CIWEM environmental photographer of the year 2013 - in pictures

Michele Palazzi has been awarded the CIWEM environmental photographer of the year award 2013 for his image entitled ‘Gone with the Dust #02’. Palazzi, who is from Rome, Italy, was awarded £5,000 by CIWEM’s president, Paul Hillman, at a private awards ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society on 9 April 2013. His striking image shows a young boy and his sister during a sand storm in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia Photograph: Michele Palazzi/Prospekt

Survivors, 2011. Photographer GMB Akash explains: 'This century-old building in the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh does not harbour ghosts of the past – it shelters living and hopeful souls, braving life in the present. It is home to 80 families of sweepers - one of the most neglected and downtrodden communities, despite rendering an important service making it deserved to be noticed and respected' Photograph: GMB Akash

Farmer under the Sun, 2012. 'Taken in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, a farmer dries rice in the hot sun. Sunlight helps the drying of agricultural products. When the harvest season comes, the farmers are ready to collect crops from the rice paddies in order to ease milling and production' Photograph: Alamsyah Rauf

Uyuni, 2011. 'It is one of the most impressive sights in the world, bringing time to a standstill. The Salar de Uyuni in south-western Bolivia, is now one of the biggest mountain ranges in the world at an elevation of 3,656 metres (11,995 ft) above mean sea level. Salar de Uyuni is one of the most coveted sources in the world thanks to new technologies. The mountain hosts 140 million tonnes of lithium, over half of the world's supply' Photograph: Javier Arcenillas

Quiver Trees by Night 2, 2012. 'The cool glow of our milky way contrasts with the warm light pollution from the nearby town of Keetmanshoop, Namibia, providing a colourful backdrop to a grove of Quiver Trees. This panorama was captured at the Quiver Tree Forest Restcamp, and covers a 230-degree view, composed of 12 exposures' Photograph: Florian Breuer

Model Housing, 2012. 'Designer housing lies almost empty unsold after the housing boom ends in Spain; just some of the estimated 1.2m empty properties that Spain has on offer. This estate near the coast is eerily quiet with only a few properties occupied; concept living that has made it to construction but with no one to move in. We seem to have an innate need to order and compartmentalise our lives, often more obvious from the air' Photograph: Steve Brockett

Hong Kong Hole, 2010. 'In east Asia, western style development is racing ahead of other projects' Photograph: Stuart Chape

Swan on Nest of Rubbish, SE2, 2010. 'In trying to capture London without its occupants and hopefully explore the innate "beauty or ugliness, genius or folly" of its built environment, I was often drawn to the large quantities of rubbish and detritus that litter our streets' Photograph: William Eckersley

Environmental migrants: the last illusion. 'A child walking on the streets of the Gher District. In Ulaan Baator, a huge number of children are not able to attend the school because of the extremely poor conditions of their families. 2008 became the point of no return - for the first time in history there are more people living in cities than in rural areas. Cities will grow even larger due to climate change and to environmental migrants, who are destined to become the new humanitarian emergency of the planet in the next few decades' Photograph: Alessandro Grassani

Environmental migrants: the last illusion, Ulaan Baator, Mongolia #06, 2011 'Erdene Tuya lies in bed with her three-year-old son called Tuvchinjin and a lamb which sleeps with them. The family lives on the edge, struggling through harsh winters alongside their herd of sheep' Photograph: Alessandro Grassani

Environmental migrants: the last illusion. Ulaan Baator, Mongolia #07, 2011 'Erdene Tuya hauls a sheep lost during the Dzud (severe winter conditions) to a small burial ground close to their yurt' Photograph: Alessandro Grassani

E-Waste in Ghana #01, 2011. 'Trading with electronic waste has become a lucrative business in which millions are earned while professional recycling is quite expensive' Photograph: Kai Löeffelbein/Laif

Polluted Landscape, 2012. 'Due to the vast exploitation of coal mines, meadows in Holingol City, Inner Mongolia, China, are left degraded and no cattle or sheep exist there. In order to maintain the image of the city, the local government sculptured more than 120 sheep, as well as cattle, horses and camels in the Horqin grassland' Photograph: Lu Guang

Residents going back home to take their belongings, Tomioka, Fukushima “No-Go Zone”, Japan, 2011 'At the time of the Fukushima evacuation, the inhabitants fled from the radioactive cloud leaving everything behind. 134,000 people were forced to evacuate. Once a month, residents of the evacuated towns have special permission from the authorities to return to their homes to check that everything is in place and to remove their personal belongings. A recent survey among the evacuees has determined that 80% of the evacuees were absolutely not aware of what was going on and had no information on the type of protection to be taken' Photograph: Pierpaolo Mittica

GPAction, 2011 '180km off the Greenland coast, 18 international activists from five inflatable speedboats, launched from the Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, climb ladders onto the 53,000 tonne oil exploratory rig, Leiv Eiriksson. Greenpeace was attempting to stop the Leiv Eiriksson oil rig from drilling in Baffin Bay - one of the most pristine and fragile natural areas in the world, home to important and vulnerable wildlife including almost all of the world’s Narwhal population as well as blue whales, sea bird colonies, and polar bears' Photograph: Steve Morgan

Trashfighter, 2009 'During my research travel through western Africa on the topic of waste and recycling, I focused on children at dump sites. Through my series "Trashfighters", I wanted to show the living realities of these people, fighting on the waste for their everyday survival' Photograph: Igor F. Petkovic

Nuclear Winter, 2012 'This picture was taken on a very cold winter day on the shore of Lake Bokod near Oroszlány. This lake is known for the little fisherman houses and the warm temperature of the lake's water. The Oroszlány power plant is situated in front of the houses and the lake is never frozen in wintertime. When I took this photo, smoke erupted from the power plant and then it just started to snow' Photograph: Zoltán Balogh

An Oil Truck Heading Through Rwanda Bound for Uganda, 2011. 'An oil tanker rolls through the hills of Rwanda along the dusty roads' Photograph: Thomas White