World Press Photo 2022

Story of the Year

Indigenous Australians strategically burn land in a practice known as cool burning, in which fires move slowly, burn only the undergrowth, and remove the build-up of fuel that feeds bigger blazes. The Nawarddeken people of West Arnhem Land, Australia, have been practising controlled cool burns for tens of thousands of years and see fire as a tool to manage their 1.39 million ha homeland. Warddeken rangers combine traditional knowledge with contemporary technologies to prevent wildfires, thereby decreasing climate-heating carbon dioxide.

Nawarddeken elder Conrad Maralngurra burning grass to protect the Mamadawerre community from late-season “wildfires” in Mamadawerre, Arnhem Land, Australia, on May 3, 2021. The late evening fire will die out naturally once the temperature drops and moisture levels rise. Title: Saving Forests with Fire © Matthew Abbott, for National Geographic/Panos Pictures
A black kite (subspecies Affinis of Milvus migrans) flying above a cool-burn fire lit by hunters earlier in the day, in Mamadawerre, Arnhem Land, Australia, on May 2, 2021. The raptor, also known as a firehawk, is native to northern and eastern Australia, and hunts near active fires, snatching up large insects, small mammals and reptiles as they flee the flames. © Matthew Abbott, for National Geographic/Panos Pictures
A group of Nawarddeken women elders hunting for turtles with homemade tools on flood plains near Gunbalanya, Arnhem Land, Australia on Oct 31, 2021. They spent all day finding just two turtles, which are a popular delicacy. Soon the grass will be burned to make the hunt easier. © Matthew Abbott, for National Geographic/Panos Pictures

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