Khokon Suiten Murmu

Bangladesh is home to around three million indigenous peoples (IPs) from more than 50 ethnic backgrounds, according to the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples’ Forum.

The indigenous peoples of Bangladesh welcome the Bangladesh government’s commitment of additional funding to combat the challenges in the Seventh Five Year Plan.

An estimated 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across 90 countries, speak more than 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures. The combination of languages, cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and intellectual property enhances the cultural integrity of a nation. Language is the wheel of this mixture that helps to keep cultural integrity active. Disruption of this process will result in the extinction of numerous languages and cultures.