The drought that has affected the Murray-Darling basin in south-eastern Australia for several years has not only been a disaster for farming. The indigenous communities have also seen changes in the environment that endanger their ancestral customs, and though the rain has returned, concern for the future has taken hold.

In a documentary made by Aboriginal youths, trained to use a camera by director Carl Kuddell, the elders of the Ngarrindjeri indigenous community explain their fears for the survival of traditions that are deeply rooted in the land and its rivers.

The film, Nukkan.Kungun.Yunnan (See, Listen, Speak): Ngarrindjeri's Being Heard, was shot in 2009 and has been selected for this month's Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York.

For the community, which regards itself as a "freshwater people" and lives on the shores of the Lower Lakes and Coorong area, near Lake Alexandrina, the documentary is a chance to get a hearing.

"By freshwater people we mean that traditionally we find our food in the lakes. It is still part of our culture. But the shortage of water is gradually upsetting these habits," says Edie Carter, a youth worker at Meningie, who took part in the film.

The older people at Camp Coorong have never seen anything like it. As Tom Trevorrow, the head of the Ngarrindjeri Lands and Progress Association, recalls, they were brought up as children in a semi-traditional lifestyle.

It was still possible to go fishing because the river was alive. He cannot remember ever seeing a drought like the present one.

The poor rainfall since 2006 has reduced rivers to a mere trickle and made the water at the mouth of the Murray river too saline to drink.

Berries on trees are increasingly scarce. "Before we used to pick berries, but it's less and less common," Carter said.

Cultural practices such as basket weaving are affected too. "It is no longer possible to obtain the necessary rushes. Until recently we could find them near Meningie, but now it takes two or three hours," she added.

The elders are deeply concerned. "In Ngarrindjeri belief we say that the lands and waters is a living body and that we are a part of its existence. If our lands and waters die then we will die," Trevorrow said.

According to Ngarrindjeri lore the land and the rivers were created in the "dreamtime". A specific myth explains the birth of each mountain or stream. When rivers or animals disappear it is part of the infinite spiritual cycle that is lost.

This story was first published in Le Monde.