Environment

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

Bangladesh

Bangladesh's 30 Agro-Ecological Zones Explained: Soil, Water and Farming

Bangladesh is small, but its soil, water and weather change sharply from place to place. BARC divides the country into 30 agro-ecological zones. Here is what each zone is like, and how village data, satellite images and machine learning can give farmers sharper advice.

Tania Chowdhary27 September 20263 min read

Environment

Plastic is drowning Bangladesh's rivers, from the Buriganga bed to the fish we eat

Bangladesh produces about 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste a day, much of it ending up in rivers; microplastics have been found in Buriganga fish and crabs, while the polythene ban and court orders go unenforced.

The Daily Star2 October 20263 min read

Gallery

Fog arrives early on autumn mornings across Bangladesh's north

It is still sharat, yet fog is settling over many parts of the country at dawn, most of all in the north; a Prothom Alo picture story from Panchagarh, Rangpur, Pabna, Naogaon and Sajek.

Prothom Alo2 October 20261 min read

Gallery

Chhatim blossoms scent Sylhet's evenings as the seasons turn

Hemanta is still about 15 days away, yet chhatim trees across Sylhet are in flower, and after dusk their sweet scent drifts through the city's lanes.

Prothom Alo2 October 20261 min read

Environment

Twenty metres of the Padma embankment at Sureshwar collapse into the river

A day after cracks appeared near Sureshwar fish market in Naria, Shariatpur, about 20 metres of the three-year-old Padma bank-protection embankment slid into the river on Thursday evening.

Dhaka Mail2 October 20262 min read

Environment

Radio collar slips off tigress brought to Buxa, refitted after a second sedation

The radio collar fitted to a three-year-old tigress caught in Bihar for release in West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve came off within minutes, and she had to be sedated twice in two days.

Ei Samay2 October 20262 min read

Environment

The changeable hawk-eagle, a rare Bangladeshi raptor that keeps changing its look

Dr A N M Aminur Rahman has seen both the pale and dark forms of the changeable hawk-eagle, a rare resident of Bangladesh, in the Sundarbans and Sherpur, including a mixed pair sharing a nest.

Desh Rupantor2 October 20262 min read

Environment

Encroachment and pollution choke Jhenaidah's 12 rivers, putting farms at risk

Encroachment, silting, pollution and dams at their sources are killing Jhenaidah's 12 rivers, including the Nabaganga, Chitra and Kumar, disrupting irrigation and raising the risk of waterlogged farmland.

Krishi Shomoy2 October 20262 min read

Environment

Untreated rice-mill waste fouls canals and farmland in Santahar

Liquid waste from several automatic rice mills in Santahar, Bogura, is reaching canals and cropland without treatment; tests found just 1.2 milligrams of dissolved oxygen per litre in canal water.

Krishi Shomoy2 October 20262 min read

Livestock

World Farmed Animals Day puts welfare beside output on livestock farms

World Farmed Animals Day falls on 2 October; World Animal Protection says about 80 billion land animals are used in farming each year, a large share of them in industrial systems.

The Daily Observer2 October 20262 min read

Environment

Two jailed for trapping egrets near Pirganj sal forest, 15 birds freed

A mobile court in Pirganj, Thakurgaon, jailed two men for a year for trapping egrets beside the Kalupir-Thumnia sal forest under the wildlife protection law, and about 15 caged birds were released.

Desh Rupantor1 October 20261 min read

Environment

Swiss glaciers lose 5.5 percent of their ice in eight months

The Swiss glacier monitoring network's annual report says glaciers thinned by 2.5 to 4 metres on average in 2026, and Switzerland has lost 19.4 percent of its glacier ice in five years.

Desh Rupantor1 October 20262 min read

Environment

Noakhali restaurants start logging how much food they waste each day

On the international day on food loss and waste, more than 10 hotels and restaurants in Maijdee, Noakhali, agreed to record their daily food waste and display it to diners; each throws away 50 kg or more a day.

Channel i Online1 October 20262 min read