priority of this action plan”.
The minister further said that two feeding stations have been set up at Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary in Habiganj and the Sundarbans in 2015 to meet the demand for extra food during the vulture breeding season.
In 2017, a vulture rescue and identification center has been set up at Singra in Dinajpur to conduct rescue and rehabilitation activities for sick and injured vultures.
The minister further said that a vulture conservation team has been formed with the involvement of local people for long-term monitoring of vulture habitat and management of vulture safe areas.
In order to increase awareness, various public motivational programs are being carried out at the field level with the help of these groups. As a result of the government’s multi-pronged measures, the vulture breeding success in Habiganj’s Rema-Kalenga was 44 per cent in 2014, which increased to 57 per cent in 2020, he added.
Deputy Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Habibun Nahar, Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Ziaul Hasan NDC and Additional Secretary (Administration) Md. Billal Hossain, Chairman of Nature and Life Foundation Mukit Majumder Babu, Wildlife and Nature Conservation Area Forest Conservator Mihir Kumar Doe, Global Threatened Species Officer and Program Manager of Royal Society for the Protection of the Birds Chris Bowden and International Bird Specialist Enam ul Haq also spoke on the occasion.
Md. Amir Hossain Chowdhury, Chief Conservator of Forests Chaired and Rakibul Amin, Country Representative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) moderated the event.
BSS/PR/TIT/KU/2018 HRS