This was stated at a focus group meeting with the journalists on the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) which is under implementation by the environment and forest ministry with the help of IUCN, the World Conservation Union.

The meeting was told that although the prime minister favours plantation of fruit-bearing trees and medicinal plants, different government agencies were reportedly planting environment-harming trees like eucalyptus and acacia along the roadside across the country.

The project officials informed the press that the action plan would be formulated by March next for implementation.

As a party of the International Convention on Biodiversity, the country is supposed to formulate the action plan and conserve the biological resources.

IUCN's Bangladesh office is implementing the project which involves the participation of different stakeholders, experts and focus groups through consultation meeting.

The meeting was also informed that a broad range of ecosystem including tropical evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests, mangrove forests, riparian and coastal wetlands in the country are now threatened.

The country also supports a sizeable wealth of biodiversity including 113 species of mammals, 628 species of birds, 126 species of reptiles, 22 species amphibians, 708 species freshwater and marine fish, 400 species of mollusks, and over 5000 species of vascular plants.

Many of them like Asian Elephant, Royal Bengal Tiger, Gharial, Gangetic Dolphin and Hoolock Gibbon are globally threatened.

Deputy Secretary of the environment ministry Monowarul Islam, Project Director of IUCN Dr M Khairul Alam, Project Manager Anisuzzaman Khan, and IUCN Consultant Dr S M A Rashid were present at the briefing on Tuesday.