Santa Cruz del Islote, an island the size of two football fields, is home to approximately 700 people, 50% of whom are children. This documentary photography project, which I have been working on for over 7 years, takes us to the heart of one of the most densely populated communities on the planet. On this small piece of land in the San Bernardo Archipelago, off the Caribbean coast of Colombia, life unfolds among more than 98 houses inhabited by 18 families, a school, some local shops, two aquariums with sharks, and a small square with a cross that gives the island its name. Without potable water, electricity, doctors, or priests, and without armed conflict, the islanders have built a way of life deeply rooted in cooperation and community.

However, this community faces an existential threat: climate change. Rising sea levels, projected to increase by 30 to 60 centimeters by 2040, threaten to engulf not only Santa Cruz del Islote but the entire San Bernardo Archipelago. One island has already disappeared, and three others are losing land to the advancing waters. The Afro-Colombian inhabitants of these islands, descendants of African slaves who settled here in the 1870s, now wonder how long they can resist before being forced to abandon their ancestral home.

In a world where island nations and coastal communities are raising their voices against the climate crisis, the inhabitants of Santa Cruz del Islote stand as an example of adaptation and resilience. Despite contributing minimally to global emissions, they face enormous losses: their way of life and ancestral lands are at risk. While Colombia grapples with the forced displacement of over seven million people due to armed conflict, the emerging climate refugee crisis adds new urgency. In response, the islanders have started taking matters into their own hands, such as reforesting mangroves to curb erosion and protect their land from the impacts of a changing climate.