Almost four million people depend upon the Sundarbans delta in Bangladesh and almost a million live and/or work within the forest -- fisherfolk crab-catchers, honey collectors, shrimp-fishers, among others
All the drinking water in the world will fit in a cube that can sit over the city of Bangalore. And in this industrial age, everyone wants a share of aquifers, rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Voices get shriller and stakes rise ever higher should a river cross international boundaries. Add to all this, the unpredictability of weather patterns in the age of climate change.
On the freshwater trail, I will follow the changing fortunes of people and species in the anthropocene era
The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These mangrove forests form a large part of the estuarine active delta of three mighty South Asian rivers: the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, & the Meghna
Fishermen in the Sundarbans traditionally battle tigers, crocodiles and the venomous eel-tailed catfish. Now they face a new, more deadly predator: river pirates
All along the length of Bangladesh and especially in the ecologically rich delta, fishermen's nets had come up empty and the delta echoed with tales of woe. Where was the Hilsa?
The Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna empty into the Bay of Bengal, making this large active delta. The ecosystem survives on the delicate balance of freshwater and brine
The Bangladeshi Sundarbans are home to six types of dolphins; the Irrawaddy and Gangetic being the two main riverine species. Increasingly, however, these dolphins are falling prey to fishing nets
Beautiful, makes me want to go!