this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. along the coastline

is riverbeds of rural bangladesh, thousands of fields where rice was once grown have been converted into intensive shrimp farms, catering to a multibillion—dollar global industry. since the explosion of the industry in the 1980s when the world's appetite for this luxury food grew, there have been increasing allegations of violence and land grabbing by criminal gangs.

i've come to bangladesh to hear first—hand about the hidden abuses in the industry, and the detrimental effect of saltwater shrimp farms on these women's health and livelihoods. poor people are being exploited by the rich and powerful and poverty is not being eradicated. these shrimp are so expensive, and poor people can't even dream of buying them. it's taken me years to gain exclusive access to the working conditions of this remote, often secretive community. now these women farmers are fighting back to protect their rights.

frozen shrimp exports are worth about $500 million to the bangladeshi economy. after garments, seafood is the country's biggest export. most of it is sold to europe. baby shrimp are caught from rivers and waterways and hatcheries, and then brought to these shrimp farms where they're cultivated to full size. most of these shrimp farms are along the coastal beds and riverbeds of bangladesh, where there is a plentiful supply of water. but environmentalists and local communities are telling me that fish farms leave the area weak and vulnerable. the land can no longer withstand the effect of cyclones and typhoons which bangladesh experiences regularly.

as we travelled to the south—west coast, the effects of saltwater toxicity on the farms was clear. we are surrounded by cracked and grey coastline, which we actually saw using aerial cameras, stretched for miles. local wildlife had disappeared. the landscape is gutted and divided into rough rectangles known as polders, low—lying tracts of land surrounded by embankments. many of the people farming in this area in the polders live below the poverty line. i began myjourney in polder 23, when there are currently ongoing problems. here, the land is barren and muddy. well, this lady has just told me that because of problems of saltwater exposure, she has actually had to have surgery.

in fact, many of the women here have said they had all kinds of related problems to be exposure to salt. many of the women say they have complained to local shrimp farm owners and the local authorities about the health issues they are experiencing, but they say their complaints aren't being listened to.

these coastal areas are overseen by local union councils. the chairman of one such council told me that these days, violence in these shrimp times is not on the same scale as a few decades ago, and that any complaints are dealt with through a more collaborative system. over in polder 29, i heard about the history of intensive shrimp farming, which included allegations of violent conduct by men with guns. since many shrimp farm bosses live in the cities, far away from the remote coastal areas, they would send local agents or local contacts to maintain the affairs of the shrimp farms. their methods, say local witnesses, got out of hand.

during prolonged campaigns local farmers said these men would intimidate them into converting their rice land into intensive shrimp farms. i heard similar stories in some of the other areas i visited.

and when did this happen?

the police didn't respond to our request for comment on the weapons involved in the shrimp industry, but khushi kabirfrom the non—governmental organisation called nijera kori, or "do it yourselves," told me about the history of guns in the industry. they used to be armed. now they are less armed. they were very violent before, because they had gotten away with it in the past, so they thought they could get away with it, but because of all the noises we were making at all the levels, arms, etc has gone down considerably. now what they use is manipulation. iasked people, especially at the village level, you know you are risking your life, you know you are going to get killed 7 and yet you resist. and they said, we have nothing else to lose. they had to fight a lot, so did we, but the fact that we don't give up,

and i always say that you only lose when you give up, i think that is what empowers the people in the area to feel that they can live their life the way they wish to. and they don't have to be intimidated by goons, thugs or people who are in power. slowly a resistance began against the encroaching intensive shrimp farms. the revolutionary spark originated in polder 22, where we travel to next. amidst the grey, infertile shrimp land, it remains a shining victorious patch of green. it was here in 1990 where a localfarmer was brutally shot dead. her name was karunamoi sardar. she had little formal

education, but she had heard from neighbouring communities about the detrimental effect that saltwater from shrimp farms had on poor communities like hers. this memorial behind me was erected to commemorate her and the beginning of the women farmer's movement to protect their rights. i have come here to speak to her family about her legacy.

what legacy has she left for women? sometimes the women are negatively referred to as "water bandits." i asked him what his responses to rumours that his mother and herfollowers were also violent.

the bangladeshi government department, the ministry of fisheries, responded and said any complaint of harassment or violation of labour laws reported in shrimp industries are dealt with together with local administration. it added that it welcomed more detail on people we spoke with in order to resolve any cases. the slow progress in reducing violence in the shrimp industry has led to grassroots

do—it—yourself collectives. kripa goldar led one of the key struggles. these days, she and her colleagues go from village to village re—enacting theirfight in short theatrical plays. they each play themselves. it is a way of directly educating their community who often cannot read or have no access to media.

