Powerful images capture the fragility and resilience of our planet

Environment

From battling drought to caring for wildlife, shots from the Earth Photo 2025 competition shortlist show how we are coping with a changing world

By Liz Else

Ami Vitale - Pandamonium A panda keeper does a health check on the cub of giant panda Xi Mei at the Wolong Nature Reserve managed by the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province, China October 31, 2015. (Photo by Ami Vitale) — A panda keeper does a health check on the cub of giant panda Xi Mei at the Wolong Nature Reserve

Ami Vitale

These images from the Earth Photo 2025 competition shortlist tell revealing, inspiring and unexpected stories about the climate and life on our planet.

Pictured top, photographer Ami Vitale’s image Pandamonium shows a giant panda keeper checking the health of a panda cub in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province, China. The keeper’s outfit is part of an effort to reduce the impact of human contact on the bears. Next, below, is Sue Flood’s Crabeater Seals, shot on an ice floe in the Southern Ocean, off the Antarctic Peninsula. For Flood, such photos can bring the region’s wonder to those who may never visit.

Sue Flood - Crabeater Seals Southern Ocean, Antarctic peninsula Quite simply, the polar regions are among the most awe-inspiring and extraordinary wildernesses on our planet. For almost thirty years, I have been privileged to explore both the Arctic and Antarctic, and I am forever humbled by their scale, and their remarkable inhabitants?wildlife perfectly adapted to these seemingly inhospitable environments. As Sir David Attenborough once said: — Crabeater Seals Southern Ocean, Antarctic peninsula

Sue Flood

Paradise to Ashes, La Palma by Jonathan Browning pictured below, shows the aftermath of the 2021 Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption on this island in the Canaries, Spain. A woman has remade her garden, removing lava that destroyed mature palms and replacing them with new trees.

Jonathan Browning, La Palma Series Canu Martin-Mur, (67) from Spain. She had to remove some lava that broke her garden walls and destroyed mature palm trees. She has since replaced tha wall and laid down an artificial lawn and planted new palms and plants to regrow again. La Palma. An island of the Canaries. Two years after the Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption in late 2021. Photography taken on January 2024. — La Palma. An island of the Canaries. Two years after the Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption in late 2021

Jonathan Browning

The final image below is Vincenzo Montefinese’s Lost Oases, shot in Tinzouline, Draa valley, Morocco. Here, a man adjusts a solar panel that powers a water pump that irrigates nearby palm groves. Climate change and water use have shrunk the valley’s oases by two-thirds over the past century. Today, farmers must dig more wells, often illegally, to access groundwater.

Vincenzo Montefinese - Lost Oases Tinzouline, Draa Valley, Morocco, October 2, 2023. Salim El Kabir, 42 years old, adjusts the solar panel that powers the pump for extracting water from the well used for irrigating the date palm groves near the Draa River. The increasing drought has driven farmers in the Draa River basin to dig more wells, often illegally, to access groundwater. — Tinzouline, Draa valley, Morocco

Vincenzo Montefinese

The photos and videos on the shortlist were chosen by a panel including New Scientist picture editor Tim Boddy and head of editorial video, David Stock. The winners will be revealed on 16 June. The Earth Photo 2025 exhibition is at London’s Royal Geographical Society from 17 June to 20 August before it tours the UK.

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