How a women-led initiative are trying to preserve new islands in Sunderbans

For every island that is washed away by rising tides in the Sundarbans, a new one is created somewhere else. A women-led initiative is making sure these newly-formed islands are preserved

Wading through knee-deep mud, a measuring tape and GPS-device in hand, Minoti Sil and Monika Misra erect poles two meters apart around a patch of tender mangroves. They are in the middle of a mudflat with another woman, Purnima Mishra, who takes out a slide caliper to measure the height and diameter of mangrove plants, which have grown in this block of mudflat over the past month.

Two other women look around for different varieties of plants, noting down their findings on a piece of paper. Then, the group moves on to the next block and repeats the whole process.

The women