Daniel Beltra Wins Prince's Rainforests Project Award

 

ILCP member and AFC friend Daniel Beltra was announced as the winner of The Prince's Rainforests Project (PRP) Award at this year's Sony World Photography Awards Gala ceremony in Cannes, France on April 16, 2009.

Spanish photographer Beltra, now based in Seattle, beat off stiff competition from some of the world's finest environmental photographers to win a fully-funded assignment to document three rainforest regions of the world. On behalf of The Prince's Rainforests Project and Sony Eco, he will travel through the rainforest nations over the course of three months.

The Prince's Rainforests Project, founded by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, recognizes the global role played by rainforests in climate change and aims to achieve consensus about how the rate of deforestation might be slowed and stopped. There is a growing awareness of the need to urgently protect the world's rainforests, their people and their resources.

The project is working alongside other governmental and non-governmental initiatives to find a solution to deforestation for the rainforests nations, with the aim of making the trees worth more live than they are dead. The project is also working to inform and engage public interest on this subject, collecting mass support to make rainforests central to any future climate change strategy.

On behalf of The Prince's Rainforests Project and Sony Eco, he will travel through the rainforest nations over the course of three months.

In a video message at the awards night, HRH The Prince of Wales, said, "Photographic imagery can tell a compelling story about the truth of the situation and, the truth is, if we lose the fight against tropical deforestation, then we lose the fight against climate change."

Daniel Beltra, on the announcement of his award, commented, "Winning The Prince's Rainforests Project category at the Sony World Photography Awards is a tremendous honor. It is an incredible opportunity to work as part of a team of the most qualified professionals that are focused in protecting the world's tropical rainforests. Tackling their destruction is one of the most effective ways to combat carbon emissions and global warming. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales' leadership in this matter is an example to all of us. I hope the photos I produce will make a strongly persuasive argument for the urgent preservation of the world's tropical rainforests."

Well known for his environmental and conservational photography, for the last twenty years, Daniel Beltra's images of the rapidly changing planet have appeared in many of the world’s most prestigious magazines and newspapers.






Portfolio - Images by Daniel Beltra

Daniel Beltra's Website: http://www.danielbeltra.com

Sony World Photography Contest: http://www.worldphotographyawards.org/2009.aspx

Prince Charles' Rainforest Program: http://www.rainforestsos.org/