Voices for change: Sinking Sundarbarns

Posted by jossc — 5 January 2010 at 4:30pm - Comments

At the mouth of the Ganges River lies the Sundarbans - 20,000 square kilometres 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.

Experiencing sea-level rise faster than any other place on Earth, these fragile islands are disappearing quickly. In last 20 years four islands have been submerged leaving 6,000 families displaced. It is estimated that 30,000 people will lose their homes by 2020 as 15 percent of the Sundarbans habitable land will be gone.

This latest addition to our Voices for Change series shows how the increased frequency and strength of tropical storms and higher tides are making the people of the Sundarbans victims of climate change. This is their story.

Photographs by Peter Caton. Interviews Cristiane Aoki.

Watch in higher resolution »

About Joss

Bass player and backing vox in the four piece beat combo that is the UK Greenpeace Web Experience. In my 6 years here I've worked on almost every campaign and been fascinated by them all to varying degrees. Just now I'm working on Peace and Oceans - which means getting rid of our Trident nuclear weapons system and creating large marine reserves so that marine life can get some protection from overfishing.

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