2018 ENVIRONMENT CATEGORY WINNERS
Badru Katumba
1st Place, Environment
Unofficial Garbage Collector
A marabou stork stands atop a heap of refuse in Kitezi. Thanks to their unsparing appetite for rubbish dumps, the number of marabou storks in Kampala and other developing areas like Kitezi has grown rapidly. In 2008 President Museveni demanded that the booming population be relocated, but this was never followed through as they are a protected species. The “kaloli birds”, as they are referred to in Luganda, remained and today, thanks to the abundance of available food, they are found all over Kampala where they serve as the city’s unofficial garbage collectors.
Chris Dennis Rosenberg
2nd Place, Environment
Mount Nyiragongo
A view of the incredible Mount Nyiragongo crater, which is home to the world's largest lava lake and some of the most fluid lava on Earth. The active volcano, which saw its last major eruption in 2002, is situated inside a 3,470m-high mountain in Virunga National Park near Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and its lava lake is estimated to be 600m deep.
Nicholas Bamulanzeki
3rd Place, Environment
Reef Coral Mining
Halima Ali, 37, gathers coral on the Indian Ocean coast in the Lower Shebele region southwest of Mogadishu in Somalia. In this area coral reefs are mined as a source of limestone for building purposes, and Halima earns around $2 daily for her work. However, despite the demand, such mining has a strong negative impact on the local environment. If protected, the reefs serve as a filter for waste from offshore that would otherwise harm aquatic life, as well as being habitats and food for some fish. They also help moderate temperature by removing CO2 from the atmosphere, and act as natural barriers that help protect some 15% of the world's coastlines from erosion.
Muhammad Talha
Honorable Mention, Environment
Sweet Hood
An antelope watches for danger as she feeds her young baby. Antelopes hide their newborn young for up to five weeks to protect them from predators, but once the babies are strong enough to follow the herd they are brought out of their safe hiding places and must take their chances out in the open, under the watchful eyes of their mothers.