The fifth annual 'Eye of the Climate' photography contest, jointly organized by Météo-France and GEO magazine since 2021, has concluded with the announcement of three winners. After three months of participation, awards were presented by both the public and a jury composed of editorial members from GEO and Météo-France.
After five years of operation, the photography contest co-organized by Météo-France and GEO continues to grow, attracting new amateur and professional photographers dedicated to documenting the effects of climate change in France. Several regular participants also contributed by shifting their perspectives and capturing different subjects than in previous years.
From hundreds of photographs submitted, the jury selected 10 of the most representative images, along with 5 additional photos for the overseas territories prize. The 2025 'Eye of the Climate' selection illustrates the diverse consequences of global warming on our environment and society, including heat waves, diseased forests, glacier melting, coastal erosion, drought, and extreme weather events such as cyclones, forest fires, floods, and heavy rainfall. The impacts on biodiversity and agriculture are also brilliantly highlighted in the winning selections.
Navigator Clarisse Crémer, who served as the patron of the 2025 edition, announced the three winners of this anniversary edition through a video testimonial. The Jury Prize was awarded to Jeremy Garamond for his photograph titled 'Lost in Translation,' which features an aerial view of a historically bourgeois house left abandoned because it is destined to collapse due to the inevitable rise in sea levels along the French coastline, coastal erosion, and shoreline retreat. According to the photographer's caption, thousands of houses are similarly affected by these climate-related challenges.
The Public Prize went to Théo Guillaume for his photograph 'Out of Breath,' captured in the turquoise waters of Tetiaroa in French Polynesia. The image shows a young green turtle launching toward life, taken during Guillaume's work as a marine biologist for the Te Mana O Te Moana association at the fragile moment when newborns discover the ocean. This little survivor had just emerged from a partially hatched nest on the isolated motu of Rimatuu, trapped for several days under coral fragments. Once freed, she rushed toward the sea with surprising strength, but her labored breathing revealed a rare malformation where closed nostrils forced her to struggle to breathe.
Guillaume explained that the embryonic development of sea turtles closely depends on temperature, with normal life able to hatch between 24°C and 35°C, but beyond these limits, the risk of malformations and mortality increases significantly. In a world where heat waves are becoming more frequent and intense, the vitality of embryos is directly threatened, compromising the very survival of the species. This fragile moment testifies to both the power and vulnerability of marine life, as the climate extremes predicted for tomorrow in France and its overseas territories—heat waves exceeding 40°C and soils dried for months—are already perceptible elsewhere, including in the precarious balance of these births.
The Overseas Prize was awarded to Eve Delahaut for 'Ua Pou, a Once Tropical Paradise,' featuring the Hakamoui Valley on the island of Ua Pou in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. Once the cradle of the tribe of the island's last great chief, Heato, this valley was densely populated with varied and lush vegetation and several streams flowing into the sea. In recent years, as precipitation has drastically decreased, the municipality has been forced to ration water distribution to just two hours at dawn and two hours at dusk. This eastern valley of the island is particularly affected by the invasion of Acacia thickets (Leucaena leucocephala) and roaming herds of goats and cattle, two factors that aggravate erosion. Livestock farming was once a significant food resource for the island's inhabitants, but they are now forced to limit it due to lack of fodder for their animals, making them increasingly dependent on products imported from mainland France or the United States.
