ClimateChange
Apr. 3, 2010 - KHUN SAMUTCHINE, THAILAND: A concrete causeway connect Wat Samutchine with the village of Khun Samutchine. There are gaps in the causeway that local people have spanned with planks. Rising sea levels brought about by global climate change threaten the future of Khun Samutchine, a tiny fishing village about 90 minutes from Bangkok on the Gulf of Siam. The coastline advances inland here by about 20 metres (65 feet) per year causing families to move and threatening the viability of the village. The only structure in the village that hasn't moved, their Buddhist temple, is completely surrounded by water and more than 2 kilometers from the village. The temple and the village have asked the Thai government and several NGOs for help, but the only help so far is a narrow concrete causeway the government is building that will allow people to walk into the temple from a boat landing two miles away. The walk to the village from a closer boat landing is shorter, but over an unimproved mud flat that is nearly impassible in the rainy season. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ
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