Wildlife, marine life, birds and other species in the areas declared ecologically critical remain threatened because of indiscriminate exploitation and pollution of natural resources. People are still unaware of restriction on movement and other prohibitions in the eight critical areas such as Cox's Bazar-Teknaf beach, Sonadia Island, St Martins Island, Hakaluki Haor, Tanguar Haor, Marjaat Baor, Gulshan-Baridhara Lake and a large portion of Sundarban. The government declared them critical areas in 1999 under the Environment Conservation Act 1995, observing special need for conservation to preserve ecology and biodiversity. Although a government project is continuing on ecology and biodiversity management in four of such areas