PROJECTS: The Hinterland: sertao_09_20151115sertao0955

Campo Alegre de Lourdes, Bahia, Brazil. Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015.A subsistence farming family walks to a pond where they collect water in Bahia state, Brazil, on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015. The region suffered from the most severe drought in 50 years, killing livestock and crops. Water levels in the pond dropped so low that it was too dirty to drink. Although farming families receive a national anti-poverty cash welfare program, Bolsa Familia, they still suffer from chronic malnutrition, food shortages, and limited access to water. In the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil, known as the Sertão, subsistence farmers, who grow enough food to feed their families, have long lived with water shortages and erratic rainfall. However, since 2013, the drought has been the worst in the last 50 years, killing livestock and crops and turning soil into salty sand due to desertification creeping along in its wake.

Campo Alegre de Lourdes, Bahia, Brazil. Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015.

A subsistence farming family walks to a pond where they collect water in Bahia state, Brazil, on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015. The region suffered from the most severe drought in 50 years, killing livestock and crops. Water levels in the pond dropped so low that it was too dirty to drink.

Although farming families receive a national anti-poverty cash welfare program, Bolsa Familia, they still suffer from chronic malnutrition, food shortages, and limited access to water.

In the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil, known as the Sertão, subsistence farmers, who grow enough food to feed their families, have long lived with water shortages and erratic rainfall. However, since 2013, the drought has been the worst in the last 50 years, killing livestock and crops and turning soil into salty sand due to desertification creeping along in its wake.