Dedicated to the Arctic and chaired by climatologist Jean Jouzel, winner of the 2012 Vetlesen Award and co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Award as Director of the IPCC, and under the patronage of Minister Ségolène Royal, French Ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctic Poles, the 9th edition of the Carmignac Photojournalism Award was awarded to Yuri Kozyrev and Kadir van Lohuizen.

Their double polar expedition project, “Arctic: New Frontier”, focuses on the consequences of the melting of the sea ice for the planet, and the medium-term prospect of its total disappearance.

Yuri Kozyrev travelled towards the East and Kadir van Lohuizen headed West. Each of them travelled halfway across the Arctic Circle to meet in September in the Berin Strait.

From Russia to Norway, Greenland, Canada and Alaska, the two laureates, in their respective areas of research, explored key issues affecting the Arctic - the opening of new trade routes, the militarisation of borders, the search for mineral resources, polar tourism, etc. - and their impact on our daily lives.

“The melting of the polar sea ice is in the process of changing the map of the world for ever. In visiting all the affected regions and countries in one expedition and by showing how the different players – starting with Russia and the U.S. – are working on conquering the North Pole, we are revealing how the impact of climate change in the Arctic is of global significance for the rest of the world.”