Environment

AEZ-4 Karatoya-Bangali Floodplain: Where Rivers, Fertile Sediments and Farmers Shape Northern Bangladesh's Agriculture

The Karatoya-Bangali Floodplain, Bangladesh's fourth agro-ecological zone, covers about 257,000 hectares of Sirajganj and eastern Bogura. Old river sediments left a mix of higher ridges and wetter basins, acidic soils short of several nutrients, and farms that grow rice, jute, potato, mustard and more. Recent trials on farmers' fields in Gabtali show what diversified cropping can earn, and satellite data and artificial intelligence could help match each field to the right crop, provided every prediction is tested in real fields.

Tania Chowdhary5 October 202610 min read

Bangladesh

Tista Meander Floodplain (AEZ-3): Ridges, Basins and the Changing Harvests of Northern Bangladesh

The Tista Meander Floodplain, Bangladesh's third agro-ecological zone, covers nearly a million hectares from Panchagarh to Bogura. Old river courses left it a patchwork of quick-draining ridges and wetter basins, acidic soils short of several nutrients, and farms that grow rice, potatoes, maize and mustard side by side. New research at Rangpur shows four and five crops a year are possible, and satellite data and artificial intelligence could help match each field to the right crop, if their advice is tested in farmers' fields first.

Tania Chowdhary2 October 202612 min read

Bangladesh

Active Tista Floodplain (AEZ-2): Farming Where the Teesta Gives and Takes Land

Bangladesh's second agro-ecological zone is a narrow, restless belt along the Teesta, Dharla and Dudhkumar rivers. Here the river builds new land and takes old land away, and farmers grow maize, potatoes, chillies and carrots on chars that may vanish in the next flood. Understanding it takes village-level records, and satellite images and machine learning can help only when they are checked in farmers' fields.

Tania Chowdhary30 September 202612 min read

Bangladesh

Old Himalayan Piedmont Plain (AEZ-1): Farming at the Foot of the Himalayas

Bangladesh's first agro-ecological zone stretches across Panchagarh, Thakurgaon and north-western Dinajpur on land laid down by an ancient Tista river fan. Its light, acidic soils set the rules for farming, and researchers say satellite data and machine learning will help farmers only when they are checked in real fields.

Tania Chowdhary29 September 202612 min read

Environment

Discarded clothes bury Accra's beaches, and fishers net garments instead of fish

About 40 per cent of the second-hand clothing that reaches Ghana each week from the US, Europe and Australia is unusable; it ends up in drains and dumps, washes onto the beaches and breaks into microplastics.

Anandabazar7 October 20262 min read

Vegetables

Korail residents grow vegetables on rafts of discarded bottles in Dhaka's Gulshan Lake

Floating beds made of empty plastic bottles and coconut coir tied to bamboo frames now grow taro, taro stolons, Malabar spinach and red amaranth; the growers eat what they need and give the rest to neighbours cheaply or free.

Dinajpur TV7 October 20262 min read

Opinion

Opinion: the Ganges treaty ends in December, and Bangladesh needs a fairer one

Khayer Mahmud, associate professor of law at Jagannath University, writes that the 1996 deal guarantees no minimum dry-season flow, ignores environmental flows and lacks binding dispute settlement, and that its expiry risks a legal vacuum.

Bangla Tribune7 October 20262 min read

Environment

Restored for Tk 29 crore, Mohanganj's Shialjani canal is now a garbage dump

The Water Development Board spent Tk 15.87 crore on its banks, the municipality Tk 5 crore on five bridges and Tk 8.04 crore on drains, yet water hyacinth and rubbish now block the canal and each agency says cleaning is the other's job.

Sarabangla7 October 20262 min read

Environment

Kukurchita, the overlooked roadside tree that feeds birds and holds soil

Botany professor Chayan Bikash Bhadra of Muminunnessa Government College describes Litsea glutinosa, its flowers, fruit and folk uses, and warns that deforestation has made it far scarcer.

Prothom Alo7 October 20262 min read

Environment

El Nino may bring Bangladesh a warmer, shorter and foggier winter

Meteorologists say average winter temperatures may run above normal and cold waves may be brief; with less rain, fog may thicken, and irrigation demand may rise in the boro season.

Prothom Alo7 October 20262 min read

Crops

Khulna extension office seeks seven canal digs to drain 9,764 waterlogged hectares

The Department of Agricultural Extension in Khulna sent eight recommendations to the ministry, led by re-excavating canals from Hamkura to the Mayur river and from Baruna beel to Hoglakhati; waterlogging blocks boro planting and July rains ruined about 235 hectares of vegetables.

Agricare247 October 20262 min read

Environment

Parliamentary committee wants long-term river plans, not repeat erosion spending

Reviewing the Water Development Board and WARPO, the Committee on Public Undertakings urged sediment management, a review of dredging, fewer deep tube-wells in stressed areas and one policy for canal digging.

The Daily Observer7 October 20262 min read

Environment

Landowners press to lift moorland burning ban as fire services lack wildfire kit

Freedom of Information replies gathered by the CLA show over half of responding fire services in England and Wales have no wildfire protective clothing, a third have no drones, and on-call engines were unavailable 32% of the year.

Farmers Weekly7 October 20262 min read

Crops

Stubble burning season opens with Madhya Pradesh ahead of Punjab

Satellite monitoring by IARI's CREAMS counted 287 paddy residue fires in seven states from 15 September to 6 October; Madhya Pradesh had 118 and Punjab 88, its lowest for the period in seven years.

Down To Earth7 October 20262 min read

Environment

New Zealand climate report finds 1.36°C of warming and halved glacier ice

Our Atmosphere and Climate 2026 says glacier ice fell from 56 to 30 cubic kilometres since 1997, and projects drier productive land, heavier rain and longer wildfire seasons.

Down To Earth7 October 20262 min read

Health

Traffic pollution cost Gurugram's children nearly 95,000 school days, study finds

An ICCT study links vehicle exhaust to one in four new pollution-related asthma cases among Gurugram's children and teenagers in 2025, and finds most emissions come from newer cars.

Down To Earth7 October 20262 min read

Livestock

Teys to put Sea Forest's methane-cutting SeaFeed into 480,000 feedlot cattle

Teys Australia becomes exclusive distributor of Sea Forest's SeaFeed additives for beef in Australia and New Zealand, aiming for at least 480,000 more feedlot cattle on the methane-reducing supplement by June 2027.

Beef Central7 October 20262 min read