Drought in India, UN Photography 4 Humanity Award

The impacts of climate change are already being seen in many places on the planet, with India being one of the most curious cases because, according to the latest information from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), opposite extreme climatic events are continually occurring, sometimes almost at the same time.

For example, the rains, which are set to increase in intensity according to the IPCC forecasts, were momentarily intensified thanks to the arrival of a more erratic monsoon that caused floods and landslides. "Less rainfall, but more intense," said the experts, who after these episodes saw how the population had to face a brutal drought that has increased climatic migrations.

Some towns, such as Hatkarwadi, have gone from having around 1,200 people to just over 250 precisely because of the scarcity of water and food. In the towns of the state of Maharashtra the story is the same: the arrival of new heatwaves, with temperatures above 48 degrees, devastate crops and water and leave their inhabitants without opportunities, who find new shelters in the city. (Photography 4 Humanity Award)

In this way, rain - which falls violently or does not fall at all - has become a problem for India. Something that the Indian photographer Apratim Pal has reflected in an image called A Thirsty Land, in which, according to him, “he has captured the environmental and human costs of the growing climate crisis in West Bengal”.

Such has been his work, that the United Nations (UN) has selected him as the winner in the Photography4Humanity 2021 contest, which asks amateur and professional photographers from around the world to bring the power of human rights to life through their images and inspire people to get involved and take a relevant position.

Along with him, the other selected finalists have represented scenes in which the pandemic, the rights of women and children, as well as the living conditions of refugees are the main ingredient.

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