We are not being able to save wildlife: minister

Citing the constitution that makes it mandatory to protect forest, environment and wildlife, Environment Minister Md Shahab Uddin today said they were not able to conserve wildlife.

He came up with the comment at a time when eight elephants were killed last month across Chattogram and Sherpur, mostly by electrocution and shooting by forest grabbers.

The minister was addressing a programme titled -- National Result Sharing and Consultation Workshop -- as chief guest, organised by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at Bangabadhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.

The conference was organised as part of IUCN project "Feasibility Study of Transboundary Wildlife Corridor in CHT, Chattogram and Cox's Bazar with Myanmar and India Project".

Forest Minister Shahab Uddin said according to the constitution's section-18 (kha), the state will conserve its environment, forest and wildlife for present and future generation of the country.

"The wildlife is supposed to be in forest. But when forest goes under the clutch of human being, how the wildlife will survive there," he said.

He urged other agencies of government to join hand to protect the forest as forest department alone won't be able to do it.

Habibun Nahar, deputy minister of the ministry, said, "there is a law in place. But we all know how much of the law is executed on the ground.

Md Mostafa Kamal, secretary of the ministry, vowed not to let the giant mammal disappear from Bangladesh territory. "We request IUCN to give us specific data on elephant corridors. We will acquire land for safe movement of elephants if necessary," he said.

Monirul H Khan, professor of Zoology at Jahangirnagar University, presented the keynote on the transboundary corridors of elephant while Raquibul Amin presented the overview of the project.