Tyler Ortego reaches over the side of his boat and grabs the top of a wooden stake that protrudes just above the waterline. Lifting it high, he reveals a dark cluster of what looks like small rocks, attached to the stake’s muddy end. “Oysters,” he says and smiles.

Around him the bayous and brackish marshes of the Mississippi River Delta stretch out. Home to thousands of species of plants and animals, including countless migratory songbirds, these vast wetlands comprise a natural barrier protecting Louisiana’s fishing industry – the country’s second largest – and the city of New Orleans against hurricanes and flooding.

To an outsider, it might seem this world of quiet wetlands is unchanging. But it’s not. Since 1932, coastal Louisiana has lost an area the size of Delaware to the sea. Without intervention, a further 2,000-4,000 square miles will erode by 2050. “This is a human-caused crisis,“ […]

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