CIWEM Photos

We're all used to art being used as a vehicle for propaganda, but this photo by Lu Guang takes the biscuit. Look closely and you might notice that the sheep are statues! Lu Guang took his photo Polluted Landscape (2012) on the outskirts of Holingol City, Inner Mongolia, China. Pollution from coal mines has ruined the Horqin Grassland. So the local government had more than 120 sheep sculpted - plus cattle, horses and camels - to convince myopic tourists that the land is healthy enough to be grazed! (Tourism is important to the economy.) This is one of the photos in the running for the CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2013. The winners will be announced on 9 April. The exhibition opens the following day at the Royal Geographical Society in London. CLICK for a Telegraph slide show of selected entries.