Climate

The Sundarbans Fights Back: Inside the World's Largest Mangrove Restoration Push

Ten thousand hectares of degraded mangrove are being replanted across the Bangladesh Sundarbans in a five-year programme that scientists say could bec…

Ten thousand hectares of degraded mangrove are being replanted across the Bangladesh Sundarbans in a five-year programme that scientists say could become a global template for coastal defence. At first light on the Pashur river, the new forest is barely knee-…

The programme, coordinated by the Forest Department with support from international climate funds, pairs satellite mapping with something older and harder to engineer: the knowledge of the people who live at the forest's edge.

A wall you can growMangroves are the rare infrastructure that appreciates in value. Studies of Cyclone Sidr in 2007 found that villages sheltered behind healthy mangrove belts recorded significantly less damage and loss of life than exposed settlements nearby…

““An embankment cracks a little more every year. A forest gets a little stronger. That is the whole argument, and the se…”

The economics extend below the waterline. Mangrove root systems are nurseries for the fisheries on which coastal households depend, and the sediment they trap raises land elevation — a quiet counterweight to sea-level rise that no seawall can offer.

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Policy

The Last Brick Kilns: Cleaning Up the Industry That Builds Bangladesh

Traditional kilns fire the bricks of a construction boom — and a fifth of the country's winter air pollution. Inside the push for cleaner blocks.…

Traditional kilns fire the bricks of a construction boom — and a fifth of the country's winter air pollution.

Inside the push for cleaner blocks.…Across Bangladesh, producers, regulators and communities are testing practical answers.

The most useful lessons come from places where measurement came first: meters were installed, numbers were published, and the savings were proven before anyone asked for more money.What changes nextResearchers say the next two years decide whether early pilot…

“Financing is available, but only for projects that can show verified results.”

That is a paperwork problem as much as a technology one.The bottleneck is no longer money alone.

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Environment

Dhaka's Air: Anatomy of a Crisis — and a Roadmap to Breathable Winters

Each dry season, the capital's air ranks among the world's most polluted. New source studies show exactly where the smog comes from.…

Each dry season, the capital's air ranks among the world's most polluted.

New source studies show exactly where the smog comes from.…Across Bangladesh, producers, regulators and communities are testing practical answers.