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Press Releases
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ debates climate change along the rivers of Bangladesh
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The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has launched one of its most ambitious outside broadcast to date by chartering a boat which will tour the major rivers of Bangladesh for one month exploring the impact of climate change on the country and its people.
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Nodipathey Bangladesh (Bangladesh By The River) launches from Dhaka on Sunday 28 October and will bring the voices of people coping with flooding and the effects of climate change to a global audience of millions. A special radio link-up will also connect Bangladeshis living in the UK with those living in the danger zones.
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A team of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ journalists – on radio, TV and online – will travel up to 200 miles along the Padma, Meghna and Jamuna rivers visiting many parts of Bangladesh. The specially branded ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ boat will meet people in areas which are likely to be affected by a rise in the sea level as a consequence of global warming.
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News, features and documentaries will be delivered in 17 languages including Arabic, Azeri, Bengali, Brazilian, Burmese, Chinese, Hindi, English, Indonesian, Pashto, Persian, Romanian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili and Urdu.
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There will also be a behind-the-scenes diary and an interactive map, plotting the route of the boat, online at bbcworldservice.com.
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³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Bangla will bring personal stories, views and features from the boat every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 19.30 (local time).
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Masud Khan and co-host Shakeel Anwar will discuss with local communities, special guests and global experts the consequences of the potential effects of climate change on the people and the environment.
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The Head of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Bangla Sabir Mustafa said:
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"The boat tour will take the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ to the edge of the Bay of Bengal, into the heart of the Sundarbans and up through the central regions of the country. It will give all of us, on the boat and across the world, a unique opportunity to debate issues of climate change with people living on the front line of the battle against the consequences of global warming.
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"I am delighted that so many different parts of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ are joining us on this important journey, which means audiences listening in many languages across the globe can contribute and debate on an issue that may affect us all."
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Audiences can also tune in four special editions of Bangladesh Sanglap, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Bangla's weekly interactive radio, TV and online discussion programme, co-produced with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s international development charity, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service Trust.
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Hosted by Masud Khan, the programmes will directly engage in dialogue with people in the towns of Bhola, Mongla, Sirajganj and Rajbari – areas either ravaged by floods or predicted to be affected by climate change in the decades to come.
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Bangladesh Sanglap will be broadcast over four Sundays on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Bangla radio starting Sunday 4 November at 20.00 (local time) and over four Mondays on Bangladesh Channel i television starting Monday 5 November at 20.00 (local time). A detailed report of the discussions, along with the full audio, will be posted online at bbcbengali.com.
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Other ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ programmes bringing live reports from the boat include ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Asian Network, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s first national radio station for Bangladeshis living in the UK. It will dedicate its programming on Friday 16 November to the river tour.
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On the day, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Asian Network host Gagan Grewal will visit the town of Sirajganj at 09.00 GMT to speak to those recently affected by the South Asia floods.
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While there, Gagan will link up with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ presenter Jas Rae in London, who will bring the voices of British Bangladeshis living in the famous London area of Brick Lane.
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The two communities, separated by water but joined by a cause, will discuss the issues with each other and audiences across the world who can listen online at bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork.
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Gagan Grewal will also present his popular daily current affairs show, Gagan Grewal, live from the boat every evening at 19.00 GMT. He will discuss with environmentalists and zoologists a range of issues, including the global consequences of climate change and the potential damage to the largest mangrove on earth called the Sundarbans, which is inhabited by the already threatened Royal Bengal Tiger.
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Other ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ coverage includes ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World television and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service programmes in English including The World Today, Health Check, Outlook and Over To You.
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The entire ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ boat tour links in with a wider ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service season of programmes called Taking The Temperature, which assesses a year of climate change campaigns, summits and reports.
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Audiences can follow the progress of the boat tour online at bbcworldservice.com with a map and twice-weekly behind-the-scenes diaries by Ben Sutherland and Alistair Lawson-Tancred, who will live and work on the boat for two weeks each.
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Visitors to the website can also interact with a large map illustrating the location of the boat as it navigates the Bangladeshi river ways.
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Using GPS to track the boat, the website enables visitors to click on locations on the map to find out more about the region the boat is touring and to read the stories coming out of that area. Ìý
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ journalists Mark Dummett and Matt McGrath will also post stories from the boat on climate change and the people they meet along the way.
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³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service Publicity
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