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For many people in the Pacific, “climate change” are not just words, it is a reality. With sea level rise, super cyclones, weather pattern changes, coastal erosion, coral bleaching, deforestation, animal migration pattern changes, disrupted hunting and fishing, the sustainable ways of life for many areas of the Pacific, the largest region on our planet, are in great danger.
The consequences of climate emergency in the Arctic regions of Alaska and Russia are no different to those in the South Pacific. Everyone is affected by it.
When I first started working on Warm Waters in 2013, I intended to show how climate change is affecting Papua New Guinea. Slowly, the massive evidence of climate change’s effects in the Pacific overwhelmed me. The project expanded.
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Covering 18 territories of the region*, Warm Waters came to stretch from the northernmost tip of the United States in Point Barrow, Alaska, to the southernmost islands in the Pacific, Niue and New Zealand’s Tokelau.
Oceania and the Arctic are not very easy to operate within. The many distant tiny islands scattered across a vast body of water coupled with remote villages hidden in the wilderness make access extremely difficult. Most people have never even heard of these places. Yet, this is where people are undergoing first-hand the harsh impact of a changing climate.
Putting together the photographs of the Pacific I’ve gathered across eight years, the purpose of this project is to open a window into this part of the world. Some of these places have already changed a lot since I first took these pictures. Some will never recover and may be lost entirely.
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Warm Waters documents the devastation of three super cyclones in the Pacific that hit Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Fiji, Northern Mariana Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia in 2015-2016. It also shows how coastal erosion and permafrost melting collapses indigenous towns and villages in Alaska and the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula. The project reveals inundated areas of Tuvalu and Kiribati during high tides. The deforestation and illegal logging in Papua New Guinea. Drought in Timor-Leste in 2019. And much more…
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The project also shows the resilience of people. Their strength and readiness to adapt and overcome, their joy as life continues for another day.
Warm Waters explores climate change as a process of action and reaction. It reminds people that the Earth is indestructible, resilient, but that it responds in measure to how we treat it.
*Locations covered in Warm Waters: Alaska (USA), Kamchatka and Commander Islands (Russia), Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, Timor-Leste, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam (USA), Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Tokelau (New Zealand) and Niue. The images were taken between 2013- 2019.
The World’s First Climate Refugees is an episode of Seekers Stories on Vlad Sokhin’s photo project “Warm Waters” about Climate Change in the Pacific, produced by Discovery.
Point Barrow, Alaska, USA, 2016
Teafua Tanu, Fakaofo Atoll, Tokelau (New Zealand), 2016
South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2014
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Fakaofo Atoll, Tokelau (New Zealand), 2016
South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2016
South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2014
Tokelau (New Zealand), Fakaofo Atoll, 2016
Moata’a Mangrove Reserve, Upolu Island, Samoa, 2016
South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2014
Newtok Village, Alaska, 2016
Oktyabrsky Settlement, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Abaiang Atoll, Kiribati, 2016
Honiara, Solomon Islands, 2016
Shishmaref Village, Alaska, USA, 2016
Newtok Village, Alaska, USA, 2016
Nikolskoye, Commander Islands, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Shishmaref Village, Alaska, USA, 2016
South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2016
South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2014
Betio Town, South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2016
Fale Village, Fakaofo, Tokelau (New Zealand), 2016
Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, 2016
Mertarvik, Alaska, USA, 2016
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, 2016
Shishmaref Village, Alaska, USA, 2016
Kivalina Village, Alaska, USA, 2016
Oktyabrsky Settlement, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Shishmaref Village, Alaska, USA, 2016
Utqiagvik (former Barrow), Alaska, USA, 2016
Commander Islands, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Nikolskoye, Commander Islands, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Kivalina Village, Alaska, USA, 2016
Nikolskoye, Commander Islands, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
East Sepik, Papua New Guinea, 2014
Manwara village, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea, 2014
East Sepik, Papua New Guinea, 2014
East Sepik, Papua New Guinea, 2014
Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, 2016
Nikolskoye, Commander Islands, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Utqiagvik (former Barrow), Alaska, USA, 2016
Oktyabrsky Settlement, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Oktyabrsky Settlement, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Tebunginako Village, Abaiang Atoll, Kiribati, 2014
Fale Village, Fakaofo, Tokelau (New Zealand), 2016
Betio Town, South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2016
Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, 2015
Shishmaref Village, Alaska, USA, 2016
Viti Levu Island, Fiji, 2016
Yap Island, Federated States of Micronesia, 2015
Betio Town, South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2016
Efate Island, Vanuatu, 2015
Taveuni Island, Fiji, 2016
Jernok Village, Majuro, Marshall Islands, 2014
Ulithy Atoll, Federated States of Micronesia, 2015
South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2014
Lord Howe Settlement, Honiara, Solomon Islands, 2016
South Tarawa, Kiribati, 2014
Shishmaref Village, Alaska, USA, 2016
Hanuabada, Papua New Guinea, 2013
near Utqiagvik (former Barrow), Alaska, USA, 2016
Niu Birao Village, Guadalcanal Island, Solomon Islands, 2016
Oktyabrsky Settlement, Kamchatka, Russia, 2016
Utqiagvik (former Barrow), Alaska, USA, 2016
Utqiagvik (former Barrow), Alaska, USA, 2016
Newtok Village, Alaska, USA, 2016
Utqiagvik (former Barrow), Alaska, USA, 2016
Kotzebue, Alaska, USA, 2016
Honiara, Solomon Islands, 2016
Lord Howe Settlement, Honiara, Solomon Islands, 2016
Utqiagvik (former Barrow), Alaska, USA, 2016
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