For many decades, Sweden has crafted a reputation for itself as a world leader of environmentalism. This is in large part a myth, created by large industries (primarily forestry and energy) and the state. We pride ourselves on our green energy and vast forests - but we have little reason to.

While much of Sweden is covered in trees, most of our natural forests have been chopped down, and the ecosystems shattered as the land is treated as an agricultural field. We plant new trees, yes, but a monoculture of spruce or pine - grown purely to be harvested again in some decades - is no substitute for intact, healthy habitats thousands of years old. There are sustainable forestry practices, but clear-cutting large swaths of native forest is not among them - yet our record is worse than that of Borneo or the Amazon.

Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story. Not only are we told that trees - any trees - are as good as forests. We are, in fact, told that they are BETTER than forests, and a necessity if we want to meet climate change targets. This is simply not true. Biofuel and paper production are environmentally unsound practices at the best of times, but particularly so in boreal forests as most of the carbon is stored underground - not in the wood itself. Clear-cutting and plowing, therefore, releases carbon stored away for centuries, sometimes millennia.

Not to be outdone, the energy sector is harvesting old-growth forests in the north of Sweden to build wind turbines, somehow convincing themselves and others that biodiversity and habitat loss is unavoidable despite the availability of other sites. The truth is simply that there are fewer people to complain in our remaining wilderness areas.

In addition to the environmental cost which we all must bear, the indigenous people of Fenno-Scandinavia, the Sami, stand to lose their millennia-old reindeer herding culture - a topic I will explore further as a separate story at a later date.

Victor Persson runs a bird rescue and rehabilitation center (svr.nu) in his backyard, not far from Sweden’s capital city, Stockholm. Every day, he and his team of volunteer veterinarians receive, care for, and release all manner of birds, from swans and seagulls to falcons and eagles. Some have been hit by cars or swallowed fishing hooks, others have been shot or poisoned.

The thin green line - the men and women who often risk their own lives to protect our planet’s wild places and animals. I have had the privilege of working and spending time with rangers and their families across the African continent, undoubtedly one of the great honors of my career. 

Millions of children around the world suffer from malnutrition - they’re not necessarily starving, but the food they eat lacks essential nutrients. VitaMeal, produced through an initiative called Nourish the Children, was developed by nutrition scientists, and to date more than 650 million meals have been distributed to children under the age of 5, with Malawi being the largest beneficiary.

A group of veterinarians looking after the health and well-being of wild mountain and Grauer’s gorillas in Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo - and the world’s only captive mountain gorillas, rescued by rangers when their families were killed.

The efforts of non-profit organisation to mitigate human-predator conflict in and around the Masai Mara, Kenya, from de-snaring enforcing livestock enclosures to foot patrols and making wildlife financially beneficial to local communities.

A sanctuary for chimpanzees and other primates rescued from captivity, primarily victims of the pet trade, in eastern DR Congo.

An amazing project in sleepy Senga Bay, Malawi, run by the mercurial Samantha Luddick. Children collect plastic litter, and each kilo is converted into points - points which can then be used as currency in the “Swop Shop” to obtain anything from biscuits and stationary to sports equipment and clothing, much of which is donated by visitors to Cool Runnings, Sam’s guesthouse.

Poaching, charcoal burning, animal cruelty - this is an unpleasant but unfortunately necessary category to include, and these are issues we must talk about and do our very best to find solutions to. I often try to partner and collaborate with organisations attempting to do exactly that - finding solutions - in an effort to highlight both the dangers we face and the incredible work being done to fight them.

If children are the future, then education is without a doubt one of the most important tools to ensure that coming generations receive the best possible chance to create one of hope rather than despair, both for themselves and the planet.

The most essential commodity on the planet, yet one those of us who do not lack it often take for granted. Access to clean, safe water not only saves lives, it can transform them.

One of the world’s premiere conservation non-profits, African Parks manages protected areas across the African continent, often in tricky and sometimes dangerous places. Their results tend to be spectacular and sustainable for wildlife and local human communities alike.

Documenting the efforts of doctors and nurses to save human lives, particularly in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. To be allowed to see and capture scenes which are often of a very intimate, and sometimes traumatic, nature, is a show of trust I very much appreciate and value.

Humans have been altering natural landscapes for thousands of years - that is nothing new. What is new, however, is the scale and pace of that transformation. Most of our planet’s wild places have been destroyed, replaced by settlements and agriculture or simply turned into wastelands. This is a collection of images showcasing some of those human landscapes, from urbanization in Asia to deforestation in Sweden.