Status: 04/23/2021 12:11 a.m.
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Climate change can already be felt on the Louisiana coast: the water level is rising, and cyclones are increasing. As land loss continues, more and more families have to move.
From Claudia Sarre,
ARD-Studio Washington
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A small fan gun bumps in the direction of the runway. A short stop, then the pilot pulls the joystick towards him. A few seconds later, the Cessna is floating weightlessly over the Mississippi Delta of Louisiana. Pilot Lyle Panepinto sees the delta with its thousands of rivers and islands from above every day – and every day he sees more and more land go under. “Since 1973 we have probably lost around 30 percent of the marshland,” says the 67-year-old.
Claudia Sarre
ARD-Studio Washington
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The huge swamp area in the southern United States is a unique ecosystem with rare species of fish, amphibians and birds. But climate change is affecting the marshland on the Gulf of Mexico. Rising sea levels are eating away at the swamps, explains environmentalist Cynthia Sarthou. The 65-year-old heads the environmental organization “Healthy Gulf” in New Orleans, which works to save the coastal landscape. “We’re all losing a day and a half of marshland the size of a football field,” she warns. “What is still swamp today could be open water next week. Many communities depend on the marshland – as protection from a storm surge.”
Pilot Lyle Panepinto in front of his Cessna.
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More and more residents are leaving the coast
Climate change is causing increasingly violent and frequent hurricanes and storm surges. Because of this, many residents have already left the coasts of Louisiana. Only four indigenous families now live on the Isle de Jean Charles, an island in the middle of the delta. The offshore dune island of Grand Isle with its long sandy beach will probably no longer exist in a few decades, fears islander Tim Bradbury.
One solution are renaturation projects that secure the supply of sediment from the Mississippi and thus gradually fill up land again. The Louisiana government has already launched two such renaturation projects – so far with moderate success.
Future generations will have to rethink
With a rumble, the Cessna lands on the bumpy runway from its flight over the Mississippi. Panepinto climbs out of the plane. Despite all doom scenarios, he says, long-time residents will remain: “I think most people who were born and raised here love life here. They will be here forever.”
The people in the settlements of the Mississippi Delta hope that their survival will be assured for at least the next 50 to 100 years. Future generations will have to rethink.
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