By Anders Lorenzen

Today on Earth Day, Forestry England and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) have launched a photo competition which calls on aspiring and professional photographers alike to submit their images of what a changing forest means to them.

Photo credit: Dr Mathias Disney.

The organisations say that globally, climate change is the major challenge of our time and poses a serious threat to trees, forests and landscapes around the world. At the same time, extensive work is underway in different parts of the globe to explore and understand ways of making forests more resilient and sustainable in the face of a changing climate.

Photo credit: Dr Thomas Smith.

They have launched ‘Changing Forests’ as the brand new category in Earth Photo competition. They say that the aim of the new category is to reveal the stories the world’s forests have to tell today.

Photo credit: Dr Mathias Disney.

Commenting on the launch, Dr Thomas Smith, Assistant Professor in Environmental Geography from London School of Economics, said: “Capturing Earth’s changing forests through photography is both important and challenging. Slower changes to our forests are often difficult for us to perceive and challenging to convey in a snapshot. Chronic forest dieback due to drought, disease and invasive species, as well as afforestation efforts for climate change mitigation, requires an innovative photographic imagination to capture and communicate these processes effectively.”

Photo credit: Hayley Coristine.

Environmental Geographer Professor Mathias Disney of University College London’s Department of Geography added: “We all know how important the world’s forests are, but they are facing unprecedented pressures and changes. Ensuring we can measure and understand these changes is vital to understanding how we can protect these vital ecosystems in the coming years.”

Photo credit: Hayley Coristine.

Alongside Changing Forests, People, Place and Nature are the categories for the Earth Photo competition. Earth Photo will be a free exhibition presented to audiences at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), London from 6 July to 22 August 2019 and on a national tour to three of Forestry England forests.

Photo credit: Hayley Coristine.