The environment, forest and climate change ministry on Monday unveiled the draft master plan for the country鈥檚 lone coral-laced isle, St Martins Island.聽
To prevent ecological degradation, the draft master plan recommends limiting tourism to approximately 500鈥�900 visitors per day within designated areas.
It restricts tourism activities to 4.1 kilometres of beach in the 鈥榞eneral use zone鈥� to maintain conservation priorities.
The draft master plan was uploaded to the ministry鈥檚 website, asking public opinion on it till December 20.
According to the draft plan, a total of 26 projects would highlight nine thematic areas, including sustainable tourism management, conservation of fish and coral resources, protection of turtles, waste management and livelihood improvement.
Implementation of the draft master plan would require approximately Tk 54.79 crore in the next 10 years.
Of the 26 projects, 12 would be high-priority programmes needing Tk 19.45 crore, three top-priority initiatives worth Tk 11.5 crore, eight medium-level undertakings worth Tk 13.84 crore and three low-priority actions worth Tk 10 crore.
St Martins Island houses a variety of coral species, especially within its rocky subtidal zones.
According to recent assessments, the island has 25 hard coral species from 13 families and 15 soft coral species from 10 families.
It also is home to diverse flora and fauna鈥�269 plant species from 76 families, 194 wildlife species and 475 fish species.
Despite the Department of Environment designated the island as an ecologically critical area back in 1999, its flora and fauna habitats faced increasing threats from uncontrolled tourism activities, fuelwood and thatch harvesting, agricultural land expansion along with coastal erosion.
Quantitative assessments show that building of varieties of infrastructure on the island increased from 45.26 hectares in 2005 to 86.13 hectares in 2023, causing much decline in both agricultural and vegetative areas. In December last year, the interim government took measures, including restricting the island for tourists for nine months, to preserve the natural ecosystem of the island.
