So, how to arrange money for conservation?

The Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Ordinance 2026 is one of the newest environmental legal instruments of Bangladesh. Unlike the Wildlife Acts of 1974 and 2012, it includes a new article to establish a 'Wildlife Trust Fund' to support conservation. 

The country has a debatably good example of a 'trust fund' in the environment sector—the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF), where the government has allocated almost half a billion dollars of public money since 2010. But, conservation in Bangladesh is not that lucky.

It is no news that biodiversity is in a bad shape around the world. But how much money do we need to save our nature? Every year, the world needs $700 billion to conserve biodiversity, but spends $150 billion, according to the most popular estimates. 

In December 2022, the nations agreed on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). 

According to the Framework's Target 19, the world will annually channel $200 billion over 2023-2030 to implement the national biodiversity strategy and action plans (NBSAPs). But as of 25 March 2026, only 94 countries (out of 196) submitted their new NBSAPs to the CBD. And, Bangladesh is among the slow movers. 

One important point to note is that 85% of $200 billion is expected from domestic sources. That brings us to the next question: how much money does Bangladesh need to conserve its biodiversity?

The last NBSAP (2016-2021) estimated that Bangladesh would need Tk18.33 billion to implement the Plan. In November 2019, Bangladesh's Sixth National Report (6NR) to the CBD mentioned that, during 2015-2019, Bangladesh invested Tk7.0 billion in biodiversity conservation through the environment ministry (MoEFCC) and its departments. 

However, the latest Seventh National Report (7NR) (1 March 2026) refers to the 'Biodiversity Expenditure Review' conducted under the BIOFIN project of UNDP. 

That review estimated Bangladesh's total biodiversity expenditure, during 2020–2025, was Tk440 billion: public sector 63%, private sector 32%, and donors 5%. The estimation methodology is not given in the 7NR, but its average annual expenditure is staggering 50 times larger than that of the 6NR. 

From the annual climate budgets since FY2016, we know how much money the government allocates for climate action. But, no such annual estimates are available for biodiversity conservation.

In July 2025, the Swedish Embassy/SIDA signed a Tk644 million project with the Bangladesh government. Although many details of this MoEFCC's capacity building project are not publicly available, one of the major components of it is establishing a new 'Wildlife Trust Fund'. 

Media reports noted that this fund would support "conservation of endangered species and address human-wildlife conflicts, while reducing reliance on government funding." Now the question is, reliance on which government funding is it referring? The latest 7NR to the CBD also fails to clarify that.

I am very sceptical about tagging something as the government's biodiversity fund. My reason is simple. About 10 years ago, the Bangladesh government enacted three conservation-related rules/acts having provisions for creating new funds: the Ecologically Critical Area Management Rules 2016 (Article 23: 'Ecosystem Management Fund'), the Protected Area Management Rules 2017 (Article 29), and the Bangladesh Biodiversity Act 2017 (Article 36: 'Biodiversity Conservation Fund'). 

There has been no progress at all to establish any of these funds. It is also not clear if the 'Wildlife Trust Fund' mentioned in the SIDA-funded project has a direct connection with the trust fund mentioned in the new Wildlife Ordinance, 2026.

One of the reasons for Bangladesh's conservation funding's above inertia is related to jurisdiction. The Forest Department (FD) is responsible for wildlife conservation, corresponding global conventions, and protected area management, while the Department of Environment (DoE) is managing ecologically critical areas (ECAs) and is the focal point of the CBD. That's why the wildlife laws and the protected area-related rules fall in FD's responsibility, while DoE leads the ECA rules and the NBSAP. 

We also see the Department of Fisheries (DoF) dealing with aquatic biodiversity conservation. As a result, some marine protected areas fall under FD, and some under DoF. Involvement of two ministries and three departments directly in biodiversity conservation is not helping biodiversity much, but might be causing overestimation of biodiversity expenditure, as seen in the 7NR.

The 2026 election manifesto of the BNP emphasises environmental/nature conservation in an unprecedented way. But, while setting the newly elected government's priority, and while reviewing 133 ordinances of the interim, will the Wildlife Ordinance, 2026 and its Wildlife Trust Fund survive?

We shouldn't expect too much from the newly elected BNP government by December 2026, except the following five: i) Complete and submit the updated NBSAP to the CBD by May, after stakeholder consultations, as promised in the 7NR. ii) By June, the Finance Division will prepare 'Conservation Budget 2026-2027', with the help of the BIOFIN project. iii) Prioritise and convert the Wildlife Ordinance, 2026, into an act in the budget session of the parliament in June. iv) Prepare a 'Biodiversity Fiscal Framework and Action Plan' by October, avoiding the failures of the Climate Fiscal Framework of Bangladesh. And, v) As the first step of implementing the Action Plan, establish the 'Wildlife Trust Fund' by December, capitalising on the 16 years' lessons from the BCCTF. I am not tempting BNP to create its 'conversation legacy', but simply underscoring the dire necessity.

Dr Haseeb Md Irfanullah is an independent consultant working on the environment, climate change, and research systems. Email: hmirfanullah@outlook.com

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.