A shifting Padma River channel and severe erosion have heightened fears among riverside communities in Munshiganj. Continuous erosion involving the Padma, Meghna, Dhaleshwari and Ichhamati has swallowed more than 50 square kilometres of the district, according to the report. Local residents say more than 100,000 people from 20,000 families have lost their belongings, with property losses exceeding Tk1,500 crore.

Erosion began at the start of this monsoon season at Tongibari’s 200-year-old Dighirpar Bazar. Near Gaondia Bazar in Louhajang, about 200 metres of blocks on a roughly 500-metre permanent river-defense embankment collapsed into the river within two months of construction. Many families moved their homes, while the Bangladesh Water Development Board used geobags and concrete blocks to bring the situation under control.

Executive Engineer Akhlak Ul Jamil said the Padma’s main channel now flows through an area that was previously a branch channel, causing erosion there. He said defense designs must be regularly reviewed using updated hydraulic and morphological data. The board said it has placed 12,000 geobags in Purbarakhi and 18,000 in Shambhu Haldarkandi to curb erosion.

Food and water shortages in the Garo Hills of Mymensingh are pushing wild elephants into settlements, increasing conflict with residents and farmers. Forest Department figures show that from 2014 to 2026, elephant attacks killed 49 people in the Garo Hills and nearby areas. During the same period, 35 wild elephants died in electric traps, poison bait and retaliatory attacks by people.

The report attributes the crisis to forest clearing, hill cutting for settlements and cultivation, illegal occupation and commercial tree felling, which have reduced elephant habitat and food sources. Irregular rainfall and prolonged drought linked to climate change have also prevented new vegetation from growing and dried up streams. Farmers said elephants destroy crops, while compensation is not adequately received.

Sherpur has been the worst affected district, where 30 people and 30 elephants have died in the conflict. The Balijuri Range has about 120 elephants in 8,330 acres of forest, an area experts consider unsuitable for that number. The Forest Department is planting elephant-friendly trees on 115 hectares and has initiated plans for artificial water reservoirs in several forest areas.

Fisheries and Livestock State Minister Sultan Salahuddin Tuku has announced plans to clean Tangail city’s DC Lake and develop it into a mini tourism centre. He made the remarks on Friday after inaugurating an operation to remove water hyacinth and accumulated waste to restore the lake’s environment. Tuku said the lake is not only a recreational site but also an important part of Tangail city’s beauty and environment.

He said the entire lake would be cleaned gradually, while the adjoining char area is planned as a larger tourism centre. Necessary initiatives are being taken toward those goals, he added. Tuku said he had previously visited the area with the chairman of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation, who inspected both the char area and the DC Lake area.

The state minister said work was under way to fulfil his pre-election pledge to establish a modern tourism centre in Tangail. He said a cleaner, more usable lake could provide residents with a modern recreation space, while fish farming in the lake would also benefit local people. Tuku inspected sections of the lake, joined the water-hyacinth removal effort and directed those involved to continue regular cleaning. BNP activists, volunteers and local residents joined the campaign.

Chalan Beel, spanning 1,600 villages in 62 unions across 10 upazilas of Natore, Pabna and Sirajganj, is steadily shrinking because of unplanned development, according to the report published on July 31, 2026. Embankments, national highways, bridges, pond excavation and other infrastructure have reduced the wetland’s flow and depth. Its area, once more than 1,000 square kilometres, is reported at about 368 square kilometres during monsoon and 85 square kilometres in the dry season.

Many of Chalan Beel’s 47 small and large rivers have lost their natural flow because of siltation and navigability problems. Some 177,000 fishers were directly or indirectly linked to fishing in its rivers, canals and waters. Reduced water inflow and illegal China duari and badai nets have pushed native fish toward disappearance, prompting many fishers to change occupations and reducing dried-fish production.

The report says the Baghabari-Tarash flood-control embankment built in 1980 and the Hatikumrul-Banpara highway completed in 2001 obstructed water flow. Natore BADC Executive Engineer Sajjad Hossain cited climate change, untimely rainfall, siltation, reduced navigability, blocked canal mouths and unplanned infrastructure as contributing factors.

Bangladesh’s national fish, hilsa, has recorded declining production for two consecutive fiscal years, according to government survey data cited in a report published on July 31, 2026. The Department of Fisheries said output fell from 529,487 tonnes in fiscal year 2023-24 to 500,288 tonnes in 2024-25, a decrease of about 5.5 percent. Officials fear production may decline further in the current fiscal year, with preliminary field information putting output so far near 400,000 tonnes.

Fishers in coastal areas and along routes including the Meghna, Jamuna and Tetulia rivers said catches remain below expectations even during the peak Ashar-Shraban season. Experts cited reduced river navigability, sediment-created shoals, climate change, adverse weather, plastic pollution, excessive harvesting, jatka killing, illegal nets and uncontrolled trawling as combined threats to hilsa stocks and reproduction.

