Incredible photos of natural landscapes win Nature Conservancy 2022 Photo Contest

Submissions from India are among the award-winning images

Grand Prize, Li Ping, China. Gullies formed by rainwater erosion span out like a tree in Tibet. All photos: TNC Photo Contest 2022 / The photographer

First Place - Landscape, Francisco Javier Munuera Gonzalez, Spain. Slope of Mount Adi, in Navarra.

Second Place - Landscape, Hendy Wicaksono, Indonesia. Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park is one of the 10 priority tourist destinations in Indonesia.

Honourable Mention - Landscape, Ivan Pedretti, Italy. Winter in Stokksnes on the beach with black sand and the majestic Vestrahorn mountain.

Honourable Mention - Landscape, Waluya Priya Atmaja, Indonesia. East Java at sunset, with mangroves.

Honourable Mention - Landscape, Effy Varley, UK.

First Place, People and Nature, Janusz Jurek, Poland. The photo, taken in Greece, of a huge factory that broke into the sea.

Second Place, People and Nature, Komang Arnawa, Indonesia. A fisherman sorting catches in Kedonganan, Bali.

Honourable Mention, People and Nature, Francesca Franchini, Mexico. The jungle of the Yucatan Peninsula protects a great biodiversity of species.

Honourable Mention, People and Nature, Giovani Cordioli, Brazil. Storm clouds in Varadero beach, Cuba.

Honourable Mention, People and Nature, Amish Jain, India.

Honourable Mention, People and Nature, Marvin Mwarangu, Kenya. A veterinarian works quickly to diagnose and treat an elephant calf wound.

Honourable Mention, People and Nature, Marcelo Paulo Silva, Brazil. A Rio de Janeiro beach on the first day after lockdown was lifted.

First Place, Climate, Sandesh Kadur, India. A fan-throated Lizard stands guard over his territory.

Second Place, Climate, Amish Jain, India. Cleaning the lakes of excessive sea vegetation from hot weather as well as waste dumping.

Honourable Mention, Climate, Jassen Todorov, US. Wastewater ponds.

Honourable Mention, Climate, Ziaul Huque, Bangladesh. A road construction worker in Bangladesh.

Honourable Mention, Climate, Marcelo Perez del Carpio, Bolivia. A forest firefighter walks through thick smoke.

Honourable Mention, Climate, Jassen Todorov, US. The devastation caused by the Dixie fire, California's largest single wildfire.

Honourable Mention, Climate, Florian Ledoux, Norway. Aerial view of two different types of ice in winter.

First Place, Water, Kristin Wright, US. Brightly coloured sediment paints the Icelandic landscape.

Second Place, Water, Nick Leopold Sordo, Mexico. Pink water lagoons in Las Coloradas salt mines in Yucatan.

Honourable Mention, Water, Dasun Nirmala Malaarachchi, Australia. Bluewater, golden sand and white foam mixed with bright sunlight in New South Wales.

Honourable Mention, Water, Tom Shlesinger, Israel. A Goliath Grouper fish.

Honourable Mention, Water, Tom Fenske, US. The drainpipe of the Pacific, a natural hole in the rock along the Oregon Coast.

First Place, Plants and Fungi, Callie Chee, Australia. Bioluminescent mushrooms or 'ghost mushrooms'.

Second Place, Plants and Fungi, Xiaoling Keller, US. Soaptree Yucca in New Mexico.

Honourable Mention, Plants and Fungi, Tibor Litauszki, Hungary. Crocuses in the twilight.

Honourable Mention, Plants and Fungi, Patrick Krohn, US. Dew drops balance on this purple heart flower.

Honorable Mention, Plants and Fungi, Jake Virus, US. A spooky forest in Ba Vi National Park in Vietnam.

Honourable Mention, Plants and Fungi, Cristiano Xavier, Brazil. Dragon Blood Trees on Socotra Island.

Honourable Mention, Plants and Fungi, Cristiano Xavier, Brazil. An old tree of Madeira Island light painted in a foggy evening.

First Place, Wildlife, Anup Shah, UK. Maasai Mara, Kenya.

Second Place, Wildlife, Panos Laskarakis, Greece. African dust around the supergiant in wild Namibia.

Honourable Mention, Wildlife, Tibor Litauszki, Hungary. Deer at dawn blue.

Honourable Mention, Wildlife, Baiju Patil, India.

Honourable Mention, Wildlife, Torie Hilley, US. Two young bull giraffes fighting in South Africa.

