Photographs draw attention to social and environmental issues

Photography is capable of establishing immediate communication and is a universal language that attracts attention, makes us reflect and encourages reflection. The aesthetics of photography also helps to draw attention to environmental problems. Both in images of landscapes, which allow us to think and even rethink our relationships with nature and others, and in images that portray human and environmental dramas, which are capable of stimulating environmental education. Another important role of photography with regard to the environment is in scientific dissemination, in which climate change and animal species are portrayed, for example.

“Photography is a form of fiction. It is at the same time a record of reality and a self-portrait, because only the photographer sees it that way” (Gerard Castello Lopes)

Images inform, represent, surprise and call to action. Photographs fascinate and invite the viewer to feel, perceive, judge and interpret them. For Gustavo Pedro de Paula, president of the Association of Nature Photographers (Afnatura), “photographing nature can serve as an essential tool for environmental education, but also as a weapon for reporting and bringing to light the need to preserve areas at risk of degradation”.

Check out some of the work that was featured in the Environmental Photographer of the Year Ciwem

Trash by Sebnem Coskun, Istanbul, Türkiye

Underwater cleanup in the Bosphorus as part of the Zero Waste Blue project

Sleep Fatigue by Amdad Hossain, Dhaka, Bangladesh

A woman sleeps on a dirty riverbank

The plastic quarry of Aragon Renuncio, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

A boy plays with a plastic bag. Around 380 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide each year. Production has increased exponentially from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million tons by 2015. Every day, approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution enter the oceans.

Lungs of the Earth by Ian Wade, Somerset, UK

Photographing trees at night with a long shutter speed and four LED spotlights is not easy: the slightest bit of wind will blur the canopy. It took Ian Wade five long nights to capture this image. The final image shows the trees in all their glory

Sweet Dreams of Aragon Renuncio, Burkina Faso

A girl sleeps at a desk in her classroom. Extreme rainfall has tripled in the Sahel over the past 35 years because of global warming. Climate change has caused 70 episodes of torrential rain in the past decade, although the region also suffers severe droughts.

Sewing net by Tran Tuan Viet, Phu Yen, Vietnam

As populations decline, fishing methods become increasingly extreme. Destructive fishing with small-hole nets devastates the marine environment

Daily Work by Yousuf Tushar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Thousands of poor people come to the capital Dhaka to find work every year. Many are forced to do hard labor, such as carrying coal on their heads.

Invisible by Valerie Leonard, Sisdol, Nepal

At the Sisdol landfill in Nepal, waste pickers sift through trash all day, looking for materials or valuables to sell. This temporary landfill located near Kathmandu has been in operation since 2005. It is now running out of capacity.