Researchers said fewer large hilsa and a growing presence of small fish in markets signal an imbalance in the species’ population. Sector representatives called for tighter control of industrial trawlers, enforcement of prescribed fishing depths, dredging of rivers and estuaries, plastic-pollution control and coordinated conservation with neighbouring countries.

Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation, or PKSF, has launched the Growth for Climate Resilient and Environmental Entrepreneurship and Nutrition project, known as Green, to address climate-change impacts, build safe and nutritious food systems, and develop environmentally friendly entrepreneurs. The project was formally inaugurated on Thursday at PKSF Building-1 in the capital.

More than 258,000 families across haor, coastal, Barind and char areas will directly benefit from the initiative. It will prioritize communities affected by climate change, women, youth, small ethnic groups, socially marginalized people and small entrepreneurs. The project will work on climate-resilient food systems, green technology, sustainable entrepreneurship, inclusive financial services and strengthening the institutional capacity of partner organizations.

The project is scheduled for implementation from 2026 to 2031 with total investment of $211.7 million. The International Fund for Agricultural Development will provide $70 million, while PKSF and partner organizations will supply the remainder. PKSF said it will emphasize digital financing, agro-ecological farming, agricultural microenterprises, local agro-processing, value addition, solar energy and the circular economy.

The Bangladesh Bridge Authority has approved a proposal to lease 120 acres at the Jamuna Bridge site for a 55-megawatt solar power plant. The decision was taken at the authority’s 117th board meeting, held Thursday afternoon in the conference room of Setu Bhaban. Under the decision, the land will be leased to Northwest Power Generation Company Limited for construction of the solar facility.

The authority said the proposed plant would support environmentally friendly and sustainable energy production. The board also approved a proposal to prepare an integrated master plan that includes installing solar panels across the Bridge Authority’s operational area. The initiative is being viewed as part of the government’s green employment and renewable-energy efforts.

The meeting additionally decided to revise the existing policy for allocating flats in rehabilitation villages to families affected by construction of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway. It approved establishment of the Center for Bridge Research and Training to support professional knowledge, skills development, research, construction and maintenance of major infrastructure. Board chairman Sheikh Rabiul Alam directed relevant officials and authorities to implement all decisions quickly and transparently.

The Sreemangal Upazila administration in Moulvibazar returned Tk 12,290,301 in unspent funds to the state treasury after the Aliachhara canal re-excavation project in Bhunabir Union was not completed on time. The project had a total allocation of Tk 12,878,537, of which Tk 500,000 was spent. Moulvibazar-4 lawmaker Alhaj Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury inaugurated the project on April 17, and work began the following day.

The plan included re-excavating 2,750 metres of canal, reinforcing both banks, planting trees and installing RCC ring pipes. The work was scheduled to finish by June 30, but adverse weather and heavy rainfall allowed completion of only 640 metres, or 23.27 percent, within the deadline. The expenditure included Tk 58,824 in VAT and Tk 29,412 in income tax, along with costs for clearing vegetation, labour, excavator use and transport.

Local farmers said the canal has remained filled for about 40 years, leaving roughly 4,000 acres of farmland in five mouzas uncultivated because of waterlogging. PIO Plabon Pal said similar projects are planned for the dry season in the future. UNO Md Ziaur Rahman said the unused funds were returned to ensure transparent and accountable use of public money.

Residents of Panishwar union in Sarail, Brahmanbaria, say recurring Meghna River erosion has destroyed homes, rice mills, mosques, businesses and farmland for more than three decades without a permanent riverbank protection embankment. The report, published July 30, said erosion is continuing along roughly three kilometres in Palpara, Sakhaiti, Dewbaria and Layarhati, with hundreds of people facing renewed losses during each monsoon.

Local residents said the river takes more land every year and warned that remaining villages could disappear without durable protection. Acting union chairman Md Touhid Mia said several hundred families in Palpara, Sakhaiti, Sholabari and Dewbaria are directly at risk. He said about 20 rice mills and more than 100 homes have already been lost to the river.

Bangladesh Water Development Board official Mohsin Kabir Shihab said a proposal for 1,350 metres of riverbank protection work in Panishwar has been sent to the Water Resources Ministry under an integrated water resources management project. Geobags have been placed at several locations as an emergency measure. Upazila Nirbahi Officer Saiful Islam said the situation is highly concerning and that alleged illegal sand extraction is being examined; legal action will follow if allegations are verified.

Authorities in Sataria, Manikganj, have returned Tk 12,202,156 in unspent funds to the state treasury after completing a 6.9-kilometre re-excavation of Chandrakhali Canal. The project ran from the source of the Gazikhali River to Baliati Khalilabad and had an allocation of Tk 28,327,623. The report, published on July 30, 2026, said the work was completed while maintaining the specified quality standards.

