In 2024, fires burned more than 2.6 million hectares of South America’s Pantanal biome. The wetlands have experienced a steep reduction in water coverage, making the area that stretches across Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia vulnerable to fire threats. A young tapir (Tapirus terrestris) managed to survive the blaze. Named Valente by caretakers, the tapir underwent treatment at the Caiman Ecological Reserve to heal his burn wounds.
A touching photograph of Valente (seen below) in his dressings captured by Fernando Faciole took home the top prize in the Public Award category of the 2025 Environmental Photography Award.
Public Award, Laureat
Tapir saved from fire, Pantanal region, Brazil, 2024
This tapir (Tapirus terrestris) was named Valente, which means ‘brave’ in Portuguese. He was rescued in the Pantanal with severe burns on all four legs and his ears, unable to move. The approximately one-year-old male was saved by the Onçafari project team operating in the Caiman Ecological Reserve. After undergoing intensive treatment to heal his injuries, the goal was to eventually release him back into the wild. Valente survived one of the largest fires ever recorded in the Pantanal biome. In 2024, more than 2.6 million hectares, or 17% of the biome, burned. According to a study conducted by ArcPlan and supported by WWF-Brazil, the region is experiencing a dramatic reduction in water coverage, with satellite imagery showing an 82% decrease in areas that have typically remained flooded for six months of the year or more since 1985.
Credit: Fernando Faciole / Environmental Photography Awards
The 2025 Environmental Photography Awards honored images across five categories: “Polar Wonders”, “Into the Forest”, “Ocean Wolds”, “Humanity versus Nature” and “Change Makers: Reasons for Hope.” The competition also recognized winners for a Public Award and a Student’s Choice Award.
“In the past fifty years, we have lost 73% of the world’s wildlife,” President of the Jury, Ami Vitale, said. “This stark reality underscores the urgent biodiversity crisis we face. The future of our planet is in our hands, and we cannot afford to feel overwhelmed or hope that someone else will address the problem. Continuous awareness and action are needed; conservation is not a one-day job. Photography plays a critical role in highlighting the interconnectedness of individual well-being and environmental health.”
The shortlisted photographs will be exhibited in Monaco, on the Promenade du Larvotto, from June 3 to July 31, 2025.
Polar Wonders, Runner Up
Fight between two female musk oxen, Norway, 2021
Credit: Miquel Angel Artús Illana / Environmental Photography Awards
Into the Forest, Runner Up
Andean bear, Colombia, 2023
The Ecopalacio ecotourism reserve in Chingaza is a rural reserve focused on conservation and home to the Andean spectacled bear. I managed to capture this elusive and magical animal using a camera trap. An elaborate system that allows photographic equipment to be placed in natural environments and, using motion sensors, capture the essence of wildlife without human intervention. When the bear passed in front of the equipment, rain had splashed onto the lens, interfering with my image, creating brushstrokes and textures that immerse us in the humidity of the high Andean forest. (Caption translated from Spanish)
Credit: Santiago J. Monroy García / Environmental Photography Awards santiago J. Monroy García
Ocean Worlds, Runner Up
Paper nautilus perched on a group of salps, Philippines, 2024
Credit: Pietro Formis / Environmental Photography Awards
Change Makers: Reasons for Hope, Runner Up
Young giant anteater undergoing rehabilitation, Brazil, 2024
When they are very young, giant anteaters depend on constant attention from caregivers, who often need to take the animals home overnight. In the photos, we see a juvenile that was found clinging to its mother who had been run over. This was the moment of the last feeding in the office, around 19:00. After being fed, the animals are encouraged to walk around the facilities to exercise and develop their instincts. The animal relies on the Wild Animals Triage Center (Centro de Triagem de Animais Silvestres – CETAS) in the city of Belo Horizonte, and the State Institute of Forests (Instituto Estadual de Florestas – IEF) to be rehabilitated and potentially reintroduced into the wild.
Credit: Fernando Faciole / Environmental Photography Awards
Humanity Versus Nature, Runner Up
Elephant in the middle of a sea of waste, Sri Lanka, 2023
A lone elephant is spotted here feasting on a very vibrant patch of a vast garbage site. As some of the largest waste dumping sites are placed very much close to the Important Dry Zone forests in Sri Lanka, Elephants regularly visits these sites, looking for an easy meal and finally absorbing microplastics and polythene along with the food, which are life threatening elements. This is only a small portion of a massive landfill which also demonstrates the bad practices and the inconsistencies of waste management techniques in an island that is home to 10% of the world’s Asian elephant population.
Credit: Lakshitha Karunarathna / Environmental Photography Awards Lakshitha Karunarathna
Into the Forest, Lauret
Combat between two male stag beetles, Italy, 2022
During the mating season, male stag beetles (Lucanus cervus) go into a frenzy, with lively but harmless clashes, in which bigger males often have the advantage over smaller ones due to their impressive mandibles. Longer larval development and genetic traits can increase the size of some individuals, but all saproxylic beetles are threatened by poor forest management, logging and dead wood removal to ‘clean’ the forest. Many endangered species, such as stag beetles appear on Italian conservation organisation red lists. These two males photographed in a forest near Florence were engaged in a very brief duel on an oak branch. Since peak activity in stag beetles lasts only a few days each year, I had to wait patiently, dedicating about ten days of observation to capturing this moment.
