GovTwin / Institution

Tetulia (Panchagarh)

Local Gov

Bangladesh's northernmost upazila, a cool tea-growing tract on the Mahananda river near the Himalayan foothills, famed for clear-day views of Kanchenjunga and a fast-growing tea economy.

Wealth rank 200/452 (1 = poorest upazila)

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

  1. environment Tea-frontier clearing across Tetulia's foothill landscape drives the district's outsized forest loss and watershed degradation. So what: Loss of tree cover destabilises soils and foothill streams. Source: Bangladesh Forest Department
  2. climate disaster Very high monsoon rainfall with negligible permanent surface water produces flashy runoff and flash flooding from the Mahananda and foothill drainage. So what: Flash floods and riverbank erosion threaten tea plots and homes. Source: Department of Disaster Management
  3. poverty Tetulia's mean Relative Wealth Index of -0.105 (national rank 200/452, fifth decile) is the highest within this district yet still below the national midpoint. So what: A growing tea economy has not lifted households above national-average poverty. Source: Meta Data for Good Relative Wealth Index (HDX)

Probable solutions