According to the upazila administration, the project covered the full planned length of the canal. It also included an initiative to plant various species of trees along both banks to protect water bodies and maintain environmental balance. Upazila Project Implementation Officer Md Khalilur Rahman said canal banks had to be repaired several times because of rain, and trees were planted on both sides.

Sujan Manikganj district general secretary Jahangir Alam Biswas described the return of unused funds as a positive step that ensured transparency in project implementation. Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Kazi Anik Islam said the canal had become nearly unusable after long-term encroachment and filling. He said varying widths along the canal allowed the work to be completed below the estimated cost.

Seven people were killed when a helicopter crashed in Argentina’s western San Juan province on Wednesday morning while conducting a training exercise ahead of a wildfire response mission. The aircraft went down in Ischigualasto Natural Park after it was preparing to assist efforts against fires that had been burning for several days in a neighboring province.

Contact between the helicopter and the control room was lost at about 10:30 a.m. local time. San Juan Governor Marcelo Orrego said in a post on X that seven people had died in the provincial helicopter accident. He said the victims included firefighters, police officers and Civil Protection Department personnel.

Emergency services said the cause of the crash was under investigation and rescue teams had been deployed to the site. The San Juan provincial government declared three days of mourning. Since the start of the week, multiple wildfires have spread through mountainous areas of La Rioja, where local firefighters reported that hundreds of hectares of forest had burned in only three days.

Housing and Public Works Minister Zakaria Taher said the government is committed to planned urbanisation and creating housing opportunities for low-income people. He made the remarks as chief guest at a workshop at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in the capital on Wednesday.

Taher said green buildings and climate-resilient infrastructure are necessary for Bangladesh, which faces climate-change risks. He said environmentally friendly building materials, energy-saving technologies and low-carbon designs would reduce carbon emissions and strengthen the country’s ability to confront climate-related disasters.

The minister said urban residents will outnumber the rural population by 2037, while more than 56 percent of the country’s people will live in cities by 2050. He cited the HBRI DESH Sustainable Building Labelling Framework as a future guideline for green construction. State Minister Ahmad Sohel Monzur said relevant stakeholders would coordinate to implement needed policies and action plans based on the workshop’s recommendations.

At least 13 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck Japan’s southwestern Kyushu island on Tuesday, with many others believed trapped beneath rubble. More than 100 aftershocks were recorded through Wednesday. The Japan Meteorological Agency measured the quake at magnitude 7.1, while the US Geological Survey put it at 6.8. Its epicentre was 20 kilometres south of Kumamoto city at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said more than 20 hours after the earthquake, people were still waiting for help and rescuing those trapped was a race against time. More than 4,600 personnel, including military members, have been deployed. At the Aeon Mall in the Kashima area, an explosion about an hour after the quake caused part of the second floor to collapse, killing three people and leaving three workers missing.

Two people were found unconscious at a paper factory in Yatsushiro, where nine more workers were missing. Thousands of homes lost power and thousands of people moved to shelters. With temperatures at 35 degrees Celsius, 300 air-conditioning units were being sent to affected centres in Kumamoto. Authorities warned of stronger aftershocks over the coming week, especially within two to three days.

Heavy rainfall in India’s capital Delhi caused waterlogging across several areas after sustained rain on Monday, with water entering buses operated by the Delhi Transport Corporation. Videos shared on social media showed knee-deep water on bus floors, forcing passengers to move with difficulty. In some buses, the water level was reported to have risen as high as the seats.

The footage spread widely online, prompting users to question Delhi’s transport services and the city’s management during the monsoon season. Social media users criticised the efficiency of the Delhi Transport Corporation and pointed to perceived shortcomings in urban planning for seasonal rainfall.

The report said Delhi faces waterlogging problems every year during monsoon rains. However, water entering the interiors of buses is not commonly seen, and many observers said the incident highlighted a lack of adequate preparedness by transport authorities for the rainy season.

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives State Minister Mir Shahe Alam said building a clean and green Dhaka is among the current government’s priorities, calling for visible progress in field-level work. He made the remarks on 29 July at a review meeting in the Local Government Division conference room at the Secretariat, covering tree planting, beautification, waste removal and bin replacement in areas under Dhaka North and Dhaka South city corporations.

Presentations at the meeting outlined the two city corporations’ overall progress, ongoing programmes and future work plans. Officials said non-governmental organisations and volunteer groups were being involved in a coordinated approach to urban cleanliness and greening. The minister said work should be planned so residents can experience the results of each initiative, and directed officials to accelerate ongoing activities.

He said pilot projects should be evaluated before new large projects are undertaken, with successful initiatives expanded gradually. He also ordered updated records of locations for tree planting, beautification, cleaning activities and waste-bin installation, with specific information preserved and submitted to the ministry. The minister stressed regular supervision and effective field monitoring to maintain continuity in the clean-city initiative.