EnvironmentOnly an estimated 50-60 masked finfoots survive, in Bangladesh's Sundarbans and one sanctuary in Cambodia. Writing in Samakal, a bird expert reports that a survey team saw a chick in the Sundarbans.
EnvironmentThe Woods Hole marine policy director tells Dialogue Earth that national climate plans cannot count the ocean until they measure what mangroves and kelp forests store.
EnvironmentWith JICA support, porous fences of bamboo, timber posts and branches are going up on 60 metres of Gangamati beach and 80 metres at Tengragiri in Barguna; once silt builds up, mangroves will be planted.
FisheriesThe supply brings hatchery-produced mussel seed sent to fisherfolk and tribal communities in six months to one million, alongside 100,000 oyster seeds and training for 30 officials of the state's Mangrove Cell.
OpinionIn a Mongabay India commentary, Aditi Tandon argues that sea-level rise, shrinking sediment and freshwater, and salinity are pushing the delta's people out, and points to "amphibious living" as a way forward.
OpinionThe Chakaria Sundarbans once covered more than 21,000 acres and now has a single sundari tree; writer and journalist Khalilullah argues in Prothom Alo that mangroves and shrimp can coexist and that restoring the forest needs political will.
EnvironmentA two-year CEGIS and Arannayk Foundation study finds 129.5 million of the forest's roughly 330 million sundari trees affected by top-dying, 20.24 million severely, with carbon uptake down 15 per cent and seedling density down about 71 per cent since 1986.
EnvironmentFrom 17 February to 15 September, 69.36 percent of this year's 51.5 million-sapling target was planted; the Forest Department will plant 20 million mangrove saplings on the coast in December and January.
EnvironmentThe Forest Department says 10 to 11-year-old keora, gewa and baen trees were pulled up in its 75-hectare South Char Biswas mangrove plantation and embankments dug across about 200 acres; it has filed a general diary.
EnvironmentField surveys on Satsaida Bet, a tidal island in Gujarat, found repeated jackal tracks and sightings, suggesting a grassland carnivore is regularly using mangroves and possibly fishing waste, researchers write in Down To Earth.
EnvironmentWest Bengal has sought Rs 1,350 crore from the ADB and World Bank backing for a Rs 4,100 crore project to protect the Indian Sundarbans, and both lenders have reportedly agreed in principle; expanding mangroves, keeping out salt water and fish-based livelihoods are part of the plan.
EnvironmentAbout 6,000 acres of mangrove on Sonadia island in Maheshkhali, Cox's Bazar, an ecologically critical area, have been cleared for 50 shrimp enclosures, and a High Court eviction order has yet to be carried out.
A photo story from Dimer Char, a quiet stretch of beach and mangrove where the Sundarbans meets the Bay of Bengal.
