RJI
   Home | 70th Winners List | 70th Winners Gallery | 70th Judges | Past Competitions Multimedia | Advisory Board | History | POYi Director | Archive | Endowment | Sponsors | Contact   
Main | Issue Reporting Picture Story - Freelance/Agency | Third Place
First Place
Paolo Marchetti
Freelance

"INTERRUPTED - JUVENILE PRISONS"

Second Place
Paolo Pellegrin
Magnum Photos

"THE CRESCENT. ROCHESTER USA 2012"

Third Place
Brent Stirton
Getty Images

"WATER IS PERSONAL"

Award of Excellence
Shannon Jensen
Freelance for Newsweek

"A LONG WALK"

Award of Excellence
Salvi Danés Vernedas
Freelance

"DARK ISOLATION, TOKYO"

Third Place
Brent Stirton
Getty Images

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

"WATER IS PERSONAL"

PORGERA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA HIGHLANDS, 20 NOVEMBER 2010: An impoverished Papuan family illegally prospects in a mine tailings river with heavy metal laden waters on the outskirts of the Porgera Joint Venture Mine, Papua New Guinea. These empoverished people engage in illegal mining on the dumps and tailings outflow areas of the mine in order to survive. They take their five year old daughter and their 7 year old son with them on their daily mining excercises, child workers are a common site on these dumps which are both toxic and a highly dangerous illegal environment. Many of these local people sold their land to the mine for a period of the operational life of the mine. They underestimated how long the mine would keep going and the expansion of the dumping site. The Mine dumps now flow onto the last viable land of these local people and they illegally mine those dumps to eke out a living. The ability to grow vegetable gardens is very limited and there is no hunting anymore. The environmental damage caused by the Porega Mine is a major threat to this landscape and the wellbeing of the local people who have lived in harmony with their environment for centuries. The Porgera Joint Venture Mine dumps 6.2 million tons of tailings sediment into the local river system every year. Close to the mine the waters are red from these tailings and it is feared that long term damage of the river system is permanent.

 

 

70 Winners Gallery | Judges

Home | History | Archive | Endowment | Sponsors | Contact