Spiritual ecologies in transition: Bonbibi and the reconfiguration of people–nature relations in the Bangladeshi Sundarbans

Local religious traditions serve as informal environmental institutions, characterized by socially embedded norms that guide behaviour without formal enforcement and influence human–environment interactions.

This study investigates the role of Bonbibi worship as a system of moral regulation in the Bangladeshi Sundarbans and examines the transformation of its authority utilizing 42 in‐depth interviews, focus groups, key informant interviews and participant observation conducted between October 2024 and February 2025.

The findings reveal that Bonbibi historically structured harvesting norms, regulated risk‐taking and reinforced interfaith solidarity among Muslim and Hindu resource users. However, market pressures, religious reform, technological advancements and evolving aspirations are reshaping ritual practices and diminishing collective moral enforcement.

These transformations do not signify the disappearance of belief but rather an institutional reconfiguration where culturally embedded moral regulation is increasingly supplanted by market rationality and formal governance.

By situating these findings within debates on human–nature relations, the study illustrates how spiritual ecologies function as regulatory infrastructures and how their transformation reshapes legitimacy and collective environmental responsibility.

The findings suggest that effective conservation in culturally embedded landscapes relies not only on formal regulation but also on engagement with ritual authority, interfaith cooperation and intergenerational knowledge that sustain environmental norms.