The Sunderbans are an amazing place – let’s list some of the reasons why, in no particular order: a global biodiversity hotspot a water/landscape that is continually being reshaped through the processes of complex river systems originating in the Himalayas a site of livelihoods for local fishers, honey collectors, agriculturalists etc a site for tourism – domestic and international a site for serious tiger protection measures a world heritage area with the responsibilities which that brings a trans-boundary ecosystem requiring …
This image was taken on the Jamuna river in Bangladesh. As the sun sets, fishers return home with their catch. These fishers live on chars, river islands that form by the depositing of silt collected as the river comes down from the Himalayas in Tibet. Whilst the river might give, in the form of deposits that become islands, the river also takes away, as erosion destroys chars and their inhabitants homes and livelihoods, regularly. This image was taken as I …
I had a very quick field trip over the last three days – made a visit to a char (pronounced chore), which is like a temporary island in some rivers in this part of the world. The people who live on chars are essentially landless who have no where else to go. Because the islands are temporary, the people are also, in a sense, semi-nomadic – they stay on an island until they lose either their land or their island to …