All Categories

When I close my eyes, I see the images of rain falling on earth and hear the sounds of frogs during the rainy season, the serenity of early morning, and picking mangoes in the night after a nor’wester with my childhood friends. I barely forget the village memories of spending my whole night gossiping with my siblings and enjoying the beauty of a full moon on the rooftop of our house. At that time, I used to wake up seeing the heron bird sitting on the top branch of a bamboo t

Urbanization is considered a sign of advancement. Skyscrapers, transportation networks, and digital lines of communication are often regarded as symbols of progress. But behind these shiny facades, more than 1 billion people in the world live in slums characterized by deprivation, the UN Statistics Division says. From Kibera in Nairobi to Dharavi in Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, slums remind us that rapid urban expansion is not synonymous with better living conditions.

Photographed by the Author Edinburgh’s urban design reflects centuries of careful planning that balances built environments with natural landscapes. Central Edinburgh is divided into two major parts: the Old Town and the New Town, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, exemplifying architectural heritage while integrating public parks and green spaces. Modern urban planning in Edinburgh continues this tradition, ensuring that new developments do not encroach on natural habitats. Z

But what does it mean to live well? Decades of the world exercising the same doctrine have taught people that the high quality of life means economic expansion, larger houses, faster vehicles, and additional things. However, behind the glitter of consumerism trails an increasing discomfort - increase in inequality, environmental devastation, and the feeling that he or she is no longer a part of nature or community. Had prosperity depended on wealth and consumption alone, how

Life in Panjgur is shaped by two powerful forces: the land beneath our feet and the climate above our heads. Nestled in the dry landscapes of Balochistan, my hometown is both beautiful and fragile—a place where the standard of living is written into the soil, the water, and the resilience of its people.  In Panjgur, agriculture is not just an occupation; it is a lifeline. The date palms that stand tall in our fields are symbols of survival. Families depend on them for income,

A broken commode rests proudly on the sidewalk overlooking Gulshan Lake. Nature Insights pulls up a chair (with mosquito spray in hand) to conduct an exclusive interview.   Today, Nature Insights is on location in Gulshan, Dhaka’s crown jewel of opulence, where sleek apartments scrape the sky, cafés serve lattes with gold dust, and even the street signs seem to whisper, “wealth lives here.”  But today, we are not here to admire luxury cars or Instagram-worthy brunch spots. No

The night was heavy, the kind of darkness where even the stars seemed afraid to shine. In a small riverside village of Sirajganj, Aisha Begum lay awake, her three children curled beside her on a straw mat, their soft breaths rising and falling in fragile rhythm. The Jamuna River, usually a distant hum, had turned into a living beast. It growled in the blackness, its waves thrashing like restless arms, clawing closer with every surge. The air smelled of wet earth and silt, thi

Photo by the Author The Rohingya crisis is not a new tragedy; it is a recurring wound in the conscience of South and Southeast Asia. For generations, the Rohingya people, an ethnic Muslim minority native to Myanmar’s Rakhine State, have lived as a community stripped of belonging. The crisis deepened in August 2017 when a brutal military operation in Rakhine drove over 700,000 Rohingya across the Naf River into Bangladesh. It was not the first exodus; smaller waves had occurr

Living standards encompass more than just income – they reflect the conditions that allow people to lead healthy, fulfilling lives and participate in society. They include access to education and healthcare, economic opportunities, political freedoms, environmental quality and social support. To compare living standards across countries, researchers compile composite indices that draw on diverse data. While each index has limitations, together they paint a richer picture of h

The "standard of living" concept was somehow newly coined, although it was actually hammered out across history with various factors acting as forces of change throughout time: economic structure, environmental condition, technology, and systems of governance. From ancient survival-oriented subsistence to multidimensional indexes of today, the historical arc tries to explain how human well-being has moved along with material and social development.  Ancient and Medieval Found

It begins with water Not just the monsoon rain that floods low-lying villages in southern Bangladesh, but the creeping brine that poisons...

Part 1 The Status Quo: A Broken System It’s hard to ignore the cracks that are starting to show in the picture of “advancement” that...

Torsa Island from a bird's-eye view Torsa is not only my name but also a small island on the west coast of Scotland, which grabbed my...

On Ocean Justice, Innovation and Hope On a sunlit morning off Sri Lanka’s southern coast, a ripple on the horizon breaks into the...

These self-portraits critique Ocean Pollution by symbolically entangling the body in a fishing net and plastic materials that continue to...

The Wildlife Clubs of Kenya (WCK) have been a foundational force in environmental conservation for over half a century. Established in...

Pixar’s "Finding Nemo" is not just an underwater adventure—it’s a vivid, bittersweet metaphor for the fragile, interconnected, and often...

Beneath the vast, silent blue stretches of our oceans unfolds a story so rarely told, it feels almost surreal: industries racing to mine...

“Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, yet also the most threatened.” – UNEP (United Nations Environment...

River’s Edge   River’s Edge , 5”x4”x4”, stone, dried water reed leaf, 2023 Let’s go back to the old river’s edge. No, you can’t go back...

African Initiative for Good Governance and Development (AIGD‑Africa), headquartered in Bukavu, DRC, pursues a mission of societal...