Climate Change Affects Thailand | Jack Kurtz: Photojournalist & Travel Photographer

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07 APRIL 2010 - LAO NOI, NAKHON PHANOM, THAILAND: PRIK, harvests celery and dill from her garden near the Mekong River, which is behind her. She said her yield this year will be a fraction of what was last year. She grows vegetables and her husband fishes. Normally the river flows completely through the river bed but it's currently running through a channel in the bottom of the river bed. According to people who live here, the river is at its lowest point in nearly 50 years. Prik said she doesn't know why the river is so low "Some say China has built dams that stops the water. Others say it is less rain. I don't know, I just know that when it floods it is much worse and much faster now - sometimes the river rises three meters in one day - and when it is dry, it is very, very dry." Many of the people who live along the river farm and fish. They claim their crops yields are greatly reduced and that many days they return from fishing with empty nets. The river is so shallow now that fisherman who used to go out in boats now work from the banks and sandbars on foot or wade into the river. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ

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Filename: ClimateChange043.jpg
Copyright: Jack Kurtz
Image Size: 4000x2667 / 7.4MB; Agriculture Climate Change Drought Fishing Global Warming Mekong River Nakhon Phanom SouthEast Asia Thailand Woman
Contained in galleries: Isan Drought

$07 APRIL 2010 - LAO NOI, NAKHON PHANOM, THAILAND: PRIK, harvests celery and dill from her garden near the Mekong River, which is behind her. She said her yield this year will be a fraction of what was last year. She grows vegetables and her husband fishes. Normally the river flows completely through the river bed but it's currently running through a channel in the bottom of the river bed. According to people who live here, the river is at its lowest point in nearly 50 years. Prik said she doesn't know why the river is so low "Some say China has built dams that stops the water. Others say it is less rain. I don't know, I just know that when it floods it is much worse and much faster now - sometimes the river rises three meters in one day - and when it is dry, it is very, very dry." Many of the people who live along the river farm and fish. They claim their crops yields are greatly reduced and that many days they return from fishing with empty nets. The river is so shallow now that fisherman who used to go out in boats now work from the banks and sandbars on foot or wade into the river. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ$