For the first time in 2018, the jury of the World Press Photo Awards has awarded prizes in a new competition category to photographic projects that decidedly deal with the influence of humans on their environment. But how can such complex interrelationships be captured in a picture? How do you photograph an invisible phenomenon like climate change? What role does photography play in creating ecological awareness? Is it a mere observer or an actor? And what concepts of nature and society are reflected in the images circulating on environmental issues?

Moderated by Irene Brickner, editor of Der Standard, the photographer Andreas H. Bitesnich, the sociologist and social ecologist Marina Fischer-Kowalski and Adam Pawloff, climate and energy expert at Greenpeace Austria discussed these issues.

Photos: WestLicht