Documentary · 2026-11-02 · 4 min

Building climate-resilient communities in Koyra, Khulna

In coastal Koyra, cyclones and salt water shape everyday life. Our documentary for TİKA follows how communities are adapting.

Koyra is a coastal upazila in Khulna district, close to the Sundarbans. Cyclones such as Sidr, Aila and Amphan have hit the area again and again, breaking embankments and pushing salt water into fields and ponds. For many families, a single storm can wipe out years of work.

For TİKA we made a documentary about building climate-resilient communities in Koyra: what has been done to protect homes, water sources and livelihoods, and how people themselves are preparing for the next storm.

The challenge with a climate story is to make it concrete. Instead of graphs, we filmed people: a farmer who has changed what he grows because the soil is salty, women who now have safe drinking water close to home, families who know where to go when a cyclone warning comes.

We filmed along embankments and rivers, with drone shots to show how close the villages are to the water and how much of the land floods. In the edit, we kept the voice of the community at the centre and used narration only to give context.

Climate change is often talked about in global terms. In places like Koyra it is a daily reality, and films can help decision-makers and donors see both the risk and the solutions that work.

Watch the film on our YouTube channel or open it on the documentary page of this website.