The Azawak valley, a Florida-sized area spread over Mali and Niger, used to have the best pastoral lands in West Africa. But with climate change, people are either dying of thirst or seeking new lives elsewhere in Africa or in Europe. Photographer and activist Ariane Kirtley takes us on a visual journey through the devastating changes impacting local Tuareg communities and cultures.

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"Tuaregs have a matriarchal culture and women used to have a lot more power," she says. "But as young Tuareg men come back from Libya or Nigeria with a more extreme viewpoint on Islam, women are being cloistered."

Ariane Kirtley is the founder of the non-profit Amman Imman: Water is Life.

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