The indigenous Hmong people have lived in a mountainous region of northern Vietnam for centuries. But today, these farming communities are on the front line of the climate crisis. Rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and landslides are now part of their daily life. The terraced rice paddies tended by generations of villagers are struggling to cope, while important medicinal plants are disappearing due to deforestation.
The Hmong's geographical isolation is making things worse. Long marginalised, they receive little help from the government in Vietnam. Now that the climate crisis is worsening, they have been left to fend for themselves. Some families have been forced to leave because resources are so scare. Many end up moving to cities, where they struggle to retain their identity.
But the Hmong are not giving up – instead, they're adapting and innovating. With the support of Vietnamese NGOs, villagers are growing new crops on their ancestral land that are able to withstand climate change.
FRANCE 24's Théo Collet, Mélodie Sforza, Aruna Popuri and Constantin Simon report.
