New Digital Video Series Explores Link Between Child Marriage and Climate Change

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hidden Connections, a thought-provoking digital video series premiering today, explores the human consequences of climate change, specifically its little-known link to child marriage. TakePart, the digital division of Participant Media, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation teamed up to produce the three-part series, which gives an intimate look at the lives of two young girls living in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with rising sea levels and extreme heat connected to increasing catastrophic flooding and cyclones. In the country of about 150 million people, 30 percent of girls are married before their 15th birthday. 

Though climate change's link to poverty and food insecurity is well documented, its by-product of child marriage is not widely known. Hidden Connections illustrates how the lives of two teenage girls were forever altered after their families' farms and homes were lost because of river erosion. As a means of survival, many families living in rural areas are forced to relocate to the capital of Dhaka. Hidden Connections introduces the viewer to Brishti and Razia and relies on intimate access to the girls' lives, friends, and family to demonstrate how climate change's deleterious impact on food and income is also shaping social norms and women's progress in the country.

Eric Noe, Senior Vice President of Digital Programming and Editor-in-Chief of TakePart, said: "When TakePart collaborated with the Thomson Reuters Foundation on this project, it was important for us to highlight the real-life circumstances that many around the world find themselves in due to changes in weather and climate. We wanted to tell the story of how those circumstances put people in positions where they feel forced to make decisions—like arranging marriages for their young daughters—and then look at the impacts of both climate change and child marriage on their families, their communities, and the broader society."

Monique Villa, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, added, "At the Thomson Reuters Foundation we shed light on the world's underreported stories, from human trafficking to climate change to land and property rights." Why these specific subjects? Because they are in fact interconnected. This partnership with TakePart aims to showcase some of the dramatic but less known consequences of climate change."

Liz Mermin, the film's director and Director of Digital at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said: "Everyone was puzzled when we said we were making a film about climate change and child marriage: People see them as two separate spheres. But it was so clear that as climate change drives families to the cities, everything changes—and for girls, often for the worse."

Learn More at takepart.com/hidden

About the Thomson Reuters Foundation
The Thomson Reuters Foundation stands for free, independent journalism, human rights, women's empowerment, and the rule of law. We play a leading role in the global fight against human trafficking and modern-day slavery. We use the skills, values, and expertise of Thomson Reuters to run programs that trigger real change and empower people around the world, including free legal assistance, journalism and media training, coverage of the world's underreported stories, and the Trust Women Conference. We tackle global issues and achieve lasting impact.

About TakePart
Featuring independent journalism on today's most important and socially relevant topics, TakePart is the digital division of Participant Media, the company behind such acclaimed documentaries as CITIZENFOUR, An Inconvenient Truth, and Food, Inc. and films including Lincoln and Spotlight.

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SOURCE TakePart