Award of Excellence: Fiji’s Coastal Villagers Confront Rising Sea Levels
This Premier category recognizes a photographer’s extended story or essay about the everyday life of the people who make up a community. The purpose is to encourage attention to the small events in life that are often overshadowed by the news of the day and to celebrate those images that reflect the work and dreams of humankind.
A “community” may be defined as a neighborhood, a town, a small commune, a rural agricultural area, a city subdivision, or socioeconomic region.
Fiji’s Coastal Villagers Confront Rising Sea Levels
In Fiji, rising sea levels are forcing coastal villages to reckon with climate change. Boats moor next to living rooms on Fiji's Serua Island, where water breaches the seawall at high tide, flooding into the village. Planks of wood stretch between some homes, forming a makeshift walkway as saltwater inundates gardens. As the community runs out of ways to adapt to the rising Pacific Ocean, the villagers face the painful decision whether to move. Resident Semisi Madanawa says the village likely must relocate to Fiji's main island to secure a future for the next generation. "Climate change is happening and we need to make a decision," says Madanawa. In 2014 Fiji became the first Pacific island nation to relocate a community because of rising sea levels. That village was Vunidogoloa, after villagers invited officials to see how they lived with water up to their knees. Saltwater had destroyed the ability of the 150 residents to grow crops, taking away livelihoods and food security, says former village headman Sailosi Ramatu. In the new village 1.5km inland on Vanua Levu Island, children now sit outside their homes, dry feet planted firmly on the ground. Whether other coastal villages can do the same remains to be seen.
Fiji’s Coastal Villagers Confront Rising Sea Levels
In Fiji, rising sea levels are forcing coastal villages to reckon with climate change. Boats moor next to living rooms on Fiji's Serua Island, where water breaches the seawall at high tide, flooding into the village. Planks of wood stretch between some homes, forming a makeshift walkway as saltwater inundates gardens. As the community runs out of ways to adapt to the rising Pacific Ocean, the villagers face the painful decision whether to move. Resident Semisi Madanawa says the village likely must relocate to Fiji's main island to secure a future for the next generation. "Climate change is happening and we need to make a decision," says Madanawa. In 2014 Fiji became the first Pacific island nation to relocate a community because of rising sea levels. That village was Vunidogoloa, after villagers invited officials to see how they lived with water up to their knees. Saltwater had destroyed the ability of the 150 residents to grow crops, taking away livelihoods and food security, says former village headman Sailosi Ramatu. In the new village 1.5km inland on Vanua Levu Island, children now sit outside their homes, dry feet planted firmly on the ground. Whether other coastal villages can do the same remains to be seen.
