Rafiqul Montu

I'm Rafiqul Islam Montu an award winning Bangladeshi freelance investigative journalist. This is my print name. But my certificate name is MD Rafiqul Islam and social media name is Rafiqul Montu. I introduced coastal journalism in Bangladesh; Which is now known to many individuals and institutions in the world. Coastal journalism has created a lot of interest among young journalists in Bangladesh. I have been working in journalism for more than 30 years. Bangladesh's climate change and coastal issues are the main focus of my journalism. Coastal districts are constantly under threat due to climate change. I regularly follow coastal climate hotspots. I write stories on climate change, disasters, women and children's rights, land rights, border disputes, environment, humanitarian, civil services, development and prospects in national and international media. My byline stories have appeared in The Guardian (UK), Thomson Reuters Foundation News (UK), The Third Poll (UK), The New Humanitarian (Switzerland), Treehugger (US), Welt-sichten (Germany ), D+C (Germany), Tagebuch (Austria), Eco-Business (Singapore) Down to Earth (India), Outlook (India), IndiaSpend (India), Frontline (India), Gaon Connection (India). I was working full time in leading daily and newsportal of Bangladesh. These include Daily Prothom Alo, Daily Kale Kantho, Daily Samakal, Daily Sangbad, Daily Bhorer Kagaj, Daily Manabzamin and online newsportals BanglaNews24 and RisingBD. I have successfully completed the Earth Journalism Network (EJN) fellowship in 2020 and 2021. Under the fellowship I investigated the effects of climate change. I was a finalist in Covering Climate Now's Journalism Awards 2022. In 2021 I won the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Investigative Journalism Award, the most prestigious recognition in investigative journalism in Bangladesh. Also received 20 national level awards at various times. My journalistic journey started in 1984 through Bengali weekly Navabhijan published from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. I served as the news editor of two newspapers, Weekly Barguna Kantho and Dainik Ajker Kantho, published in the coastal district of Barguna, Bangladesh. Later I worked as a local correspondent in various media published from Dhaka. After that I joined Dhaka based mainstream journalism.