The environmental survey of the project region reveals a richness
of biodiversity that is under pressure from increased population growth.
Rhinoceros and wild buffalo are threatened as their natural habitat shrinks
under the pressure of deforestation. Lesser carnivores are increasingly fragmented and seem threatened by further expansion of population. Approximately
one-third of bird species in Bangladesh are highly dependent on forest
habitat; some 55 percent of the total bird species are found in the proposed
conservation area of Sylhet, of which 9 globally threatened species have been
recorded in Sylhet since 1980. With more than 150 species of large trees,
Bangladesh had one of the most diverse forests in the world. At the present time,
approximately 95-98 percent of the original habitat has been lost.