A database of lightning-related deaths and injuries in Bangladesh was developed from 1990 to mid-2016 from a variety of sources that contains a total of 5468 casualties, composed of 3086 fatalities and 2382 injuries. Spatial, temporal, and demographic aspects of these lightning casualties are evaluated in order to aid relevant entities in effective management of lightning-related meteorological hazards. The annual averages for Bangladesh are 114 fatalities and 89 injuries over the entire period. Weighting by population reveals a fatality rate of 0.92 per million people per year and an injury rate of 0.71. In contrast, the latest 6 years have a fatality rate of 1.6 and injury rate of 1.4. The rural portion of lightning fatalities is 93%. Most fatalities occurred between early morning (0600 LST) and early evening (2000). Through the year, more fatalities occur during the premonsoon season of March through May than during the monsoon season (June–September). The interannual time series of fatalities indicates an increase since the late 2000s, which is a result of greatly improved communications leading to better media reporting of lightning casualties. Bangladesh has also become much more populous in recent years. As a result, the most recent 6 years have 251 fatalities per year, which may be considered as the current estimate. The majority of lightning-related deaths occurred to males. Farming is the major activity at the time of lightning fatalities followed by being inside a dwelling and returning home or walking around homesteads/courtyards.

Changes in land cover are a major driving force behind habitat change, which significantly impacts the distribution of wildlife and ecological systems. However, there is a substantial lack of information on the effects of land cover changes on wildlife habitat and local conservation. Therefore, it is essential to understand how land cover changes may threaten future land cover trends and wildlife habitat loss, especially in protected areas. Landsat satellite imagery uses a geographic information system and remote sensing techniques to determine the spatiotemporal pattern of land cover change and its impact on the human–elephant conflict in the Fashiakhali Wildlife Sanctuary. We found that within the sanctuary (1994–2005), settlements, agricultural land, and bare land increased by 69.8 ha (2.3%), 991.6 ha (32.3%), and 39.5 ha (1.3%), and forest areas and water areas decreased by 1094.1 ha (35.7%) and 6.9 ha (0.2%), respectively. On the other hand (2005–2015), settlements, agricultural land, and water areas increased by 11.7 ha (0.4%), 264.7 ha (8.6%), and 36.2 ha (1.2%), and forest areas and bare land decreased by 308.9 ha (10.1%) and 3.7 ha (0.1%), respectively. Our findings have shown that increased agriculture and settlements have become a severe threat to the ecological sustainability of elephant habitat, resulting in habitat fragmentation and human encroachment of elephant habitats, as well as extreme pressure and competition on resources.

The sea level rise (SLR) in the Sundarbans areas is higher than the global-average rate of sea rise, and many studies assume that most of the dry land of the Sundarbans will be inundated by the end of the twenty-first century. This study aims to analyze the amount of dry land that can potentially be inundated by SLR in Sundarbans and the impact under different land cover conditions. Four SLR scenarios, a digital elevation data grid, and net subsidence data are used to map areas that will be potentially inundated by 2100. Results for the low (35 cm), mid (52 cm), high (70 cm), and extreme (147 cm) SLR scenarios indicate that the Sundarbans landmass area will be flooded up to 40 km² (1%), 72 km² (1.8%), 136 km² (3.4%), and 918 km² (23%), respectively, under the current net subsidence rate of −2.4 mm/year by 2100. Except for the extreme scenarios, the low, mid, and high SLR will result in riverbank and beach areas to be covered by water. The potential inundation areas of different vegetation cover classes that already exist today (2020) will be nominal for the low, mid, and high SLR scenarios. We also analyzed the sensitivity of the results through station-based SLR data, which fits with the low (35 cm) SLR scenarios under the −2.4 mm/year subsidence rate. This study concluded that the inundation aspect of SLR will not directly affect the Sundarbans; however, indirectly related threats and anthropogenic disturbances can be major drivers of the Sundarbans’ degradation by the end of the twenty-first century. This work discusses reasonable inundation scenarios integrating SLR and subsidence with a custom land-cover map that includes three forest-density categories. The study’s findings contribute to forest management planning and support the UN goals of the Bangladesh Delta Plan.