Isolation by Daniel Beltra

Photo Credit: Daniel Beltra

Daniel Beltra is a photographer based in Seattle. His passion for conservation is evident in his evocative images of the environment. Since the early 1990s, Beltr's work has taken him to all seven continents, including expeditions to the Amazon, the Arctic, the Southern Oceans, and the Patagonian ice fields, many of those in partnership with Greenpeace.

Isolation

Nature, third prize stories

27-10-2005

Big river boat trapped on a sand bank east of Barreirinha.

The Amazon region experienced its worst drought in many decades. Low water levels stranded river-life and boats. Those communities who relied on river transport were isolated and had to depend on airlifts for supplies. Greenpeace blamed the drought on global warming and deforestation, claiming that forest burning had raised temperatures and prevented cloud formation. Brazilian government meteorologists said the dry weather had been caused by unusually high temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and also linked it to the year's devastating hurricanes.