As the COP21 climate summit kicks off, photographer Felicity McCabe travelled to Somaliland to photograph the impact the global warming is having on people and the landscape…
Aasha, five, from Bodale, Maroodi Jeex region, Somaliland
Humanitarian photogapher Felicity McCabe has released a series of photographs documenting the effects of climate change in Africa.
Working in association with Save the Children, Felicity, 33, took photos of nine women living in Somaliland – splitting the images to show the human and environmental impact of global warming.
‘I had wanted to work with Save the Children for a long time and we had been waiting for an opportunity to make a piece of work together that would benefit from my photographic approach which often swings focus between human and inanimate subject matter,’ Felicity tells marie claire. ‘In pairing the images together we can hopefully gain more insight and more understanding about the lives of our fellow human beings who are already suffering the dramatic effects of a climate change that we are all responsible for.’
In Somaliland, the lack of rain (and regular droughts) over the last two years have affected nearly a quarter of a million people – threatening their access to clean, safe water, jeopardising their sources of income, and causing an alarming increase in child malnutrition. In fact, things are so bad, there’s been an estimated 40 per cent loss of livestock – meaning that the 55 per cent of the population who work on the land are now experiencing devastating poverty.
‘I was humbled to see how hard these people, often young mothers or children, have to struggle on a daily basis to find water, and to see how that effects every single aspect of their lives. My images are a creative response to the awful reality of climate change which is already creating this terrifying impact on people’s lives. Hopefully the series can highlight the issue in a slightly different way to how it’s usually presented and in turn help to push the message that action has to be taken right now.’
Save the Children is part of the action/2015 coalition, campaigning for action on poverty, inequality and climate change – and supporting vulnerable people by providing emergency trucking water, distributing aqua-tabs and chlorination of water sources, constructing wells and providing mobile healthcare facilities.
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Between 30 November and 11 December, more than 190 nations will gather for two weeks at the COP21 climate summit in Paris. action/2015 is calling on world leaders to reach an ambitious agreement to tackle climate change and ensure a better future for people and planet.
* Names have been changed.
