page_title: Central Asian Flyway
section_title: Conservation
hierarchical_section_title: Central Asian Flyway / Conservation
caption_attribution_description: Ciconia nigra
context_page_description: The Central Asian Flyway, Central Asian-Indian Flyway, or Central Asian-South Asian Flyway is a flyway covering a large continental area of Eurasia between the Arctic Ocean and the Indian Ocean and the associated island chains. The CAF comprises several important migration routes of waterbirds, most of which extend from the northernmost breeding grounds in Siberia to the southernmost non-breeding wintering grounds in West Asia, India, the Maldives and the British Indian Ocean Territory.
context_section_description: Regional cooperation among the Central Asian Flyway states is undertaken to promote the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitats. This includes various international conventions including Central Asian Waterbirds Flyway Action Plan, Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS), Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), 
  Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and development agencies including United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) and international Non-governmental organizations including BirdLife International, World Conservation Union (IUCN), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Wetlands International who all cooperate on regional and national wildlife conservation.
  Regional plans complement actions that are being undertaken by national governments to promote conservation. Several countries have well established protected areas to conserve important habitats for migratory waterbirds.
  Bangladesh
  According to the Ramsar definition, more than two-thirds of the country's landmass may be classified 
  as wetlands. It is a country dominated by wetland including estuaries, mangrove swamps namely the Sundarbans, freshwater 
  marshes such as haor, swamps and rivers. There are about 628 bird species in Bangladesh, of which 244 are Migratory. About 100 species of migratory birds regularly or occasionally visit the country. Considering the present threats to waterbird conservation in the country, 31 migratory waterbird species are of high priority for future action for conservation. 14 of these species are threatened.
  The wetlands are home to about 70 species of resident waterbirds including ducks, grebe, cormorants, bitterns, herons, egrets, storks, rails, jacanas, finfoot, waders, gulls, turns and skimmers. Eleven species of resident waterbirds are identified as threatened. The important threatened species are masked finfoot, Indian skimmer, black-headed ibis, greater adjutant, lesser adjutant, Baikal teal, Baer's pochard, ferruginous pochard, wood snipe, Nordmann's greenshank and spoon-billed sandpiper. 
  The wetlands of Bangladesh are being degraded rapidly due to population pressure, withdrawal of water for irrigation, destruction of swamp forest and many other anthropogenic and natural causes. Large scale habitat conversion, unsustainable harvesting policies and lack of ecological considerations have led to the destruction of valuable wetland habitat for water birds and other associated biodiversity. Immediate action is required for restoring these habitats and conserving the water birds in Bangladesh. 
  The Key breeding and staging areas of Bangladesh are: Haor areas such as the Meghna estuary, Tanguar haor and Hail-Hakaluki haors, Chalan Beel, the Sundarbans and other coastal mangroves including Hatia and Nijhum Dweep, haor areas of the north west and off shore Islands.
  The Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh are included within 139,699 ha (539 sq mi) of 3 Wildlife sanctuaries which are part of the Sunderbans World Heritage Site. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) through its Department of Environment and Forest Department ‘Wildlife 
  Management and Nature Conservation Circle’ is the main institutional structure for wildlife conservation including waterbirds and their habitats. The Ministry of Land is the legal authority for land management including wetlands.
  Bangladesh is signatory to CBD, CMS, CITES and Ramsar Convention. No national level initiative has been taken for waterbirds. But self-funded waterbird census is undertaken each year in selected habitats.
  India
  India is the core country of the CAF and supports 257 species of water birds. Of these, 81 species are migratory birds of CAF conservation concern, including three critically endangered species, six endangered species and 13 near threatened species. The Ministry of Environment and Forests is the nodal agency for developing stra
caption: Black storks
exif: {}