Three images vertically stacked, showing scenes of daily life in a rural mountainous village. The top image features two women and a child sitting in a narrow passageway, with mountains in the background. The middle image shows a woman in a jacket pointing to the distance, surrounded by rocky terrain. The bottom image depicts two women near a doorway, with goats walking through the gate.
“The story of people being forced to abandon their village because of the impact of climate change”
— Director Shanta Nepali

Produced as part of BBC Future Planet’s Climate Guardians series.

All the films for this series were filmed and directed by local nationals from the Global south.

Additionally, in order to reduce carbon emissions, no flying was allowed.

Upper Mustang in Nepal is a remote wild and beautiful landscape, where its people live close to nature and high up in the mountains. The region was only opened up in 1992 and retains a certain mysterious quality with strong influence from Tibetan culture. 

The people live on the front line of climate change, living high up in the Himalayas and experiencing the conditions that are prevalent across the entire Hindu Kush region.

About 20 years ago, the villagers of Samdzong were struggling to survive as its water sources dried up and their fields became barren. After years of discussions, the 18 families decided to move their entire village three hours away to the newly built village of Namashung.

This was a huge challenge. Many struggled in the new village and regretted the loss of their family homes and a different way of life. They had to adapt to new farming methods and accept that going back to the old village was not possible. 

  • Three people in a mountainous desert landscape; one woman in the foreground with a red headscarf, a man in the background carrying a sack, and a child with a colorful headband.
  • Barren, rocky mountain landscape with dry riverbed and small settlement in the valley.
  • Group of people in arid landscape with mountains; one woman smiling and holding a sack, child on another woman's back.
  • People hiking on a rocky trail in a mountainous area with beige cliffs and a few barren trees.
  • White stone buildings in a rocky desert landscape with a person standing near the structures.
  • Desert landscape with mountains, weathered stone structure, tattered flag, and dry vegetation under clear blue sky.

Directed by Shanta Nepali

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