‘Food riots. Loss of forest cover. Desertification. The ecosystems we depend on appear to face resource demands already beyond their capacity. As governments try urgently to stimulate growth, a central question remains. Can the earth’s complex living systems sustain the future consumption patterns of another three billion people in the world’s population by 2050?’ –from prixpictet.com
The Prix Pictet is a prestigious award for photography relating to environmental sustainability. Last year’s winner, Canadian Benoit Aquin, won for his stark photography depicting draught and desertification in China. The theme then was ‘water’, while this year’s is ‘Earth’.
Landfill site in Mexico City by Andreas Gursky, VG BILD-KUNST, Bonn (Image source: businesswire.com)
The photographers shortlisted for this year’s prize have shot subjects including the effect of the oil industry on Nigeria’s Niger Delta, forest fires in Portugal and the rerouting of China’s Yangtze River. Prix Pictet honorary president Kofi Annan shall announce the winner on October 22nd in Paris, where the works will be on display for one month before going on to further exhibits in Greece, Dubai and the Netherlands. The prize money is a tidy 100,000 Swiss Francs ($97,500 or €66,000). Environmental destruction and degradation have never looked so beautiful.
Read more about this year’s prize on CNN and the Prix Pictet homepage.
By Graham Land
Additional resources:
Slide show of this year’s entrants on CNN’s Going Green
BBC slideshow of last year’s Prix Pictet winner and short listed entrants
Benoit Aquin Photographe (last year’s winner)