Bangladesh’s 710 km-long coastline, shaped by the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna delta, supports vast intertidal mudflats, newly emerged islands, and estuarine habitats that are critical for migratory waterbirds, including many species of global conservation concern. Situated at the junction of major Asian flyways, the coast attracts thousands of waterbirds each winter, yet many important sites remain undiscovered or poorly documented due to the coastline’s highly dynamic nature.

The Identifying Key Sites project, led by the SCOPE Foundation, aims to address this gap by conducting targeted surveys across the entire coastline of Bangladesh, with a focus on newly formed and previously unsurveyed habitats. Using remote sensing tools such as Sentinel-2 imagery and Google Earth to guide survey planning, the project identifies areas likely to support high concentrations of waterbirds and assesses species composition, site importance, and threats in the field.

By generating robust scientific evidence on site importance, the project supports site-based conservation action, informs national and flyway-level planning, and provides the basis for proposing protected areas, Flyway Network Sites, and Ramsar Sites, helping safeguard Bangladesh’s most important coastal habitats before they are lost to development or climate-driven change.