Sa Pa

You arrive in the mountain town of Sa Pa, Vietnam ready to hike through beautiful rice terraces. You notice new hotels being built, many new cars in town, and everywhere there are ads selling exciting activities for tourists. There are four times as many visitors here compared to 5 years ago. The new hotels are built in areas without, enough drinking water or proper sewer systems to contain their waste and the increased traffic is releasing more pollution into the air.

In Vietnam, climate change is hitting ethnic minorities that depend on farming the hardest. Increasing temperatures have disrupted normal weather patterns leading to times of drought and causing periods of more intense rains that erode soil. Crop failures are becoming more common. Families already on the brink are struggling to get by.