Aisha Rahman and Tilde Krusberg got to know each other at upper secondary school, when they both studied specialised in environmental studies. Their shared interest, and curiosity for interdisciplinary studies, led them to both apply to study environmental science at Link枚ping University鈥檚 (LiU) Norrk枚ping campus.
鈥淚 was attracted by the interdisciplinary nature of the programme, where there is an explicit wish to combine perspectives from the natural sciences and the social sciences鈥�, says Tilde Krusberg.
鈥淚t was above all the ecological and social perspectives that attracted me. Natural disasters have real effects on real people鈥檚 lives鈥�, says Aisha Rahman.
Here are Tilde and Aisha in front of a map of Bangladesh at the Bangladesh office of the UNDP.鈥� Photo credit Private. This is something they experienced first hand during a two-month trip to Bangladesh in the spring of 2022, where they performed field studies with the support of the Minor Field Studies (MFS) scholarship. The scholarship was financed by Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), and can be applied for by students who are interested in global development questions and who want to collect material for their thesis in a low or middle-income country. The scholarship is available for field studies in any subject, and for both undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
Aisha and Tilde found out about the opportunity to apply for the MFS scholarship early on in their studies. They chose Bangladesh because Aisha had been there before.
鈥淢y parents come from Bangladesh, so I have family here. We stayed with my aunt in Dhaka.鈥�
Mangroves play a great role in carbon sequestration
Destroyed mangroves along the central southern Bengali coast. Photo credit Private. While there, they studied how mangrove forests work as protection against the effects of climate change on an island off the southern central coast.
鈥淭he island Char Kukri Mukri has a planted mangrove forest, where 90 percent of the trees are of the same species. Because the forest is basically a monoculture, it is now being destroyed, and the protection it provides may disappear. We investigated the possibility of restoring the mangrove forests by planting more species鈥�, says Aisha.
Mangroves have a lot of important functions, such as providing protection from storms, cyclones, saltwater intrusion and flood waves, at the same time as filtering water and capturing carbon. Mangrove forests absorb four times as much carbon dioxide as rainforests. They are also an important living environment for several species, and provide food and sustenance for local communities. Therefore, developing a sustainable and long-term ecosystem for mangroves is very important.
Interdisciplinary method
During their field studies, Aisha and Tilde took advantage of the environmental science programme鈥檚 interdisciplinary nature.鈥淲e aimed to understand both the ecological and social dimensions鈥�, says Aisha. 鈥淔or the former, we collected soil and water samples; for the latter, we performed interviews with the local population, and with experts from local public agencies, NGOs, the UNDP and climate researchers. This helped us discover the barriers to and opportunities in planting mangroves.鈥�
Climate change is universal
鈥淢y language skills have been put to the test, but they have been a big help from the very moment that we touched down in Bangladesh.鈥�
鈥淭hey were invaluable. Without them, we wouldn鈥檛 have got so much out of the interviews. I don鈥檛 speak any Bengali, and the people we spoke with often didn鈥檛 understand English. But when I explained that we were researching 鈥榗limate change鈥�, everybody understood. It鈥檚 a lived reality, something in common that we could discuss鈥�, says Tilde.
How did you collect the soil and water samples?
鈥淲e travelled by motorboat with a guy from Char Kukri Mukri to four different places along the coast. Each time we stopped, we wrote down the coordinates and gathered two bottles of water and two bags of earth. It took a whole day鈥�, says Tilde.
The water and soil samples were stored in a fridge bag they had found in Aisha鈥檚 mother鈥檚 house.
鈥淲e gathered eight samples, as we didn鈥檛 have room for any more. The samples had to be kept cold. But we didn鈥檛 have a freezer on the boat, and no electricity supply either. Instead, we had to use freezer packs.鈥�
They were on the island for a total of five nights and four days. Just getting there and back took a whole day.
鈥淚t was very inaccessible and remote. We had to travel by car, boat and plane to get there鈥�, says Tilde.
Greater understanding for different living conditions
View over Dhaka from the roof.鈥� Photo credit Private. The material that they gathered formed the basis of their bachelor鈥檚 thesis, which they finished writing while in Bangladesh. When they were in need of a break, they went up to the roof.
鈥淚n Dhaka, it鈥檚 common to hang out your washing and interact with others on your roof. There are lots of buildings and people there鈥�, says Aisha.
They also went out on the occasional walk, to discover more of the megacity and go shopping. Initially, they were always accompanied by one of Aisha鈥檚 relatives. But when they got more familiar with the city, they went on walks or took rickshaws unaccompanied.
鈥淲e鈥檙e so used to being independent from having lived in Sweden. We鈥檙e not used to thinking of risks. People gave us a lot of warnings here, and that was a challenge. Because at the same time, we needed to test our own boundaries鈥�, says Aisha.
Masses of green space and teeming street life everywhere.鈥� Photo credit Privat. 鈥淭o be safe, at the same time as not being afraid of everything, felt important鈥�, explains Tilde.
鈥淵ou could see the very richest and poorest on the streets. We鈥檝e really deepened our understanding of and insight into people鈥檚 different living conditions鈥�, says Aisha.
They are both planning to study at master鈥檚 level after graduating from the programme in environmental science. Anything could happen after that.
鈥淲e鈥檝e just been in Bangladesh. Anything is possible now鈥�, says Tilde.
Footnote: This article was published in LiU magazine #2 2022
