Baikka Beel is a 100 ha wetland sanctuary located in Hail Haor a large wetland seasonally extending from 3,000-12,000 ha in north-east Bangladesh.

Traditionally, the productive waterbodies have been treated as a source of revenue. Leasing out the waterbodies by the Ministry of Land (MoL) to commercial interests has been a common practice. However, to ensure conservation of the country’s wetland resources, particularly freshwater fish, the Bangladesh National Fish Policy 1998 imposed a provision to establish permanent fish sanctuaries in the haors, rivers, and beels. Accordingly, the MoL declared over 200 waterbodies as permanent sanctuaries to be managed by the Department of Fisheries (DoF). Most of the permanent sanctuaries are, however, poorly managed.

The story of the Baikka Beel is different. Located at the Hail Haor under the Moulavi Bazar District about 200 km northeast of Dhaka, the Baikka Beel is a small yet iconic freshwater wetland of international stature. Following a detailed planning process for about a decade, the MoL decided to reserve Baikka Beel as a permanent wetland sanctuary. Currently the size of the sanctuary is 170 hectares. The current shape of Baikka Beel is the result of 25 years of ecological interventions by many development projects, particularly supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as the goodwill of the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), particularly the MoL.

Once a completely degraded ecosystem, a combination of community-based conservation supported by the GoB has succeeded in restoring wetland biodiversity and wild fish production at Baikka Beel. From 2003 to 2006, major habitat restoration took place. Small-scale dredgers deepened some silted-up areas, and some modest areas were re-excavated by hand. Submerged concrete hexapods and pipes were placed to shelter fish. Over 11,000 swamp trees were planted, and now form a mature swamp forest. Baikka Beel sanctuary acts as a fish bank protecting native brood fish in the dry season and providing a safe place for spawning. This ensures native fish can repopulate the entire Hail Haor, where 106 fish species have been recorded. This helped to double fish catches outside of the sanctuary in the rest of the haor – from 200 kg/ha/year in 1999-2000 to 400 kg/ha/year since 2010. Baikka Beel is a beautiful wetland where thousands of lilies and lotus bloom. Waterbird numbers increased from a few hundred to over 10,000 each year. By 2023, 215 species of bird have been recorded within Baikka Beel including nine globally threatened species. A nest box system for Cotton Pygmy Geese has helped these birds nest successfully.

The ecologically vibrant Baikka Beel has become a very popular tourist destination. In 2021 and 2022, roughly 300,000 tourists, bird watchers, and researchers visited the sanctuary. In 2010, the Baikka Beel joined the Wetland Link International (network of wetland centers) thus gaining international attention. Record number of wintering waterbirds in the sanctuary was evident. The Baikka Beel, Lawachara National Park (LNP), tea estates, and lakes around make Sreemongal a central tourist attraction, which, with matching communications and promotion can make Sreemongal the tourist capital of Bangladesh.