Environmental Hazards and Conservation Approach to the Biodiversity and Ecosystem of the St. Martin’s Island in Bangladesh - Management of Natural Resources in a Changing Environment - page 257

Conclusions
St. Martin's Island is gifted with extraterrestrial oceanic and land resources having
global biodiversity signifi cance. The island has an important ecological value as it
contains a variety of unique habitats and a number of rare and endangered species.
However, the island has now been identifi ed as one of the environmentally sensitive
areas of Bangladesh because of suffering from severe environmental degradation.
The unique fl ora and fauna of this island have experienced tragic changes over the
last two decades. Regretfully there is not much data or information available on the
present status of corals and other associated fl ora and fauna in St. Martin's.
Though the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and other international and non-
governmental organizations have taken several initiatives to protect the biodiver-
sity and ecosystem of the island, those were not enough due to lack of proper
implementation efforts. Just by declaring the island as an ecologically sensitive
zone is not enough. Proper implementation of the rules and regulations for
'Ecologically Critical Areas (ECAs)', control of pollution, sustainable and
controlled tourism, alternative livelihood for the local people, and further research
should be immediately undertaken to safeguard the rich biological resources of
this important island. It is also imperative that a synchronized management with
proper implementation plan should be formulated based on intergovernmental
co-ordination and cooperation. All the stakeholders including government policy
makers should come forward to protect the unique biodiversity of this critical
island. Though the ecological damage has already been made up to a great extent,
still there may be time to save the leftovers; otherwise it may be too late to con-
serve the only coral island of Bangladesh.
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