International Day for Biological Diversity was observed on Wednesday.
The day is a United Nations-sanctioned international day for the promotion of biodiversity issues and observed on May 22 every year.
The theme of this year’s IBD is ‘Water and Biodiversity’, which was chosen to coincide with the United Nations designation of 2013 as International Year of Water Cooperation.
On the occasion, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon called on all parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, who have not already done so, to ratify the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation.
To mark the day, environmental organisation Save the Environment Movement held a rally in front of Dhaka University fine arts faculty.
They urged the government to take adequate steps to stop water pollution as water is essential for life.
Addressing the rally, the organisation secretary, Md Abdus Sobhan, said surrounding rivers of the capital got polluted because of industrial and sewerage wastes.
He said once upon a time the country was rich in flora and fauna but because of unplanned urbanisation, pollution and illegal encroachment on water bodies at present biodiversity was threatened.
Sobhan said the world’s total biodiversity’s 40 per cent was available in the largest mangrove forest, Sundarban, which is also under threat for many reasons.
He urged the government to take steps to stop water pollution caused by water transport, pesticides and excessive use of ground water.
-With New Age input
