FAO Selects Seven Winning Forest Photos From 530 Global Entries

Forests and Economies" was the theme for 2026's International Day of Forests, and the FAO built its photo contest around that idea with a hard-nosed geographic structure: seven winners selected worldwide, one for each of the six major regions of the world, plus a special prize for the photo that best illustrates the role of forests in regulating water resources, in connection with World Water Day on March 22.

When the entry window closed, the numbers were significant. The contest drew 530 submissions from photographers across 87 countries, and on March 19, a panel of experts named the seven winning images from that global pool. Three of those regional winners have been identified.

Ahiman Jean Yann-Loic Abrogoua took the Africa prize with "What the forest provides," shot in Côte d'Ivoire. Javier Guamán claimed the Latin America and the Caribbean slot with "Into the forest," from Ecuador. The Europe winner came from Austria, where Florian Winter captured something that most forest photographers never attempt: an overhead perspective on active timber harvesting. His image, titled "Harvesting the forest, sustaining the future," was shot from the air. "This aerial photograph shows a harvester operating within a dense forest," Winter explained. "The image highlights sustainable forest management as a key economic driver: forests provide jobs, renewable raw materials and income for local communities. Modern forestry technology supports efficient and responsible wood harvesting, helping to balance economic development with the long-term health of forest ecosystems."

It's exactly the kind of image this contest was designed to surface. The theme, framed as "Forests for Economic Prosperity," highlights how forests and trees support local and national economies, serving as sources of jobs and income, suppliers of renewable materials, green energy, and forest products, while also playing a key indirect role in supporting agricultural productivity, preserving watersheds, and strengthening resilience to climate change. The contest specifically asked participants to capture either forests' contribution to economic prosperity or their role in regulating water resources, the latter tied directly to World Water Day.

More than half of global GDP, an estimated $44 trillion, depends on nature, including forests, which gives the economic framing real weight beyond the photographic exercise.

FAO marked International Day of Forests 2026 and World Water Day 2026 on March 21 with a series of high-level and technical events at its headquarters in Rome. In a video message opening the celebrations, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu emphasized the intrinsic connection between forests, water and agriculture, saying "Forests need water, water needs forests, and we depend on both."

For the winning photographers, the prize package is modest but visible: the winning images will be shared across FAO's social media channels and will go on display as part of a photography exhibition at FAO headquarters in Rome, with winners also receiving a collection of FAO merchandise including an FAO water bottle, backpack, and keep cup. The real currency here is the wall space in Rome and the reach of FAO's international platform, which puts these seven images in front of policymakers, foresters, and development professionals worldwide.

The identities of the remaining four regional winners, including the photographer behind the special water-resources prize image, have not yet been released in full. What is confirmed is that 523 photographers who entered did not make the cut, which in a contest spanning 87 countries, says something about the standard of the seven that did.