A child hides in a cave where people seek refuge to avoid being detected by Myanmar’s fighter jets. According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 2 million people remain internally displaced in Myanmar, of which around 900,000 are children.

The remains of a school and church after a bombing raid in the village of Ta Baw Kor Der.

Displaced students from Tha Nu Chet La school study in classrooms built in the middle of the forest, while nearby a battle rages between the Karen National Liberation Army and the Myanmar army. The school is one of the last remaining throughout the entire Karen territory that maintains a cultural curriculum dedicated to teaching traditional beliefs and practices. In addition to common school subjects, elders and teachers pass on their indigenous knowledge to the younger generations.

‘The mother advised us to save the seed of the taro. The father advised us to save the seed of the yam. If we save up to 30 kinds of seeds, our lives will be sustained in times of crisis,’ says a traditional Karen poem passed down from elders. For centuries, communities inhabiting the Salween basin have practised rotational agriculture with numerous vegetable crops. Ideally, this method uses the land for one year and then leaves it fallow for seven to ten years before using it again to enable the soil to recover. However, armed conflict and land shortage have gradually pressured farmers to reduce agricultural cycles, resulting in soil degradation and the loss of pristine forests.

Naw Leh Du, 40, recovers from a wound caused by the shell fragments of a mortar fired by the junta-affiliated Kayin Border Guard Force at her village in Htee Law Thi Hta. The attack resulted in the killing of a three-month-old baby and a 20-year-old woman. Six other people were injured.

According to data provided by the Karen authorities in December 2023, the military has launched 622 airstrikes and 4,194 mortars in Mutraw district since the coup in 2021.

Farmers harvest their rice fields in Ler Mu Plaw, a village located just metres from a Myanmar military base, where continuous fighting and forced displacement have been causing widespread food insecurity among the residents.

In Hee Poe Der, a village destroyed and rebuilt numerous times due to decades of conflict, animist residents summon their wandering souls back to their bodies to protect them from harm, natural disasters and evil spirits. By tying them to their wrists, they also safeguard their physical and mental wellbeing for the rice harvest, which is crucial for securing enough food throughout the year.

The humanitarian aid organisation Free Burma Rangers transports supplies to civilians affected by the escalating conflict through a tributary of the Salween River. Despite being a geographic barrier dividing Karen communities along the Myanmar-Thai border, today the river has become an essential corridor for the flow of humanitarian help.

Two hundred dissidents of the military regime – men and women – who fled their homes after the coup are training to join the Free Burma Rangers. They will undertake a humanitarian mission to help civilians.

Aung Win, a 33-year-old Burmese engineer, fled to Karen territory to become a ranger. ‘I got married just before the coup. After that, I started organising the protests in my city. It became unsafe to stay at home, so I had to flee. I only lived with my wife for five days,’ he says.

Over the past two years, more than 90% of the population of Mutraw have fled their homes, at least temporarily, seeking refuge inside caves or in dense forests to avoid being spotted by planes.

Saw Kyae Boe, 65, conducts a chicken bone divination ritual known as Ta Su Ta Ka to predict the yield of his harvest. Chicken bones are one of the various forms of divination used traditionally by Karen indigenous communities to treat diseases, regulate individual behavior, and make important decisions regarding community matters.

Daw Lar is the largest freshwater lake in Karen State, and the biodiversity of its watershed is essential for the livelihoods of eight thousand people residing in nearby communities. These people have been sustainably managing the lake for generations. However, as the area falls under the control of the Myanmar Government and affiliated militias, the traditional rights of villagers have clashed with the economic interests of Burmese companies seeking to exploit the abundant natural resources. In 2013, after the government sought to grant the lake as a concession for commercial fishing, local communities united to warn of the potential negative impacts and assert their ancestral claims to the area. Their mobilisation successfully called for a halt to the plan, preventing the lake from becoming private property. Since then, local conservation efforts have developed through an ongoing initiative known as the “Community-Based Water Governance Project”, aiming to strengthen the collective stewardship of Daw Lar Lake.

Running along the border between Myanmar and Thailand, the Salween remains the longest free-flowing river in Southeast Asia and the lifeblood of the Karen people. Following the 2021 coup, the junta announced their intentions to resume the construction of halted hydropower projects across the country, including the Hatgyi Dam – one of five hydropower projects planned on the river by Burmese, Thai and Chinese companies.

As the sun goes down, Saw Christ Baw, 45, crafts a bamboo basket inside his house. Communities rely on the plant for constructing their homes and domestic utensils, conducting ritual ceremonies, and using traditional medicine, among other practices.

In the banks of the Salween, animist villagers perform a ceremony known as Lu Htee Hta, literally ‘to make an offering at the mouth of the stream,’ praying to nature spirits to protect their communities and lands from the threats of natural disasters and large-scale development projects.

Every year on 14 March, the International Day of Action for Rivers, Karen communities gather to protest against the construction of the Hatgyi Dam in Karen State, which could result in the flooding of at least forty-one villages and two wildlife sanctuaries.

Saw Ta Day and his wife, Naw Paw Say, hide inside a bunker with their children while the Myanmar military conducts airstrikes in Mutraw district, the heart of the autonomous Karen territory.

In 2019, the homes and farms of ten different families, covering over 100 hectares of land, were suddenly confiscated by the junta-affiliated Kayin Border Guard Force and the private company Yatai International Holdings Group for the development of an economic project in Karen State known as Shwe Kokko. The US$15 billion new city, commonly referred to as “Chinatown” due to its mainly private Chinese financing and workforce, has sparked widespread controversy due to its impacts on local communities, as well as its standing as a hub of illicit activities. The project was halted in 2020 following a probe by the Myanmar Government. But in the past years, activities have resumed under the current state of conflict and lawlessness.

Saw Chi, a farmer from Mae Kaw Law, surveys his rice field destroyed in a bombing raid that led to the evacuation of the entire village.

A family returns to their home in Mae Koh Kee after more than two months taking shelter in the jungle.

For three days and three nights, women recite Karen folkloric oral poetry, locally known as Hta, while circling a candle during a Ta Hoo Plue funeral ceremony. Hta poetry comprises meaningful stories, prayers, and teachings passed down from the elders.

At the foot of Ler Mu K’ser, a sacred mountain for the Karen inhabitants of the area, Htoo Say Wah plays the buffalo horn alongside his son to gather the villagers during the harvest.