Spectacular Winning Images of The Environmental Photographer of The Year 2022
This year’s Environmental photographer of the year competition, from CIWEM, WaterBear, Nikon and Arup, showcases some of the most striking images of the natural world, providing an international platform to raise awareness for the issues that threaten our planet.
Winner: Vision of the Future | Vertical Farming by Arie Basuki
Officers maintain vegetable crops in a warehouse at Sentra farm in West Java, Indonesia. Vegetables such as curly lettuce, romaine, oclave green, siiomak, kailan are cultured in a room where the light and temperature remain stable. The advantage of vertical farming, which was developed in the past year, is that it is free of pesticides with a harvest period of only 30 days with an average yield of 20-30kg a day. Photograph: Arie Basuki/Environmental photographer of the year
Morte: Environmental Photographer of The Year h/t: guardian
Winner: Adapting for Tomorrow | New Ways To The Future (III) by Simone Tramonte
A view of Middelgrunden offshore windfarm from Amager Strand, a popular beach in Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 2021. The windfarm integrates perfectly with this popular beach where local people sunbathe or play water sports. The windfarm was developed with a strong involvement of the local community. Just over 14% of Danish electricity consumption is provided by wind. More than 150,000 families are members of wind turbine cooperatives such as this one. Photograph: Simone Tramonte/Environmental photographer of the year
Winner: Recovering Nature | Naturalia: Chronicle of Contemporary Ruins by Jonk Jimenez
Pisa, Italy, in July 2021. The photographer asks a fundamental question: what is the place of humankind on Earth and what is our relationship with nature? Far from being pessimistic, and at a time when humanity’s domination over nature has never been so extreme, this photo aims to wake our consciousness. Photograph: Jonk Jimenez/Environmental photographer of the year
Winner: Keeping 1.5 Alive | Chemical Explosion by Subrata Dey
Sitakunda, Bangladesh, June 2022. At a chemical explosion and fire at the BM container depot in Sitakunda Upazila, Chittagong, 49 people were killed, and the mixing of chemicals in the air and water had a devastating effect on the environment. The explosion spilled plastic containers into the nearby river, where the chemical-laced water entered the aquifer and destroyed the fresh water supply. Photograph: Subrata Dey/Environmental photographer of the year
Young Environmental photographer of the year: Beautiful But Hostile Colours On Earth by Fayz Khan
Lesser flamingoes over Lake Magadi and Lake Natron, Southern Rift Valley, Kenya, July 2022. Once a single freshwater lake, the two lakes are now highly concentrated salt pans, severely alkaline and toxic to most forms of animal and plant life. The flamingoes are an exception: because of their biological makeup they love to feed on the algae that thrive on the surface. As beautiful as the colours may be, the hues relate to the algae changing colour as they react to the alkaline levels of the lakes. Photograph: Fayz Khan/Environmental photographer of the year
Keeping 1.5 Alive | The Environmental Cost Of Fast Fashion by Muntaka Chasant
Thousands of discarded fast fashion waste washed up on the coast of Jamestown in Accra, Ghana, July 2022. Discarded unwanted fast fashion clothes (imported as secondhand garments mainly from industrialised countries) regularly wash up to choke fish landing beaches in the Ghanaian capital. The vast bulk of the cheap trend-driven mass-produced clothes arrive in the country as waste and are therefore unsellable. Landfilled, they decompose and emit methane gas, worsening the climate crisis. Photograph: Muntaka Chasant/Environmental photographer of the year
Adapting for Tomorrow | Mutual Assistance Between Man And Nature by Alex Cao
Binh Thuan, Viet Nam, October 2021. Bau Ca Cai is an old white-flowered mangrove, planted in the natural breakwater to improve the ecological environment under climate change and sea-level rise. This project is sponsored by the Green Climate Fund and the UN Development Programme, and helps to strengthen resilience to the impacts of climate change for vulnerable communities. The project supports ecotourism and contributes to income improvement and sustainable poverty reduction. Photograph: Alex Cao/Environmental photographer of the year
Adapting for Tomorrow | Solar Is The Key by Gaeus Lazar Tumlos Osilao
San Jose Del Monte Bulacan, The Philippines, April 2022. My neighbour Joe Ward started using a solar panel to decrease energy costs after the Covid-19 pandemic. Photograph: Gaeus Lazar Osilao/Environmental photographer of the year
Keeping 1.5 Alive | Floating Timber Market by Pinu Rahman
Barisal, Bangladesh, August 2021. The biggest floating timber market in the country supports the livelihoods of many. Dozens of boats crowd the river, with much of the trade occurring without a foot being set on the land. But lack of sustainable planning and conservation pose a serious threat to the environment. This is particularly devastating for the coastal areas, where trees can mitigate the impact of natural disasters like floods and cyclones. Photograph: Pinu Rahman/Environmental photographer of the year
