This case study examines the collision between Bangladesh’s solar energy ambitions and haor (wetland) livelihoods across three sites in Moulvibazar District: Puber Athangiri, Hail Haor, and Kawadighi. Drawing on field visits conducted in November 2025, movement leaflets, media coverage, and an independent satellite land-use analysis, it argues that the three conflicts—though unified under a single “save the haor” banner by the Haor Raksha Andolon—reflect fundamentally distinct dynamics that demand distinct policy responses. At Puber Athangiri, an operational 10 MW solar plant is associated with coerced land acquisition, below-market compensation, bounced checks, and mosque-land encroachment; satellite evidence (93.7% pre-construction cropland) indicates that the dominant “wetland destruction” framing instrumentalizes ecology to amplify what is fundamentally an agrarian land-rights grievance. At Hail Haor, Pran-RFL’s existing agro-industrial operations have displaced commons and allegedly subjected an activist to seven retaliatory lawsuits, while a hidden 100 MW corporate power purchase agreement—backed by the IFC and H&M—advances without community knowledge, raising acute questions about consent and corporate accountability. At Kawadighi, no solar project yet exists; community concerns center on water-management conflicts between farmers and fishery capitalists, illustrating the case for proactive engagement before projects arrive. Applying an energy justice framework, the study distinguishes agricultural displacement from wetland conversion, exposes the gap between corporate sustainability rhetoric and ground-level practice, and cautions that political movements instrumentalizing community grievances may secure short-term mobilization at the expense of long-term justice as Bangladesh scales solar development across its haor belt.
Author: Chaudhuri, Anushree and Rashid, Tasin; Sreya, Wasema Rahman; and Kamal, Rohini
Type: Report
Publisher: BIGD
Year: 2026
