Climate Resilience and Visual Storytelling
Climate resilience is one of the most urgent and complex challenges of our time, and I believe photography has a unique role in addressing it. Through my work as a humanitarian photographer, I aim to tell the stories of communities adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change. These stories are more than images—they’re calls to action, designed to inspire, educate, and connect global audiences to local solutions.
Seeing Beyond the Crisis
For me, photographing climate resilience begins with a deep respect for the individuals and communities at the forefront of this battle. I strive to move beyond depictions of crisis and vulnerability, focusing instead on ingenuity, collaboration, and determination. By showcasing how people are tackling climate challenges, I hope to foster hope and highlight pathways to a more sustainable future.
Partnering with Communities and Organizations
Collaboration is at the heart of my process. Before I pick up my camera, I work closely with your organization and the people whose stories I aim to represent. By listening to your strategic intent and prospectively learning about the programs, I can create imagery that truly reflects the hope and realities. This participatory approach ensures the photos resonate authentically with both the communities I document and the audiences for which they are intended. To facilitate the most effective planning, I have developed a tool known as the Humanitarian Photography Brief that provides a mechanism to advance a clear shared vision for the assignment. Click on this link to download a free copy.
Documenting Adaptation and Innovation
Climate resilience often manifests through remarkable acts of adaptation and innovation. Whether it’s farmers adopting sustainable practices, communities restoring grasslands or other natural habitats, or youth leading advocacy efforts, I focus on capturing the tangible ways people are making a difference. These images not only celebrate progress but also emphasize the critical need for support and investment.
Creating Stories That Resonate a Commitment to Change
As I create visual narratives, I’m always thinking about the broader impact. Whether the images are used in advocacy campaigns, policy reports, or public exhibitions, I tailor my work to align with the goals of the organizations I partner with. Together, we can craft stories that inspire action and deepen understanding of climate resilience. For me, every photograph is an invitation to take part in building a more resilient world.
If you’d like to explore how we might collaborate to tell these important stories, I hope you will reach out by visiting the link below.
ASSIGNMENTS
PROJECT REVIVE
Global Communities through PCI Ethiopia has been actively addressing challenges presented by climatic change in Ethiopia for many years. With funding provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Global Communities has worked to improve resilience to climate and conflict in some of Ethiopia’s most vulnerable regions. While in Oromia, I worked with the REVIVE program staff to capture the stories of these programs where the key focal points include programs to improve access to clean water, expand economic and agricultural diversity, engage the community in environmental rehabilitation, erosion prevention and water retention all to build their resilience and self-reliance.
Beneficiaries: 620,000 people
Local Implementing Partners: PCI was in active partnership with the Agri Service Ethiopia; Hundee Oromo Grassroots Development Initiative (Hundee); and Rift Valley Children and Women Development Organization (RCWDO) — to implement REVIVE.
AFRISCOUT
Afriscout is a transformative technological tool designed to support pastoralists in Sub-saharan Africa by leveraging satellite data to improve land management and resource allocation. At its core is a satellite-enabled smartphone application that provides real-time, detailed maps showing the availability of critical resources like grazing land and water. This technology helps pastoralists make informed decisions about where to move their livestock, reducing the need for trial-and-error journeys across barren and unproductive areas.
Afriscout’s user-friendly interface allows pastoralists to access up-to-date information about vegetation cover, water sources, and potential grazing sites, ensuring they can plan more efficiently and avoid areas prone to overgrazing or resource depletion. This reduces the risks associated with unproductive migrations, which can result in devastating losses of livestock and, in extreme cases, human lives. Additionally, Afriscout enhances community resilience by enabling collective decision-making and resource-sharing based on accurate, shared data.
Beyond its immediate benefits to pastoralists, Afriscout is also part of a larger strategy for sustainable land management. By promoting efficient grazing practices, it helps prevent land degradation, supports the regeneration of natural ecosystems, and mitigates the impact of climate on vulnerable communities. This innovative solution has been widely recognized for its potential to revolutionize resource management and has become a cornerstone of Global Communities’ broader vision for climate resilience and land restoration across Africa.
On assignment in northern Kenya in 2024, I captured stories of the use of Afriscout by the Borana and Samburu communities. For more detail see my blog dedicated to this assignment.
Sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date on future work in this area. I hope to return to Africa later in 2025 to expand my work with this program, this time amongst the Hamer in southern Ethiopia which are engaged in a massive regenerative grazing project to restore rangeland.
