In the Ganges and Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh, the water is getting salty. This threatens the mangrove forests - and the health of women. “I am afraid that, like my sister-in-law, I will have to have my uterus removed," says Selena Khatun. Many women in her village have abdominal problems, irregular bleeding, and rashes. They have heard from various sources that the water must be responsible. Khatun lives in southwestern Bangladesh, on the edge of the unique mangrove forests in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta shared by Bangladesh and India - one of the most important wetland ecosystems in the world. Every day, the villagers bathe in salty ponds and wash their clothes there. There are no other sources of water. The water tastes sour and often has a pungent smell. Although the mangroves tolerate saltwater better than the women here, both humans and nature bear the negative consequences when the flora continues to disappear and artificial shrimp breeding ponds contaminate the last freshwater ponds. The region is very close to the sea, the Bay of Bengal. With rising sea levels due to global warming, floods are increasing. By 2050, the sea level could rise by up to 50 centimeters and flood large parts of Sundarbans. "The water has become a curse for women in this forest," says 85-year-old Sona Banu, summing up the situation. A native of Khulna, she travels to the surrounding villages of Shyamnagar Upazila in her small rubber dinghy to identify infection cases and take them to her daughter, who works at Friendship Hospital in the area. But the journey is arduous, sometimes boats are not available. And many women are also reluctant to seek treatment from men. "In the neighboring village, half of the women have already lost their uterus and the other half have an infection. That is very scary when something like this happens to women in their twenties and thirties," she says. Ten years ago, Sona Banu recalls, there were still water sources that did not taste salty.