World Habitat Day in pictures: A Nepalese Village moves

Published in

Invironment

3 min readOct 3, 2016

It’s World Habitat Day today! Each year we reflect on the importance of the basic human right to adequate shelter reminding the world of its responsibility for the habitat of future generations.

Due to global warming, the water in the Sam Dzong area is very scarce and the local farmers of the former Mustang kingdom, couldn’t irrigate their fields and struggled to feed their families. As a consequence, the inhabitants of Sam Dzong village had to leave their homeland near the Tibetan border, where they lived for generations, in search for a new home with all their goods and chattels in a modern-day exodus.

Photographed over a period of time until 2015 Manuel Bauer captures the story of climate change and people affected and also gets involved in their resettlement.

**The families of Sam Dzong village discuss their future. 2011**

**View from a meditation cave, Mustang, Nepal. 2010**

Thanks to the generosity of the «King of Mustang» these climate refugees have a new home, Namashung, a 10 hectare big lowland, on the shore of a small river, one hour ride from Lo Mathang, the capital city of Mustang. 2011

**The new land is three hours walk from Sam Dzong. 2013**

**The village Tschuksang among irrigated green fields, on Kali Gandanki mountain. 2008**

**In the picture, flags are hung after the inauguration celebration of the new village. 2015**

**Villagers use materials collected in the natural environment to whitewash the newly built houses. 2015**

**Namashung villagers paint the newly built houses with traditional colors. 2015**

**Each of the 18 families received a furnace for the new house. 2015**

**A horse race is held during the inauguration of the new Namashung village. 2015**

**An arid landscape in Mustang, Nepal, which doesn’t see much rain. 2011**

**Women prepare themselves for the inauguration celebration of the newly built village. 2015**

**Monks from Lo Mathang inaugurate the new village Namashung. 2015**

Angela Glienicke is the Picture Editor at Greenpeace UK

World Habitat Day in pictures: A Nepalese Village moves

Written by Greenpeace UK