THE SINKING SUNDARBANDS
At the end of India’s mythical Ganges River lay the Sundarbans – 20,000 square kilometers of Unesco-protected Mangrove Forest stretching between India and Bangladesh. It is home to 500 endangered Bengali tigers, countless crocodiles and around 4.3 million people.
This fragile land is literally disappearing as a result of rising sea levels brought on by climate change. In†the last 20 years, four of the Sundarbans islands have been completely submerged, leaving 6,000 families displaced. It is estimated that 30,000 people will lose their homes by 2020 as a result of the rising waters, with 15% of the Sundarbans’ habitable land lost beneath the waves.
The increased frequency and strength of tropical storms and higher tides are making the people of the Sundarbans direct victims of climate change. And it’s happening now.
Peter Caton and writer Cristiane Aoki were commissioned by Greenpeace International to record and document living conditions in the Sundarbans, to focus on the people who are living with the consequences of our changing climate.
The work is a collection of human stories and the aim is to raise awareness and further discussions about the social impact of climate change, which is already affecting many populations throughout the world.