Just a day after teenagers around the world skipped classes and gathered on the streets of Dhaka, Warwick, Hamburg, London, and
In Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, a series of short fables published in 1894, Akela and Raksha were the wolf parents of Mowgli,
On August 24, 2017, the High Court directed the Bangladesh government not to approve any industry activity within 10 kilometres of the Sundarbans area.
“In the last 15 years, I had to change homes 11 times. During every monsoon, Teesta swallows my residence and most of my belongings.
We all know Dhaka's air is bad. Yet it is never more visible than now, in the drier months of the year. This is only compounded by the constant construction that unfolds across the city, not least the metro that is being developed to ease congestion and pollution on the roads.
It took three separate modes of transportation, a major fight between a bus driver and his helper, and a sleepless night before I managed to reach the foothills of Meghalaya to witness conservation and technology merge and in turn, make history for Bangladesh.
There is a district in the south-west of Bangladesh which is at the epicentre of a drinking water crisis. A crisis that is being exacerbated everyday owing to the realities of climate change.
The reality of climate change and energy policy are at odds in Bangladesh. The delta resides on low, arable land and is accordingly, highly susceptible to climate change.
The Yamaha engine sputters before giving life to the speedboat which swerves a sharp right and zooms past the zigzag of large fishing trawlers, the smell of dried fish, and sea salt heavy in the air. Within a few minutes on the steely-grey ocean expanse, the green speck of Moheshkhali appears. Planted mangroves lend this place a Sundarbans-like feel.
In 2016, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, addressing protesters of coal-fired power plants, stated: “Whenever we try to produce electricity, a section of people come out on the streets in the name of environment protection. There is a coal-fired power plant in Barapukuria, Dinajpur. No environmental damage has been reported there. Rather, soil fertility has improved. Rice crops are growing; trees are growing. People in this country indulge in eccentric thinking. I don't know where such thinking comes from.” She also said, “Coal purifies water.”
During every high tide, thousands of people from different parts of Mongla Upazila rush to the Pashur River with dinghies and fishing nets. Those who cannot afford dinghies, wade through the river as far as they can with handheld fish traps. Even women, children and elderly people join this race to secure a place in the river or a foothold on its shallow shore. This race is not to catch fish but to catch the shrimp
On January 23 this year, at around 6:00am, the inhabitants of Gulishakhali village awoke terrified to the blood-curdling howl of a Bengal Tiger very close to their village. Soon afterwards, the six-foot tiger was seen roaming freely around the village in the Morelganj upazila of Bagerhat district. It roared fiercely as it searched for food, and its frustrated hunger made it charge at doors of several houses,scaring their
In the global imaginary of climate change, Bangladesh holds a prominent position. Frequently described as the 'world's most vulnerable country to climate change', this imagination of Bangladesh's impending climate crisis has taken on a life of its own. The spectre of Bangladesh underwater, wiped off the map by rising sea levels, has given birth to a crisis narrative that obscures the ways in which interventions in
Is development essentially harmful for the environment? Must we sacrifice the environment in order to achieve much-needed development? Should we allow poisoning of our air, destruction of our forests, and pollution of our water to embrace development? If the answer is yes, how can we survive—how can this mother earth retain its ability to support our existence and our reproduction?
The shopping malls sparkle with multi-coloured fairy lights throughout the night, beckoning us to indulge. Industries on the banks of Dhaka's prominent rivers boast of jobs and reek of foreign currency. Towering high-rises and old buildings given to 'develop' into apartment blocks reign over Dhaka's skyline. Thousands of crores of taka are invested in roads and highways connecting the country, and millions more are poured into energy generation. On the onset, we look every bit the part of the middle income country that we are on track to become.
Even mid-way last year, the Department of Environment's environmental clearance committee questioned whether Navana's Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plant in Mongla should be cleared. “The plant is within the designated Ecologically Critical Area around the Sundarbans,” they opined. They held off on giving the license.
The rivers winding through our delta make for a beautiful landscape as well as being one of our greatest assets—we depend on it for everything from our food to transport to an abundance of flora and fauna. Yet our rivers have been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent that these are no longer aesthetically, economically or ecologically viable.
Sicilia Snal, aged 25 in 2006, was shot when she went to collect firewood in the forest near her village. Sicilia is a Garo woman of Uttar Rasulpur, in Madhupur sal forest area. It was early in the morning of August 21, 2006, that Sicilia went to collect firewood with a few other Garo women. On their way back, they put down their loads to take rest for a while. All of a sudden, to their great surprise, the forest guards fired shots from their guns. Sicilia was hit. She fell to the ground, unconscious and bleeding. Terrified all but one woman fled.
