Canadian photojournalist wins COP26 photography competition

Canadian wins COP26 photography competition Ottawa native Jo-Anne McArthur and her breathtaking animal images took top prize in COP26’s photography competition.

TORONTO — A Canadian photographer won top prize at the UN climate conference photo competition.

Jo-Anne McArthur’s images of animals won two prizes at COP26, which officially wrapped up in Glasgow, Scotland on Nov. 12.

McArthur said on CTV News Channel that the most crucial photo she snapped was of cows in transport at the Bulgarian-Turkish border.

“For me that’s the most important image here in fact, the hidden aspect of eating animals, using animals and animals in transport,” she said. “Here in Canada we transport millions of animals every year, you know it’s one of the things we don’t think about when we’re eating animals.”

McArthur, who is vegan, said that “when it comes to our use of animals, we often don’t think of the other ramifications – of course it’s not good for the animals, but its not good for its contributions to climate change as well.”

McArthur related the science of greenhouse gas emissions to her work, which has explored the devastation of climate-change induced extreme weather events like wildfires -- which led to an award-winning photograph of a kangaroo in the midst of the burnt remnants of a forest in Australia.

“It’s interesting how we talk about climate change, and what climate change is causing,” she said. “Because we have to remember that we are causing climate change. I think it’s interesting to always bring it back to that language.”

Discussing her work, which requires McArthur to travel extensively and sometimes in dangerous situations, she acknowledged that her travel contributes to climate change but that “in the greater good,” her work makes the plight of these animals, which are affected by human-made climate change, visible.

“We don’t see the animals that are affected by climate change, they’re in factory farms by the billions…so that is what I do in particular, focusing on animals and their sentience, how they’re affected by us and how us using them affects the rest of the world,” she said.