Photographer and environmentalist Yann Arthus-Bertrand has joined Friendship’s 'Friends and Heroes' campaign and would lend his voice to climate-impacted communities in Bangladesh, the NGO said.
Arthus-Bertrand is known worldwide for documenting the cost of climate change around the globe.
The Friendship said he joined them on Wednesday to support everyday heroes risking their lives during the pandemic in some of the remotest, most climate-impacted areas in the world to give their communities a life of dignity and hope.
These heroes are the medical teams dedicating their lives to work year after year on hospital ships away from their home and family; the doctors and nurses travelling up and down remote rivers, performing life-changing surgeries; the Friendship Paralegals combating child marriage, discrimination and exclusion from public services; down to the girls and boys from the Friendship schools who, whilst studying in often treacherous climatic conditions, achieve stellar results year after year.
“Our people are full of determination and hope,” says Runa Khan, founder and executive director of Friendship. “They may not have our luxuries. But they have overwhelming courage and resilience. If we and our international partners take steps in supporting them and learn from them, borrowing some of their courage, the world will perhaps have more solidarity, more understanding, and we may find a new hope in our tomorrow.”
The second phase of the campaign will feature Yann’s signature aerial photography, showing the effects of climate change in low-lying Bangladesh, where natural disasters are increasingly commonplace.
The images follow communities for whom environmental migration is a way of life, and whose resilience and courage are an inspiration for us all in a world of escalating disasters.
This is Friendship’s 20th year working in remote and hard-to-reach areas that are particularly vulnerable to climatic disasters.