The minister came up with the remarks at an online discussion over World Biodiversity Day-2020.
He said the environment suffers severe damage when biodiversity is threatened.
This year’s theme of World Biodiversity Day is “our solutions are in nature”, which is a proper theme he said adding that the government is committed to fighting the threats to environment and biodiversity.
Bangladesh has announced a total of 48 reserved areas, among them 23 are sanctuary, 18 national parks, two biodiversity preservation areas, three eco-parks, a plant park and a marine protected area, the minister said.
Overpopulation, excessive use of natural resources, deforestation and hunting wildlife have endangered the environment and biodiversity, Shahab said.
“Once Bangladesh had tigers in 17 districts but now it is limited to only Sundarbans,” he said.
“We need to work together to save our forests and biodiversity,” he added.