in an effort to see where the money to fund this industry is coming from, i tried to trace the global shrimp supply chain. i go to a fish depot where all of the small shrimp farmers sell their shrimp to factories and then they are sold on to export to foreign countries. but it was impossible to trace where all the shrimp here were coming from. it was an informal bazaar. piles of shrimp poured from unmarked baskets for brokers to sell on to the highest bidder. shrimp were brought in on carts

with no license plates, crates full of shrimp had travelled along unmarked roads through off—map villages and a few impromptu ponds. several species of shrimp were often piled onto the same mat and after a chaotic verbal bidding process a buyer could walk off without showing any papers. consider that it is from depots like this that most of the world receives its bangladeshi shrimp. it is a very murky supply chain to verify in any meaningful way.

and there is sometimes a problem with drinking water supply in those areas as a result of the saltwater proliferating in the area. what solutions would you propose to improve that condition for the farms? whilst bangladeshi shrimp exporters like shyamul push for growth in the industry, the country's law is also at work.

environmental lawyer rizwana hassan has been fighting cases around saltwater shrimp farms for years. a substantial amount of agricultural land owned by the poor farmers are being forcibly grabbed by shrimp cultivators, but for the government it is export earning, but it is actually earning by a few. totally damaging the traditional livelihood earning of millions. the shrimp are so expensive that poor people cannot even dream of buying them and meeting their protein intake demand. saltwater shrimp farms have many female workers and they have complained to me about things like skin issues and ongoing health issues. what has been your experience of having to handle those cases or those issues? the local people protesting against the undue interest of the outsiders, undue interest which are protected by local lawmakers and national level policymakers.

local people come into conflict with these outsiders and one way of suppressing people is to kill them or to threaten them with tactics so that they do not really open their mouth anymore and they do not get organised any further. and when you see that your land is underwater and you have no chance of getting it back, you are forced to work in the shrimp industry. bangladeshi's department of fisheries said in a statement that more than 250,000 rural families are dependent on shrimp farming for their livelihoods. it is said that most of the people employed in shrimp cultivation in bangladesh are marginalised people who live in coastal areas and are victims of climate change, sea level rise, saline water intrusion and loss of livelihood. it added that for a decade or more these people have been

maintaining high global standards and that the government conducts awareness activities, training, formation of trade unions and that it supports arbitration processes based on labour rules and social compliances. but not all of bangladesh's shrimp farms are problematic, of course. successful efforts to conserve the nearby mangrove forest have led to akash�*s shrimp farms having healthier water for both shrimp and farmer.

the collective strength of these women has led to some victories against an encroaching multibillion—dollar industry. the women of folder 22 enjoy rich harvests of vegetables, rice and fruit.

women sing .

hello there. it is about to turn very hot once again and if you are a sun worshipper and it happens to be your only week off this summer your only week off this summer you may well be jumping your only week off this summer you may well bejumping up and down withjoy. many you may well bejumping up and down with joy. many of us do not like the heat. the heat will be coming in from the south from spain and france but

also from the near continent, hot air being carried by quite a breeze blowing from the east and that will spread into wales and that will spread into wales and south—western parts of england to some high temperatures there in the south—west this week. here are the temperatures on tuesday morning. 17 in london, mid teens in northern ireland, central and eastern scotland. a little rain there in the far north of scotland early on tuesday but other than that it is sunshine right from the word go and hot on tuesday, reaching 30 in london in the south—east, wide high 20s and mid 20s for northern and eastern parts of the country. and by the time we get to wednesday we could approach the low 30s and central parts of england and also in wales. a hot mid week and then every bit as hot on thursday and friday. here is the high pressure across the uk. notice the white arrows and the wind blowing around the high pressure. more of an

easterly here. there is a lot of hot air around them continent so we will see that spread across east anglia and england into wales and even into parts of ireland. a gusty breeze at time so some high temperatures may be a little further towards the west but certainly the mid 30s possibly quite widely on thursday and if you look at the outlook into the weekend, into sunday, look at the sustained heat in cardiff. 0ver at the sustained heat in cardiff. over 30 degrees every day, the same for london so some pretty impressive weather for some of us. how hot will it get? we do not anticipate the dizzy heights of a0 degrees like last time but 36 is certainly hot enough and that is how hot it might get. when will the heat and is evergreen on the way? next week we are confident that cool weather will arrive and with that we will arrive and with that we will see some rain in areas that do need it. at least, potentially. i want to show you some extremes. this is how much

rainfall we have had sincejuly in this area no rainfall in southern england. so what we will do over the next few computer model across these more southern and central areas that are desperate for rainfall. we will get rain on the north but we are watching south. however, this far in advance, moreoverwe, we south. however, this far in advance, moreover we, we think there will be some rain but exactly where, we have to think of the arrows here and unfortunately this far in advance the errors could be quite large and the rain could fall a little further towards the west, towards the east or it may even be a little more showery so quite hit and miss and some areas may not get any rainfall at all. so some uncertainty in that rain forecast we are more confident about this stream of air coming off the atlantic around areas off the atlantic around areas of low pressure approaching us and that will basically push away the heat towards the south so you can see from the colours

here no longer read, there are lighter colours indicating slightly fresher weather next week. bye—bye.

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