Honourable Mention, Wildlife, Rick Dowling, US. Eagles fighting for a piece of salmon.

Honourable Mention, Wildlife, Masahiro Hiroike, Japan. Nanbu Town, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. Himebotaru fireflies emit short and powerful lights like a flash.

Honourable Mention, Wildlife, Tibor Litauszki, Hungary. Multi-exposure shot.

Honourable Mention, Wildlife, Fabio Saltarelli, Argentina. Elephant seal defends her calf from a bird in the Falkland Islands.

Honourable Mention, Wildlife, Jenny Zhao, US. Low-angle shot of a giraffe drinking at a waterhole, accompanied by an oxpecker, in South Africa.

Guest Judge Ami Vitale’s Choice, Shafeeq Mulla, Zambia. A leopard carries the carcass of a vervet monkey, with its baby still hanging on, in Zambia.

Celebrity Judge Coyote Peterson’s Choice, Florian Ledoux, Norway. A polar bear and her two cubs in an abandoned Russian settlement, Pyramiden.

Gullies formed by rainwater erosion span out like a tree on either side of a motorway in Tibet. This is the striking image by Li Ping, from China, who won the grand prize for the Nature Conservancy photography award this year.

The photographer slept alone in a roadside car park overnight before using a drone in the early hours of the morning to capture this natural landscape.

Images from all over the world make up the winners list, which is broken down into various categories including judges’ picks, Landscape, People and Nature, Climate, Water, Plants and Fungi, and Wildlife.

The global photography competition this year received more than 100,000 submissions from 196 countries and territories.

In Wildlife, Indian photographer Sandesh Kadur bagged first place, with his image Lizards and Windmills. A fan-throated lizard stands guard over his territory in one of the largest wind farms within the Chalkewadi plateau.

Amish Jain, also from India, came in second place for the same category, for Cleaning the Lakes. It shows a person cleaning lakes of excessive sea vegetation owing to the hot climate, as well as waste being dumped into the waters.

The winning images within the Water category are particularly striking, with Kristin Wright, from the US, taking first place for Braided River, a view of the longest river in Iceland showing brightly coloured sediment painting the landscape as it flows towards the ocean.

Second place went to Nick Leopold Sordo, from Mexico, for Las Coloradas, Yucatan. Pink hues of the salt mines give a beautiful spin on one of the most important salt-generating plants in the country.

Anup Shah, from the UK, won Wildlife with his shot of two lions. The image, called Morani and Friend, shows an older lion next to his youthful companion in Kenya’s Maasai Mara. “The old guy is one of the Four Musketeers that ruled Mara long time ago,” reads the description.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year: winning images revealed — in pictures

Under Antarctic ice by Laurent Ballesta, winner of the Portfolio Award category at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. All photos: PA

Shooting star by Tony Wu, winner of the Underwater category.

Battle stations by Ekaterina Bee, winner of the Young Wildlife Photography of the Year, ages 10 and under category.

New life for the tohora by Richard Robinson, winner of the Oceans: The Bigger Picture category.

The big buzz by Karine Aigner, overall winner and winner of the Behaviour: Invertebrates category.

The Cuban connection by Karine Aigner, overall winner and winner of the Photojournalist Story Award category.

The beauty of baleen by Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, winner of the Young Wildlife Photography of the Year, ages 15-17 category.

Spectacled bear's slim outlook by Daniel Mideros, winner of the Animals in Their Environment category.

The dying lake by Daniel Nunez, winner of the Wetlands - The Bigger Picture category.

The listening bird by Nick Kanaki, winner of the Behaviour: Birds category.

The great cliff chase by Anand Nambiar, winner of the Behaviour: Mammals category.

The magical morels by Agorastos Papatsani, winner of the Plants and Fungi category.

Ndakasi's passing by Brent Stirton, winner of the Photojournalism category.

The bat-snatcher by Fernando Constantino Martinez Belmar, winner of the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category.

House of bears by Dmitry Kokh, winner of the Urban Wildlife category.

Puff perfect by Jose Juan Hernandez Martine, winner of the Animal Portraits category.

Out of the fog by Ismael Dominguez Gutierrez, winner of the Young Wildlife Photography, ages 11-14 category.

Heavenly flamingos by Junji Takasago, winner of the Natural Artistry category.

A theatre of birds by Mateusz Piesiak, winner of the Rising Star Portfolio Award category.