Broadcast's Recommendations for Environment

Written and Compiled by Thomas Noonan

As we close our month on climate, I believe it is time to share with you a little selection of photo-reports that are relevant to the topic of environment. Here are four photo-reports, all by photographers of the world-famous Magnum Photo agency, that are worth looking at and reading.

#1: Future Proofing Life on Earth by Jonas Bendiksen

Jonas Bendiksen, Svalbard, Norway, 2016 © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos

In this reportage, the Norwegian photographer documents one of humanity’s attempt at preserving biodiversity from human-induced environmental change. In the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, in the Norwegian island of Svalbard, duplicates of seeds of all over the world are preserved deep within the island’s permafrost, ready to be used in case of extinction of a plant in its natural ecosystem, to be ready for the “doomsday” scenarios. More than a seed collection like any other, it acts as an insurer to all the other seed banks, at risk of destruction due to political events or natural disasters. His striking photographs, and the accompanying text show the purpose and function of the Vault, amidst the first ever withdrawals, as the Syrian Civil War destroyed the Aleppo bank where duplicates of seeds were stored.

#2: Ghana’s Tech Dump: The Untold Story by Carl de Keyzer and Nikos Economopoulos

Carl De Keyzer A Nigerian migrant worker extracting the silver from the contact lining of a computer keyboard at the Agbogbloshie e-waste dumpsite in Accra. Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana. 2016. © Carl De Keyzer | Magnum Photos

Second-largest e-waste processing centre in West Africa, the Agbogbloshie dump’s reputation is that of endless pollution, toxic waste and dangerous practices. However, the Ghanaian site is undergoing significant change under the influence of local NGO Global Alliance for Health and Pollution: Green Advocacy Ghana, and Pure Earth. Instead of banning all practices and risking simply moving them underground, it has been decided to educate locals, whose income is dependent on the dumpsite, on responsible recycling and install specialised equipment, in order to promote safe, responsible and more profitable practices of e-waste scrapping. The photographs reveal the scale of the site as well as the difficult living and working conditions, alleviated by some commodities such as a mosque or food vendors.

#3: Higher Ground by Karl de Keyzer

Carl De Keyzer Europe. 2014. © Carl De Keyzer | Magnum Photos

In this beautiful and poetic photo-essay, the Belgian photographer Karl de Keyzer imagines a future where Europeans have migrated to the mountains to flee the rising sea levels and the floods. Second part of a two-book project, following Moments Before the Flood, this essay proposes a world where life is only possible in the high European mountains, far above the flooded coastlines of his first essay, and where Europeans have had to adapt to this apocalyptic perspective. Accompanied with a text by Philippe Claudel, the story reveals the destruction of everything that existed before.

#4: The Era of Plenty is Over by Matt Black

Matt Black Hauling water. Fairmead, California, USA, 2022

Figuring last on this list, the surrealist photographs by California-native Matt Black expose how the richest state of the richest country is affected by the lack of water. In rural areas of Southern California, water has become a scarce resource, and over the past 15 years, a continuous drought has completely transformed Californian agriculture, but also life and society. His photographs, as well as the accompanying text, challenges the idea that climate change affects only the developing countries, and reveals how rich and developed states like America can be deeply affected, at least at the regional level.