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Cover Image: A dead green sea turtle baring a human handprint, revealed by fluorescent powder. Photographer Britta Jaschinski won the Earth Photo 2026 Award for her series documenting the illegal wildlife trade and the forensic experts fighting back
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Britta Jaschinski
At the Earth Photo 2026 Awards, photojournalist Britta Jaschinski won top prize for a haunting portfolio on forensic science and the fight against the illegal wildlife trade.The UK-based German photographer adds the Earth Photo prize to the Environmental Photographer of the Year Grand Prize she won in April from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.She shot the series across the UK and Europe, following wildlife crime units that use old and new techniques to fight trafficking.
Ivory is dusted for fingerprints by a forensic expert at Heathrow Airport, London. Jaschinski’s photography project followed activities in mainland Europe and the UK, including new innovations in the field at the Wildlife Crime Lab at the Institute of Zoology, the research division of the Zoological Society of London.
Britta Jaschinksi
The objects include a stuffed lion’s head, a bottle opener made from a lion’s paw, reptile skins, an elephant’s foot and ivory. Her unflinching lens shows how these majestic animals are reduced to commodities—and how investigators work tirelessly to catch the perpetrators.
A minibar made from an elephant’s foot, photographed by Britta Jaschinski as part of her series documenting the illegal wildlife trade. Britta Jaschinski
Two lion’s paws, turned into bottle openers.
Britta Jaschinski
The most arresting image, of a dead green sea turtle, looks at first like a fluorescing coral reef. Look closer and a handprint appears on its shell, revealed by special powder dye applied by a forensic expert. The turtle isn’t in its natural habitat—it’s another victim.“Seeing that level of forensic expertise applied to a turtle was both unexpected and extraordinary. Watching the team work felt almost like witnessing magic,” Jaschinski told CNN in an email.“What stayed with me most was the sense of hope, also because this can act as a deterrent. For too long, organised criminal networks have viewed wildlife trafficking as a low-risk, high-reward enterprise, with low conviction rates and relatively light penalties. As forensic science becomes more sophisticated, that equation is beginning to shift.”The image highlights the work of Louise Gibson and Alexandra Thomas, who lead the Wildlife Crime Lab at the Institute of Zoology, the research division of the Zoological Society of London.
The lab says new-generation powders can lift quality fingerprints from 70% of the wildlife specimens tested, and can even recover DNA left by those who handled them. It shares its findings with authorities including Greater London’s Metropolitan Police and border forces in 40 countries.
A heap of trafficked reptile skins, destined for use as luxury exotic leather before it was intercepted.
Britta Jaschinski
A powerful advocate against wildlife trafficking, Jaschinski co-founded Photographers Against Wildlife Crime in 2018 and, with Keith Wilson and Arturo de Frías, created The Evidence Project—a group of photographers including Brent Stirton, Ami Vitale and the late Sebastiao Salgado who contributed images to a volume on humanity’s impact on the natural world.“Wildlife smuggling has been regulated internationally for decades through agreements such as CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), but only in recent years has it begun to be treated with the seriousness it deserves: as a form of transnational organised crime. That shift has been encouraging,” said Jaschinski.
A lion’s head, stuffed and turned into a trophy, is carried by a member of the Border Force, in charge of immigration and customs in the UK.
Britta Jaschinski
A glowing lump of coltan, a metallic ore used in technology, surrounded by dead animal artifacts, including a gorilla skull and porcupine quills. The animal remains were all confiscated by customs, and serve as a reminder of how nature can become collateral damage during illegal mining operations.
Britta Jaschinski
TIME magazine had already voted her sea turtle image one of 2025’s photographs of the year.The Earth Photo prize—organized by the Royal Geographical Society, art consultancy Parker Harris and charity Photoworks—also named winners in seven other categories.
A digital collage created by Payal Kakkar, winner in the Climate Change category for project “Lives of Extraction.”
Payal Kakkar
In the Climate of Change category, Delhi-based Payal Kakkar won top prize for “Lives of Extraction,” documenting the Khairwar Indigenous community’s resistance to land dispossession and coal mining in Majhauli Paath, Singrauli, India.
Natalya Saprunova won the New Scientist Editors Award for her documentation of permafrost thawing and coastal erosion in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Natalya Saprunova
Russian-born, Paris-based Natalya Saprunova won the New Scientist Editors Award for documenting permafrost thaw and coastal erosion in Canada’s Northwest Territories and their impact on the Inuvialuit people.
The Royal Geographical Society in London is exhibiting the prize winners until July 24, before touring their work across the UK through November.