GovTwin / Institution
Netrokona District
Local Gov
A haor-dominated district in the northeastern lowlands where wetlands, single-crop boro paddy and flash-flood risk shape life. It is the poorest district in this cluster and faces the sharpest warming, even as its night-time economy grows fastest.
Wealth rank 13/64
(1 = poorest district)
Warming +0.81°C
(1980s–2020s)
Air NO₂ #57/64
(1 = most polluted)
Night-lights +155%
(2014–23 activity)
Built-up 40 km²
Forest loss 215 ha
(2001–23)
Rainfall 2,894 mm/yr
Indicators: Meta RWI (HDX); ERA5-Land; MODIS; Sentinel-5P; VIIRS night-lights; GHSL; Hansen v1.11; CHIRPS v2.0. Exposure: GloFAS v2.1, FABDEM, MODIS LST, ACAG PM2.5, WorldPop 2020.
Problems and issues
- poverty Deep household poverty (mean Relative Wealth Index -0.18), the poorest in this cluster and ranking 13th-poorest of 64 districts So what: Haor isolation and single-season agriculture lock households into among the lowest wealth levels in the country. Source: Meta Data for Good Relative Wealth Index (HDX), ~2.4 km grid
- climate disaster Very high annual rainfall of 2894 mm, the highest in the cluster, feeding pre-monsoon flash floods across the haor basin So what: Early flash floods can wipe out the single boro rice harvest before it is cut, the defining food-security shock of the haor. Source: CHIRPS v2.0 precipitation (UCSB Climate Hazards Group) via Google Earth Engine
- agriculture Lowest vegetation greenness in the cluster (NDVI 0.461), consistent with seasonally inundated single-crop haor land So what: Dependence on one flood-exposed boro crop leaves farm incomes with no buffer when the harvest fails. Source: MODIS MOD13A1 NDVI via Google Earth Engine
- environment Air temperature has warmed 0.81 C, the steepest warming in the cluster So what: Faster warming intensifies pre-monsoon weather extremes and heat stress on haor agriculture and fisheries. Source: ERA5-Land reanalysis (Copernicus/ECMWF) via Google Earth Engine, district mean
- infrastructure Haor geography leaves villages seasonally cut off, with limited all-weather roads and submersible embankment protection So what: Isolation raises the cost of markets, health care and emergency response for already poor wetland communities. Source: Local Government Engineering Department (LGED)
Probable solutions
- Complete and maintain submersible embankments around haors before the pre-monsoon and promote early-maturing boro varieties Responsible: Bangladesh Water Development Board and Department of Agricultural Extension · policy proposal
- Build all-weather and submersible roads and rural connectivity under the haor development program Responsible: Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) · Haor and wetland development program
- Strengthen flash-flood early warning and emergency boro-harvest mobilisation for haor unions Responsible: Department of Disaster Management · policy proposal
- Diversify livelihoods into open-water fisheries co-management and duck rearing to reduce single-crop dependence Responsible: Department of Fisheries · policy proposal