Recovering Nature | I’m Watching You Everywhere by Maciej Krzanowski
A small lake hidden within the woods, Suwałki, Poland, January 2021. The lake and its surroundings forms a shape of an eye symbolising that nature is watching us. Photograph: Maciej Krzanowski/Environmental photographer of the year
Keeping 1.5 Alive | Aceredo by Brais Lorenzo Couto
The old village of Aceredo, in Lobios, Galicia, Spain, April 2022, which was buried in the 1990s by the waters of the Lindoso reservoir and which has been visible due to the historic drought affecting Europe. In especially dry years, parts would appear of the old village of Aceredo but never before has the skeleton of the village emerged in its entirety in the middle of rainy months. This year has been of great concern due to droughts and heatwaves. Photograph: Lorenzo Couto/Environmental photographer of the year
Vision of the Future | Always A Little Further… by Nigel Wallace-Iles
Everest Base Camp Trek, Mount Everest, Nepal, March 2021. We stopped for a moment to allow the Sherpas to pass with their convoy of yaks, taking the supplies of LPG to the main base camp. The image, for me, captured the juxtaposition of what we as humans are capable of achieving with determination, and the damage we do in pursuit of those achievements, and also highlighted the intricate interconnected nature of development, poverty within the Sherpa communities, equality, security and climate action. Photograph: Nigel Wallace-Iles/Environmental photographer of the year
Adapting for Tomorrow | Bio Mining With Trommel Machine by Sujan Sarkar
Cooch Behar, India, August 2022. The decomposition of waste in city landfills causes air pollution and creates a high risk of producing methane under high temperature, which can lead to fire. To avoid these unwanted environmental hazards, the Municipal Corporation of Cooch Behar installed Trommel machines to bio mine the solid waste. The machine removes plastics, sand and metals from the garbage, which is then recycled and used for tarring, construction, and other waste is converted into organic manure. Photograph: Sujan Sarkar/Environmental photographer of the year
Recovering Nature | Papa Potwe, 1 by Danielle Stanley
Mafia Island, Tanzania, November 2021. Ali has been working at Kitu Kiblu for more than eight years and has learned to respect these gentle giants. This photograph was taken after many attempts to remove a hook and fishing line from the mouth of a Whale shark. Although a small fishing line doesn’t encompass the greater issues of unsustainable fishing industries, it represents the power of conservation to bring about positive change through nature-based solutions, specific to conservation. Photograph: Danielle Stanley/Environmental photographer of the year
Keeping 1.5 Alive | One With Nature by Bernard Kalu
Glasgow, Scotland, November 2021. People join in the protest to inspire action to mitigate the looming climate crises. I am Nigerian and was one of the designated observers representing my country in Cop26. There were myriad photographers and videographers there as people marched in protest. Photograph: Bernard Kalu/Environmental photographer of the year
Vision of the Future | People At Work by Jignesh Chavda
Ahmedabad, India, May 2021. Electricians repair a power line in the late evening, after a cyclone hit the city. Photograph: Jignesh Chavda/Environmental photographer of the year
Adapting for Tomorrow | Hope by Niamul Rifat
Barishal Division, Bangladesh, July 2022. Hundreds of geotextile bags remain at the bank of the Kironkhola River to protect the erosion-prone waterway. According to locals, about 120 families have been displaced during the past couple of years. According to a report by the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services, from 1973 to 2017 Bangladesh lost more than 162,000 hectares of land to three of its largest rivers. Photograph: Niamul Rifat/Environmental photographer of the year
Recovering Nature | An Army Of Flamingos by Mehdi Mohebi Pour
Miankaleh, Iran, March 2022. In 2019-20 and 2020-21, thousands of birds died in the lagoon, and in the next year, 2021-22, fortunately, we saw the return of birds. They are in the wetland from the beginning of October to the end of March and after that they migrate. The birds were our guests at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, and this story is repeated every year. In 2020-21, tens of thousands of migratory birds died in this wetland, and in the following year the flock returned. Photograph: Mehdi Mohebi Pour/Environmental photographer of the year
Grand title winner: Environmental photographer of the year | The Bitter Death Of Birds by Mehdi Mohebi
This photo shows the efforts of the environmental forces to collect the bodies and prevent the spread of this disease. The Miankaleh wetland is being destroyed by changes in the climate and it is my duty as a photographer to highlight these problems and create a record for history. I want to prevent the complete destruction of the wetland and the potential environmental disaster by showing the issues and threats to these beautiful natural places. Photograph: Mehdi Mohebi Pour/Environmental photographer of the year