‘Moving to the mountaintops’: rising seas displace tens of thousands in Papua New Guinea

“It’s not easy moving inland, I was born and raised by the seas, I am a fisherman. I know the flow of tides and currents, I know when the wind will come strongly and when it will rain – but now I don’t understand why everything is changing,” says James, who is in his early 40s.

He says the tides “seem to be growing every day”.

“I heard them say it’s global warming. I left school and ran away to go fishing, so now I don’t know what’s global warming, but the rains don’t come when it’s supposed to, the winds have changed,” James says.

“Maybe we offended the sea gods, I don’t know, but now I have to move my family inland,” he says.