Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday stressed the need for urgent action to conserve biodiversity and warned that human beings were moving towards ultimate extinction if current actions continue to be unchecked, it was reported on Thursday.

She made the remarks while proposing a four-point action plan to protect the planet and safeguard biodiversity for sustainable development at a UN leaders' dialogue, reports bdnews24.

"We live in an inter-dependent world where every species on planet earth has a specific role to play in our ecosystem. However, according to the WWF and the Zoological Society of London, the world's wildlife populations have fallen by an average of 68 per cent just from 1970 to 2016," she said.

"Bangladesh is heavily dependent on freshwater and freshwater biodiversity is declining at the fastest rate in the world with 85 per cent of global wetlands have already been lost since the Industrial Revolution."

In her remarks, she reiterated Bangladesh's commitment to the notion of "urgent action on biodiversity for sustainable development".

In order to protect the planet, the premier called on world leaders to focus on future sustainability while safeguarding biodiversity by creating greater public awareness through the education system and research as well as by strengthening national legislation and monitoring mechanisms.

The goals of the Paris climate accord must be implemented as it could prove to be "the difference between human extinction and survival", bdnews24 quoted the Prime Minister as further saying in her address.

"Our Parliament passed Bangladesh Biological Diversity Act 2017 aimed at preserving biodiversity. We have declared more than 5 per cent of the total terrestrial area and about 5 per cent of the marine area as Protected and Ecologically Critical Areas," she added.
(IANS)