Draft CMP HH - the Department of Environment

Coastal and Wetland Biodiversity Management Project BGD/99/G31
Hakaluki Haor Draft Conservation Management Plan
4.2 Global Significance and Threatened Species
The freshwater swamp forest (Barringtonia acutangula, Pongamia pinnata, and Crataeva nurvala)
is the native vegetation of much of the region and indeed of much of Bangladesh. It has disappeared
from the country except for the small patches remaining in the Northeast Region of which Hakaluki
is a part. The swamp forests have now been seriously degraded with only a few patches surviving.
The scrub is restricted near the slopes at the village highlands.
The list of plants recorded from Hakaluki Haor includes threatened aquatic plants. The most
important species that are locally and regionally threatened are Rosa clinophylla (guji kanta), Oryza
rufipogon and Euryale ferox which have been threatened by over-harvesting for fuel-wood. Rosa
clinophylla is an important wild relative of cultivated roses. , while Oryza rufifogon is a wild
relative of the deepwater rice variety and is widely sought by plant breeders for developing diseaseresistant
rice varieties and flood-tolerant roses.
The wetland supports a number of ‘life-support plants’ that are used by local people when crop
foods are scarce. One example includes Asparagus racemosus which is important for its medicinal
values; the plant grows in winter in bushy areas around the beels, but has now become scarce as a
result of over-exploitation. Insert as appendix updated table which lists the life support plants of
Hakaluki Haor and their uses from project document.
The Hakaluki Haor ecosystem supports one reptile, 11 birds, and two mammal species listed as
vulnerable and endangered categories in the IUCN red data book. It also supports six reptiles, four
birds and two mammals listed under CITES schedule I and one amphibian, four reptiles, three birds
and four mammals shown under CITES schedule II. Insert updated table of threatened wildlife
species.
While Hakaluki Haor was once known as a “fishmine”, its fish stocks are now increasingly
threatened. Nandina (Labeo nandina), Angrot (Labeo angra), Pangus (Pangasius pangasius),
Mahashol (Tor tor) and Sarputi (Puntius sarana) are all endemic to the region and nearly extinct,
and Catla (Catla catla) and Mrigel (Cirhinus mrigala) are threatened (NERP, 1994 a,b,c).
4.3 Threats and Pressures
The Hakaluki Haor ecosystem is subject to a variety of threats and pressures. These are summarised
as follows:
• Loss of reedland and swamp forest areas
due to conversion for agriculture and the
removal trees for building and firewood
• Reduction in surface area and depth of
mother fisheries and other aquatic
habitats (beels) due to sedimentation,
drainage and river diversion for
irrigation. Sedimentation is largely a
result of logging in India in the
watersheds of the rivers that feed
Hakaluki Haor
• Degradation of reedland and grassland
habitats due to overgrazing within the
Haor
• Degradation of aquatic habitat due to
agro-chemical (herbicides and pesticides)
pollution from tea estates
• Loss of reproductive capacity of fishery
due to inappropriate and unsustainable
fishing practices including the use of
illegal nets and poison
• Unsustainable levels of fuelwood
collection
Prepared by UNOPS Consultant Mr. Sulma Warne August/ September 2005 for Project BGD/99/G31 7