AS THE first light of International Mother Earth Day 2026 breaks over the emerald canopy of the Sundarbans and the rolling hills of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh stands as a stark symbol of both vulnerability and resilience. For a country shaped by rivers, forests, and fragile coastlines, the call to ‘Our Power, Our Planet’ is not a ceremonial slogan. It reflects an urgent, lived reality where environmental imbalance directly shapes human survival. Bangladesh today is not merely witnessing climate change; it is experiencing its consequences in immediate and material ways. In the southern coastal belt, salinity intrusion has expanded significantly over the past decades, steadily weakening soil productivity and disrupting agriculture. What was once fertile land is becoming increasingly inhospitable, forcing families to abandon traditional livelihoods and, in many cases, their homes. At the same time, the country’s rivers, long regarded as the lifeblood of its ecology, are ...