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A birdseye view of Azizakpey Island, situated in the Ada East District of Ghana. Surrounded by the Volta River, Azizakpey is today inhabited by about 600 people. A biodiversity-rich island, it has a large mangrove forest, and a lot of coconut trees, which have been relied upon by locals for livelihood for hundreds of years. Lately, the impact of climate change has taken a toll on Azizakpey and its inhabitants. The island has faced the consequences of accelerating coastal erosion, and with it, the disappearance, and destruction, of the elements it relied upon for preservation for many centuries.
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A child helps his sibling to cross over the water. Reaching school on a flood day is difficult for the children of the community.
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This is the school of the island community. While reaching school is a challenge during flooding, opening the school also is, as the building, too, gets flooding. Learning and teaching become very difficult, too.
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Fallen coconut trees lie awash near the sea shore in Azizakpey, against a backdrop of abandoned houses. In total, rising sea levels have taken more than 600m of the land on Azizakpey, and with them, eroded the sea shore. One of the very tangible effets of sea erosion has been the uprooting and death of coconut trees, as they became exposed, and eventually toppled to the ground. Coconut trees are an important source of livelihood for the people of Azizapkey. Their fruits are processed into coconut oil, while other parts of the tree are used to make products, such as brooms.
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Yawonye, a native of the Azizakpey community, makes a broom from coconut tree branches. Making brooms from coconut fronds is an ancestral heritage and skill passed down from one generation to the other. Yawonye has been making these brooms and selling them as her primary source of income for a while. But as the land erodes, there are fewer coconut trees to use, and Yawonye's livelihood is increasingly threatened
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Stumps of cut mangrove trees submersed in sea water. Seeing their land being claimed by the sea and their livelihoods destroyed has made many in the community despair. They now see their mangrove forests as something that will be lost, too, just like their coconut trees. But out of despair also came creativity. Rather than losing mangroves, residents have resorted to using what's left of them for firewood, and charcoal, which they sell or use at home for cooking.
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Two boys stand on sand bags used as a sea defense in order to fish. Sacks filled with sand have been serving as a temporary sea defense mechanism for the community. But they have not stopped the devastation, and do not represent a long-term solution to rising sea levels.
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A floosing episode has recently occured and owners of this home try to salvage what they can. The roof is a crucial element o fa house in Azizakpey. Usually made of aluminium, it is too expensive to loose to flood waters, and people will remove it before the waters can destroy it.
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Anthonio and his daughter Mercy work hard to take water out of their home, which was filled by water during a recent flooding episode. Mercy Agudey is the only surviving child of Anthonio Djatugbey. They both live together in Azizakpey, and work as traders. But during a recent nightly flooding event, their compound, including their living space, was flooded, and they now need to mend the damages.
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Flooding always threatens to carry away belongings. This is a creative way that Anthonio tries to secure some of their precious belongings.
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The collapsed walls of an old abandoned house, now situated on the sea shore in Azizakpey. With rising coastal erosion, many houses and properties on the island have become flooded, and therefore unhabitable. Most inhabitants have tried to rebuild their home each time it was flooded, but some had to make the tough decision of abandoning theirs, as it became part of the seashore.
