The Nature Conservancy have just run their annual photo competition to celebrate the world’s natural treasures and draw attention to the threats they face
Each year, global conservation organisation The Nature Conservancy runs a photographic competition designed to celebrate the world’s natural treasures and draw attention to the dangers that threaten them. This year’s competition had the largest global participation ever, with entries from 196 different countries and territories, and featured two new categories, Plants or Fungi and Climate, the latter offering participants a way to illustrate the toll that climate change is taking on communities and ecosystems around the globe. Here we present a selection of the winning entries, to see a full list of the winning images and honourable mentions Click here
Grand prize – Rainwater erosion in Tibet by Li Ping, China
On either side of a highway in Tibet, gullies formed by rainwater erosion span out like the trunk and branches of a tree. To capture this image, photographer Li Ping spent a night sleeping alone in a roadside parking lot before using a drone in the early morning hours to photograph this striking natural landscape.
Wildlife honorable mention – ‘The Battle’ by Rick Dowling, USA
Photographed at the annual Alaska Bald Eagle Festival in Haines, these bald eagles were fighting over a piece of salmon. The festival takes place in the second week of November at the peak of the largest congregation of eagles in the world, when some 2,000–4,000 eagles converge on the Chilkat River Valley to feed on chum and coho salmon.
People and Nature, second place – ‘Abundant nets’ by Komang Arnawa, Indonesia
A fisherman empties his nets in the village of Kedonganan on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Water, first place – ‘Braided river’ by Kristin Wright, USA
Brightly coloured sediment paints the landscape as the glacial river, Þjórsá, the longest river in Iceland, flows towards the ocean. Originating at the base of Hofsjökull glacier, the river meanders some 230 kilometres to the Atlantic Ocean.
Plants and Fungi, honorable mention – ‘Dragon blood trees’ by Cristiano Xavier, Brazil
A long-exposure image taken at night, this photo shows the iconic dragon’s blood trees, which only grow on the high plateaus of Socotra Island, Yemen.
Water, honourable mention – Tom Shlesinger, USA
A goliath grouper emerges from a cloud of round scads. In 1990, following severe declines in goliath grouper populations, Florida banned fishing for them. Such has been the success of this measure that recreational fishing for these enormous fish will reopen in spring 2023.
Landscape, second place – ‘Mystical Bromo’ by Hendy Wicaksono, Indonesia
Mount Bromo, an active volcano located in the Tengger mountains in East Java, Indonesia. It last erupted in December 2020.
Plants and Fungi, second place – Xiaoling Keller, USA
Soaptree yuccas photographed in White Sands National Park, New Mexico.
Wildlife, second place – ‘Giant in dust’ by Panos Laskarakis, Greece
A cloud of dust envelopes an African elephant in Namibia
Plants and Fungi, first place – ‘Ghost mushrooms’ by Callie Chee, Australia
Nicknamed the ghost mushroom due to its eerie green glow, Omphalotus nidiformis is a bioluminescent fungus found primarily in forests in southern Australia. Finding and photographing it is challenging as it grows and glows for only a few weeks a year.
Wildlife, honourable mention – ‘Keep distance’ by Baiju Patil, India
Indian jackals (a subspecies of the golden jackal) face off in Keoladeo Ghana National Park (formerly the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary) in Rajasthan, India.
People and Nature, honourable mention – ‘Post-lockdown beach’ by Marcelo Paulo Silva, Brazil
Beachgoers enjoy the sun on Praia do Pontal beach in Rio de Janeiro on the first day after lockdown restrictions were eased.
Climate, honourable mention – ‘Making Paper’ by Jassen Todorov, USA
Wastewater ponds at a paper mill. Pulp and paper mills produce significant quantities of wastewater and the release of contaminated effluent into freshwater ecosystems by these mills is a growing concern.
Landscape, honourable mention – ‘Difference’ by Ivan Pedretti, Italy
Winter on Stokksnes, a peninsula in southeast Iceland. The black-volcanic-sand beach contrasts with the yellow grass and star white of the majestic mountain Vestrahorn.
