Living in a changing climate, visions from around the world – photo gallery

It is not necessarily true that all things grow with time. Some get smaller every day.
Photograph: Helmi Rebai - Tunisia

The women-dominated Bennde Mutale Theatre Group performs in their village to explain the causes and consequences of climate change. Through theatre, complex stories can be explained with ease, such as the idea that airplanes produce carbon dioxide. It is often the most unknowing communities that are most vulnerable to climate change. Climate Theatre can bridge this communication gap and provide a platform for the women in communities to express themselves.
Photograph: Max Thabiso Edkins - South Africa

A young man in Nairobi plays with a homemade soccer ball next to a burning dumpsite emitting smoke, which affects the environment.
Photograph: Julius Mwelu - Kenya

Water is an issue in Sierra Leone. What may come easy for some may come very hard for others. Climate change affects the whole world, but for developing countries the consequences are worse. Marginalized population, who contribute least to climate change, are the ones who suffer the most. In many cases, women are responsible to get water for the family while their husbands try to make a living in the city. They walk kilometres under a harsh sun to find some for their families while also caring for their children. Climate change is not gender fair.
Photograph: Eduardo Arraes - Brazil

This picture, taken in Kiboga district shows a woodland turned into an agricultural field. Farmers there try to seek better soils from forested land, they burn fell the trees before cultivating. The fertile soils in the forests can easily leach and will soon lose fertility, leading to further forest encroachment and changes in the microclimate.
Photograph: Kisakye Mayanja - Uganda

The first Tunisian revolutionaries went out into the streets on the 24th September 2011 calling leaders to act in order to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A bicycle parade was organized and over a hundred citizens took part. Even with no clear and secure bikeways the parade went on all day around Tunis, calling for a clean energy future. We all remember how the Tunisian Revolution had proven that change can come quickly.
Photograph: Amine Ghrabi - Tunisia

My grandfather used to tell me about a tree, this tree. He is dead now but the tree is still there. He would always tell me how pleasant it was to play under its shadow. It all began to change when the war started - many trees were cut down and entire forests reduced to almost nothing. At the end of the 19th century 30% of the Eritrean territory was covered by forest; a hundred years later it is only 0.45%. Today forested areas are being expanded as the government aims to restore the natural environment.
Photograph: Kamilia Safi - Eritrea

Pilot testing charcoal briquette making out of papyrus and peat for the Ministry of Energy in Rwanda.
Photograph: Teddy Kinyanjui - Kenya

Two young girls on the island of Lamu, off Kenya's coast, pull water up from one of the many wells throughout the island. With almost constant hot and humid conditions, water is scarce here, and wells are slowly becoming contaminated by salty water as the Ocean levels rise.
Photograph: Maria de la Guardia - Bangladesh

A child playing on the Monument to the Sun (Pozdrav Suncu), Zadar, Croatia. The monument is a large art installation consisting of 300 solar panels in the shape of a circle. During the day the monument is inactive but at night it forms spectacular light shows using the Sun's energy. The monument reminds us of the importance of renewable energy for our own sustainability.
Photograph: Ivo Dukic - Croatia

On my way back from Incheon Airport, South Korea I took the bus that drive along the sea. After a couple of minutes of road I saw all those power plants, 10 maybe 15 all along the horizon, discharging steam in a perfect blue sky. They looked like they were creating clouds, but they are not...
Photograph: Fabien Minh - France

Plant a mangrove, save the climate. Pictured here is a mangrove reforestation project in the Philippines. The destruction of 1 hectare of mangroves can produce emissions equal to cutting down 3-5 hectares of tropical forest. Emissions from mangrove forests destruction account for about 11 million metric tons of carbon each year, and yet mangroves sequester around 1.5 metric tons/hectare of carbon annually. By planting mangrove trees, we can help mitigate climate change and its effects
Photograph: Marian Ledesma - Philippines

Dozens of young people form a disappointed queue for jobs outside the climate talks in Bonn, as part of a European youth-led campaign aiming to push Europe to commit to higher emission reduction targets and create millions of green jobs in the process. We, European youth, reject the empty reductions pledges of the EU and stand in solidarity with the poorest and most vulnerable communities across the world.
Photograph: Adela Nistora - UK

El agua es fuente de vida para la naturaleza y es una realidad que el planeta esta sufriendo cambios climáticos. La sequía más intensa en Colombia estaría apenas por llegar. La agricultura, la ganadería, los bosques y la salud son los mas afectados por este fenómeno. El agua es vida; ¿valoras tu vida?; valora el agua. - While faced with the reality that the planet is experiencing climate change we should remember that water is the source of life. The worst drought in Colombia could come soon. Agriculture, livestock, forestry and health could all be affected. Water is life: how do you value your life? Value water.
Photograph: Oliver A Olivella - Colombia

One of the most interesting writings by Banksy "the unknown artist" on a wall in Camden Town, London, UK
Photograph: Stefano Cetalo Geronimo - Italy

A typical Tel Aviv night, "the city of lights": during the night the amount of electricity used is huge, the movement of vehicles symbolize the world moving forward technologically. But, are we really sure we're moving forward?
Photograph: Elad Dana - Israel

Across most of Africa biomass is the fuel staple. Although it can be used sustainably in many cases it is not. Charcoal is amongst the most damaging forms of using biomass. This pictures shows the large quantities transported around the continent, in this case by bicycle in Malawi. Using solar in Africa could lead to a more sustainable future.
Photograph: Max Thabiso Edkins - Malawi

A critically endangered hawksbill turtle returns to the sea after nesting. Global warming and climate change are likely to have a devastating impact on these ancient mariners. With melting ice caps and rising sea levels, nesting beaches critical to their reproduction are disappearing. Stronger storms, predicted as a result of increasing temperatures, will continue to erode coastal habitats and damage incubating nests. Urgent action is needed to ensure their future.
Photograph: Giancarlo Lalsingh - Trinidad & Tobago

A crow sits on a pole and watches the pollution produced by burning unusable gases from oil extraction. The burning of fossil fuels by humans causes climate change.
Photograph: Behdad Rsl - Iran

This is a close-up of a west Texas cotton field, in LaMesa, right across from an elementary school. Basically the agriculture in this area has done away with all the topsoil. The summer of 2012 was the driest since record-keeping began more than a century ago, as well as one of the hottest, producing drought conditions across two-thirds of the continental United States.
Photograph: Ashira Malka - USA