Priorities for expanding the protected area system in Bangladesh

Abstract Human-induced threats are severely impacting biodiversity globally. Although protected areas play an essential role in safeguarding biodiversity from anthropogenic threats, the performance of such areas in tropical countries remains poorly understood. Here we examined the capacity of protected areas in Bangladesh to represent biodiversity, and identified priority areas to address conservation shortfalls. To achieve this, we used citizen science data to model the suitable habitats of 1,097 vertebrate and invertebrate species. Our results indicate that existing protected areas in Bangladesh are insufficient to conserve the country’s remaining biodiversity. Although protected areas cover 4.6% of Bangladesh, we found that only 6 of 1,097 species (0.005%) are adequately represented, and 22 species are entirely absent from the existing protected area system. To address these shortfalls, our spatial prioritization approach identified priority areas that span 32% of Bangladesh. The priority areas are mostly distributed across the northeast and southeast regions of Bangladesh. The priority areas with the greatest irreplaceability (top 10%) tended to be located in forests and, to a lesser extent, agricultural landscapes. Our findings serve to inform conservation policies for the Bangladesh government and, more generally, the implementation of the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework.