Chilling images reveal melted ice worlds

These striking images highlight the ice of the earth and the fight to save it. An amazing two thirds of glaciers can disappear at the end of the century, threatening with global water ecosystems and supplies. The images took some of the best awards in the WALK OF WATER COMPETITIONDirected by UNESCO and ONEWATER. UNESCO has appointed 2025 as the International Year for the preservation of glaciers.

Julia Roger-Very received second place in the European category for her atmospheric shots of Mer de Gace, the largest glacier in France, in Chamonix. The image above was filmed from within a Moulin, a huge hole carved in the glacier by mass water, while the photo under the companions inside a cave created by the glacial retreat. Roger -veve up and photographs the me of glace every fall. Every year, the glacier withdraws approximately 40 meters. In an announcement about his victory, he said he hopes that “he is probably a helpless witness” of his disappearance.

Michele Lapini captured the first prize in the European category for his photo that documes the effort to save Presente Glacier in northern Italy (below). Vital for the alpine ecosystem, the glacier surface decreased from 68 hectares to 41 between 1993 and 2003, according to lapini.

In 2008, conservationists began spreading textile leaves on the glacier every summer to avoid fusion. The photo shows a worker who decouples leaves during autumn before the first snow. The effort can have Reduced ice melting for two thirds, but cannot stop the loss of ice. As Lapini writes, “climate change cannot be mitigated only with localized fast solutions.”

The Global Prize of the contest is sponsored by MPB, its Regional Asia Award is sponsored by Asian Development Bank and its regional European award for the city of Burghausen.