In the nighttime we are sleeping, but we are all afraid of big storms, because then we might all die. There is water everywhere. We are in the middle.’

Tara Pada’s home is an island in southern Bangladesh. For him and other rural people eking out a living in this impoverished South Asian country, life is changing radically as climate change grips.

Most of Bangladesh is a giant delta lying in a cyclone ‘hotspot’. As these stupendous storms become fiercer and more frequent and sea level inexorably rises, flooding has become the norm in many parts of the country. The soil becomes salty, crops wash away, homes disappear.

In Bangladesh, climate change is a humanitarian crisis in the here and now. But millions in this beleaguered country are learning to stay one step ahead of the changes caused by a climate off kilter. Using a very modern mix of tradition and innovation, they are learning to adapt to an increasingly unpredictable new world.

Afloat is a film that tells some of their stories.

Watch Afloat, a joint production between IIED and Panos Pictures, with photography by GMB Akash, and Espen Rasmussen.