Environment issues have been discussed in so many ways - through the news, through blog posts, through marches in the streets - but some of the strongest messages are put across not through words but through powerful and thought-provoking images. The winners of this year's Atkins CIWEN Environmental Photographer of Year awards have done just that, having captured fleeting - and haunting - scenes for people to ponder.

This year's Environmental Photographer of the Year 2016 award went to Sara Lindström. Frozen in her photograph, titled "Wildfire," are towering smoke billowing across a forest during a wildfire that happened on a July day in Alberta, Canada. The huge flames had her "completely mesmerised in fear and awe," reports the BBC.

Luke Massey, meanwhile, bagged the Young Environmental Photographer of the Year award for "Poser." His picture is of a peregrine perched outside a balcony in a Chicago condominium, looking straight into his lens. Massey said he wants to draw attention to how wildlife is under threat.

The Atkins Built Environment Award was given to photojournalist SL Kumar Shanth, whose photo shows two men posing for the camera while waves are slamming on the side of their small blue house. Titled "Losing Ground to Manmade Disaster," it gives a message of the damage happening brought about by humans and natural forces.

The CIWEM Changing Climate Award went to photojournalist Sandra Hoyn, who focuses her lens on social, human rights and environmental issues. Her winning photo, titled "Life Jackets on the Greek Island of Lesbos," shows a sea of orange life vests strewn along a coast. These were discarded by refugees who crossed from Turkey to Greece.

Pedram Yazdani took home the Forestry Commission England People, Nature and Economy Award for his photo called "Sand." It shows Iran's Salt Lake Urmia, which now only contains 10 percent of the water it used to have. This, he said, is due to both climate change and the construction of a well and dam.

Sergiu Jiduc was honored with the Environmental Film Award. His film, titled "The Karakoram Anomaly Project, Pakistan," features glaciers in the Karakoram mountain range and what is called Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs), which has caused waves the size of tsunamis.

His film, he said, "could help gauge the future availability of water for hundreds of millions of people as well as to provide insights on how glaciers will change in the future. But most importantly, mapping and quantifying the risk of GLOFs in the area could save thousands of lives."

The winners were announced by Sir Ranulph Fiennes in June at the Royal Geographical Society. The winning photos, along with the 60 shortlisted submissions, is on exhibit until Aug. 22. They will then be put on display at different forest venues in England. From Sept. 3 to Jan. 1 next year, they will be exhibited at the Grizedale Forest in the Lake District.

Tags Atkins CIWEN Environmental Photographer of Year, Sara Lindström, Luke Massey, SL Kumar Shanth, Sandra Hoyn, Sergiu Jiduc, Royal Geographical Society

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