BBC Series Tells Climate Adaptation Stories Around the World

BBC StoryWorks is the award-winning content studio from BBC Studios. The “Climate and Us” series is a compilation of stories from communities worldwide on how climate change affects them and the solutions they put forward to help manage and cope with it.

The context: “Global warming is already increasing heat waves and droughts, which has implications for world hunger. In 2020, the higher number of heatwave days, relative to previous decades, was associated with an estimated 98 million more people reporting moderate to severe food insecurity. Meanwhile, half of the planet’s population now experiences severe water scarcity during the year. In 2020, 149.6 million people lived less than one metre above sea level. Yet even with the lowest possible warming (1.5°C), the global sea level is set to rise significantly. In 2019, the health sector contributed about 5.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions”.

The BBC’s Climate Change series videos are grouped into three topics:

1. Protecting Resources,
2. Extreme Events, and
3. Resilient Health.

Protecting Resources shows a series of videos on Ghana yam farmers climate adaptation using the leaf of a native tree, Sri Lanka’s ancient tank cascade system to help them cope with water scarcity and droughts, Egypt’s use of aquaculture farming to boost sustainability, and how upskilling dairy farmers in Kenya could help improve their livelihoods.

Under the topic Extreme Events, the videos feature how America’s practise of indigenous cultural burning can prevent devastating wildfires, Jakarta’s use of air quality monitor and data helps residents cope and mitigate air pollution and Mexico City’s use of satellite to track methane to understand the scale of the problem and how to reduce it.

Resilient Health videos show Nepal’s routine vaccination can help tackle the spike of climate-aggravated diseases. In India, a medicine manufacturing facility plays a vital role in the water-scarce community by contributing to water-security projects and optimising water use.

BBC’s “The Climate and Us” series is an excellent resource for understanding the impacts of climate change, especially in vulnerable communities worldwide, and what these communities are doing to adapt and become resilient to climate change.

Learn more about the incredible stories of people facing the brunt of climate change impacts and what they are doing about it: BBC StoryWorks The Climate and Us.