'Come before the tourists visit" is the old Bangladesh tourist board slogan that had caught my eye and partially inspired my trip. Two days after arriving in the country, I unexpectedly meet the woman who came up with it. I'm at Wilderness, a resort in the north-eastern region of Sylhet, where the majority of British-Bangladeshis hail. It's owned by Nazim Choudhury, whose glamorous wife, Geeteara, now runs her own advertising company.
I tell them I'm heading to Cox's Bazar – the world's longest beach, on the country's east coast, and Geeteara says: "That's where I had the idea for the slogan. Walking on that beach in the 1980s, when no one was around."
"But," interjects Nazim, "the tourists, they never came!" He laughs, partly at the absurdity, partly because he is accustomed to e...
Bangladesh might be better known for natural disasters and human suffering, but for years this south Asian nation has been a kind of Silicon Valley in the field of social entrepreneurship and anti-poverty programs.
It is the birthplace of BRAC, the world’s largest non-government organization that’s helping survivors of the 2013 Bangladesh factory collapse, and Grameen Bank, better known in the West since winning the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
However, the success of Grameen and BRAC is still dwarfed by the sheer scale the economic and environmental problems faced by this crowded, low-lying nation of 150 million. So the challenge for behemoths and start ups alike is to scale up — not just to have a wider social impact but also to sustain the enterprise so it depends less on charity.
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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will promote low-carbon technology in Indonesia and other developing countries of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Maldives, Mongolia, Palau, and Viet Nam.
An ADB press release to ANTARA News on Thursday quoted that the bank has announced the establishment of a new trust fund to support the adoption of advanced low-carbon technologies in its developing member countries, with a grant of around US$17.65 million from the Government of Japan.
Japans Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara and ADB...
Bangladesh is one of the countries at most risk from climate change, as it is low-lying and could be swamped by rising seas – particularly if they rise by several metres (see “Ice sheets on course for collapse”). Now it seems the very embankments built to protect its people could be making them more vulnerable to floods.
Bangladesh is about to upgrade 600 kilometres of coastal embankments in the Sundarbans delta region in its south-west. It is using $400 million from the World Bank. The bank says the upgra...
Bangladesh will start using sonar to help slow erosion of its biggest island in the Ganges Delta where climate change and rising sea levels are adding to risks, a Dutch-Bangladeshi consortium said on Tuesday.
Floods constantly reshape low-lying Bhola island, which is 130 kms (80 miles) long and home to 1.7 million people. A 1776 map showed that it was oval but it is now more banana-shaped due to erosion by the Meghna River that is part of the delta.
The consortium told Reuters that a 1.5 meter (5 ft) long sonar, similar to equipment used to ...
The overall length of river routes in the country has declined by 7428 kilometres since 1975.
“According to the mileage table published by Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) in 1975, the length of the country’s river route was 13660 km (8485 miles). But as per the latest statistics of BIWTA, the length of river route is about 6232 km,” Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan told Parliament on Wednesday.
The minister came up with the figures while replying to a scripted question of AKM Mayeedul Islam (Jatiya Party-Kurigram), r...
