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GLOBAL IDEAS - Gathered on an expansive riverbank, people wearing wide, pointed hats pass heavy sacks to each other from a small wooden boat floating lightly on the dark water. Others nearby coax their buffalo away from the water's edge, driving them and the carts they are pulling high on the bank towards small wooden huts.

It's a typical scene on the banks of the Irrawaddy River, the "lifeblood" of Myanmar. The waterway provides a source of food, work and sanitation to communities living close to its banks while also offering a lifeline for wildlife such as the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin, a number of fish species and plants living in the forests surrounding the flowing water, and in the water itself.

Read more at Deutsche Welle

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