{"id":777341,"date":"2026-07-03T09:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/777341\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T09:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:18:11","slug":"earth-photo-2026-awards-winner-shows-fight-against-wildlife-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/777341\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Photo 2026 Awards: Winner shows fight against wildlife crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex\u2019s Perpetual Planet Initiative<\/a> has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.\n<\/p>\n

\n Forensic science and the fight against the illegal wildlife trade was in focus at the Earth Photo 2026 Awards, where photojournalist Britta Jaschinski claimed top prize for her haunting portfolio.\n <\/p>\n

\n The UK-based German photographer is a multi-award winner, and adds the Earth Photo prize to the Environmental Photographer of the Year Grand Prize she received in April from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.\n <\/p>\n

\n Jaschinski\u2019s latest series was photographed across the UK and Europe with wildlife crime units using techniques new and old to tackle the scourge of trafficking.\n <\/p>\n

\n The objects themselves include a stuffed lion\u2019s head, a bottle opener made from a lion\u2019s paw, myriad reptile skins, an elephant\u2019s foot and ivory, and other remains. Jaschinski\u2019s unflinching lens highlights how these majestic animals have been debased into commodities, and the investigators tirelessly working to find the perpetrators.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n The most arresting photograph, featuring a dead green sea turtle, looks like a scene from a fluorescing coral reef. But look closer and you can see a handprint on the turtle\u2019s shell, illuminated by special powder dye applied by a forensic expert. The turtle could be in its natural habitat but it\u2019s not: it\u2019s another victim.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cSeeing that level of forensic expertise applied to a turtle was both unexpected and extraordinary. Watching the team work felt almost like witnessing magic,\u201d Jaschinski told CNN in an email.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhat stayed with me most was the sense of hope, also because this can act as a deterrent. For too long, organised criminal networks have viewed wildlife trafficking as a low-risk, high-reward enterprise, with low conviction rates and relatively light penalties. As forensic science becomes more sophisticated, that equation is beginning to shift.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The image foregrounds the work of Louise Gibson and Alexandra Thomas, who spearhead the Wildlife Crime Lab at the Institute of Zoology, the research division of the Zoological Society of London.\n <\/p>\n

\n The lab says its research has shown that some new-generation powders can recover quality fingerprints from 70% of wildlife specimens tested, and that it\u2019s possible to recover DNA left by individuals handling specimens. It shares its research with authorities including Greater London\u2019s Metropolitan Police, and border forces in 40 countries.\n <\/p>\n

\n Jaschinski is a powerful advocate for fighting wildlife trafficking. She co-founded Photographers Against Wildlife Crime in 2018 and co-created with Keith Wilson and Arturo de Fr\u00edas The Evidence Project, a cohort of photographers, including Brent Stirton, Ami Vitale and the late Sebastiao Salgado, who contributed images to a volume about mankind\u2019s impact on the natural world.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWildlife smuggling has been regulated internationally for decades through agreements such as CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), but only in recent years has it begun to be treated with the seriousness it deserves: as a form of transnational organised crime. That shift has been encouraging,\u201d said Jaschinski.\n <\/p>\n

\n Jaschinski\u2019s image of the sea turtle was previously voted one of 2025\u2019s photographs of the year by TIME magazine.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Earth Photo prize, organized by the Royal Geographical Society, art consultancy Parker Harris and charity Photoworks, also revealed winners in seven other categories.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"Natalya<\/p>\n

\n In the Climate of Change category, Delhi-based Payal Kakkar won top prize for \u201cLives of Extraction,\u201d photographing a resistance movement led by the Khairwar Indigenous community, fighting land dispossession and coal mining in Majhauli Paath, Singrauli, India.\n <\/p>\n

\n Natalya Saprunova, who is from Russia and living in Paris, won the New Scientist Editors Award for her documentation of permafrost thawing and coastal erosion in Canada\u2019s Northwest Territories and its impact on the Inuvialuit people.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Royal Geographical Society in London is hosting an exhibition of the prize winners until July 24, before taking their works on a tour of the UK through November.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-777341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}