Credit: Iacopo Nerozzi / Environmental Photography Awards
Polar Wonders, Laureat
Lion’s mane jellyfish, Greenland, 2019
Diving around icebergs is a unique and fascinating experience. During a dive near Tasiilaq (East Greenland), we were fortunate enough to find a massive iceberg stranded just off the coast, offering us a rare opportunity to safely explore its surroundings. The stark contrast between the deep blue water and the glistening white ice offered a mesmerizing backdrop for underwater photography. Autumn in the East Greenland fjords is teeming with life, especially planktonic species ranging from tiny copepods to large jellyfish such as this lion’s mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) with its long stinging tentacles drifting elegantly through the water. The icy waters combined with the vibrant marine life created a magical atmosphere for the dive, making it an unforgettable experience.
Credit: Galice Hoarau / Environmental Photography Awards GALICE HOARAU
Change Makers: Reasons for Hope, Runner Up
Giant armadillo’s paw, Pantanal region, Brazil, 2023
Biologist Gabriel Massocato, the fieldwork coordinator of the project, holds the hind leg of a young giant armadillo, approximately one and a half years old. For the past 13 years, Gabriel has dedicated his life to protecting this species through extensive scientific research. With profound conviction, he strongly believes that the status of this species needs an immediate change to “endangered” on the IUCN Red List, ensuring these animals receive the attention and care they so deeply deserve. Through his tireless work, Gabriel, alongside the Giant Armadillo project team, especially Arnaud Desbiez and Danilo Kluyber, emphasizes that these hidden giants immediately need to be seen.
Credit: Fernando Faciole / Environmental Photography Awards
Change Makers: Reasons for Hope, Laureat
Babyloggerhead sea turtle in a recovery centre, Spain, 2022
A baby loggerhead turtle is offered its first ever jellyfish in a tank as part of a head starting program in Valencia, Spain. A crew of veterinarians and biologists at L´Oceanografic Foundation raise the hatchings from nests digged on tourist-crowded beaches during a year to grant at least a part of those clutches a chance of survival. During that period turtles are fed artificial recipes aimed to improved their development, but also cultivated jellies in order to train them for their future meal once released in the wild.
Credit: Angel Fitor / Environmental Photography Awards
Humanity Versus Nature, Runner Up
Rattlesnakes in a pit, Texas, United States, 2020
Credit: Javier Aznar / Environmental Photography Awards javier aznar
Humanity Versus Nature, Laureat
Elderly Indochinese tigress on a tiger farm, Thailand, 2023
An elderly Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) rests her fragile body against the concrete wall of her enclosure on a tiger farm in northern Thailand. For over 20 years, she was trapped inside this cage and used as a breeding machine, producing cubs for industries ranging from tiger tourism to the illegal trade in tiger skins, teeth, bones, claws, and meat. Tiger farms are rarely, if ever, accessible to photojournalists. But in December 2023, I joined veterinary teams and wildlife experts from Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) and government officials on a groundbreaking mission to rescue some of the big cats – twelve tigers and three leopards – from the facility. This tiger, later named Salamas, was among those rescued. Despite her frail and emaciated condition, Salamas survived the 12-hour journey to WFFT’s 90-acre forested sanctuary. There, she roamed freely, feeling grass beneath her paws and the warmth of the sun on her fur for the first time in two decades. Tragically, nine months later, Salamas passed away. Years of forced breeding had left her reproductive organs irreparably damaged, and she succumbed to a terminal cancerous mass. The demand for tiger tourism experiences and products has led to an estimated 1,700 tigers being held in factory-style tiger farms across Thailand. Meanwhile, fewer than 223 tigers remain in the wild within the country.
Credit: Amy Jones / Environmental Photography Awards
Coho salmon and juvenile, USA, 2023
Credit: David Herasimtschuk / Environmental Photography Awards
Oceans World, Laureat
Overall Winner
Worms flush sand out of their burrows, Spain, 2023
Polychaete worms flush sand out of their burrows amidst a seagrass bed in the Spanish Mediterranean. As members of the so-called infauna- a huge and diverse community adapted to an underground life at sea- they play a pivotal role on mantaining oxygen circulation in the upper layers of sediment at sea, a key action that allows a whole ecosystem to thrive under the substrate. All seagrass beds accross the Ocean, and large amounts of sealife rely on the riches of infauna to thrive. The unsung activity of these ever hidden worms has massive consequences at a global scale.
Credit: Angel Fitor / Environmental Photography Awards
Polar Wonders, Runner Up
Iceberg drifting on the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, Iceland, 2024
Credit: Michaël Arzur / Environmental Photography Awards
Ocean Worlds, Runner Up
Leafy Seadragon, Australia, 2024
Credit: Daniel Sly / Environmental Photography Awards
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