The winners of the 2022 Environmental Photographer of the Year are today announced by CIWEM (water and environmental management charity), WaterBear (free streaming platform dedicated to the future of our planet), Nikon (world-leading imaging product provider) and Arup (sustainable development professional services firm). Now in its 15th year, the Environmental Photographer Of The Year competition showcases some of the world’s most inspirational environmental photography. The annual competition provides an international platform to raise awareness for the issues that put our planet at risk.
The full list of the winning photographs and winners of this year’s competition are:
●Environmental Photographer of the Year: The Bitter Death Of Birds, Mehdi Mohebi Pour, 2021
●Young Environmental Photographer of the Year-Nikon Award: Beautiful But Hostile Colours On Earth, Fayz Khan, 2022
●Vision of the Future: Vertical Farming, Arie Basuki, 2022
●Recovering Nature: Naturalia: Chronicle Of Contemporary Ruins, Jonathan”Jonk” Jimenez, 2021
●Keeping 1.5 Alive: Chemical Explosion, Subrata Dey, 2022
●Adapting for Tomorrow: New Ways To The Future (III), Simone Tramonte, 2021
EPOTY 2022 received more than 3,000 photos from over 115 nations that tell stories of the climate and ecological emergencies the world is facing, and of the people rising to the challenge. This includes:
– The Friendship Centre in Bangladesh, which is built below sea level in a region prone to earthquakes and flooding, and uses natural resources (grass rooftops, pools collecting rainwater) to keep itself cool without the use of A/C.
– The more than 150,000 Danish families who are members of wind turbine cooperatives, which combined provide ca. 14.4% of Danish electricity consumption.
– The growing development of agrovoltaics, a concept where agricultural land is used to produce clean electricity while leaving room for agricultural crops.
– Projects sponsored by the Green Climate Fund and United Nations Development Programme to help mediate the impacts of climate change in vulnerable communities while supporting ecotourism and sustainable poverty reduction.
– Agricultural engineering to help farmers make the best use of their land and water.
This year, the competition introduced an ethics panel in order to improve accountability and transparency in photo selection. Following a thorough screening process, the panel, consisting of experts in journalism and photography, provided guidance on our competition rules and they reviewed photos that raised ethical concerns. Photos that did not meet the competition’s ethical standards were discussed by the panel, and additional information from photographers was requested as needed to make an informed decision.