Making the invisible visible: photo contest puts groundwater and climate change in the spotlight
Images often speak louder than words. A photo competition on groundwater and climate change hosted by the IAH Groundwater and Climate Change Commission under four themes showcased groundwater’s interactions with climate change and its importance to society and the environment. The themes were drought and scarcity, climate interactions, sustainable solutions, and the hidden value of water. Opened on the 1st of March 2026, the contest aimed to raise awareness of groundwater’s role in climate resilience. It also set out to engage early career professionals, students and photography enthusiasts in visual storytelling. The response was global: 56 photographs from 14 countries, with India contributing the most entries. An international jury of 11 experts evaluated the submissions for relevance, originality and overall quality, and selected the top 20 photos which were displayed on the screens during the IAH Congress in Budapest. The awards were presented at the closing ceremony of the Congress. The winning photo was by Yadav Ankita Ramesh – The Last Drop, showing a man in Deogaon village, Maharashtra, descending into the depth of an almost empty well.
Special early career mentions were for Preko Louisa Agyekumwaa – The Morning Lifeline and Leunell Chris Buela – Measuring the Invisible. The first captures women fetching groundwater from a borehole at sunrise in Dawando village, Ghana. The second, taken in Los Baños, Philippines, shows a groundwater measurement in a striking panoramic view. The IAH Commission on Groundwater and Climate Change thanks the jury and all participants for their enthusiasm, and invites the community to follow its upcoming projects, events and calls for action at https://gwclimate.iah.org/.
IAH’s Commission on Groundwater and Climate Change (CGCC) is an official network of International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH). Created in 2002, the aims of the commission are:
- to improve understanding of the relationship between groundwater and climate change, and
- to investigate the role of groundwater in adaptation to climate variability and change.
We hope our website will encourage you to find out more about the commission, our mission and our challenges, explore our activities and also to become involved.
IAH is an international charitable organisation that promotes sound development and management of groundwater – seen by many as the worldwide family of hydrogeologists.
For more news regarding groundwater see https://gwclimate.iah.org/articles
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IAH CGCC Activities 2024/2025
1.Raise global awareness around the groundwater and climate change
- Linking to initiatives of UN-Water Expert Groups (Water and Climate Change, Groundwater)
- Updating website on Groundwater and Climate Change in the news
2.Promoting research and development
- Contributions to the research in the field
- Contributions to congresses, conferences, technical meetings (IAH, IWRA, IAEA)
- Contributions to journal special issues
- Latest publications on research in Groundwater and Climate Change
3.Education and outreach
- Joint International Master Programme on Groundwater and Global Change
Our GWCC (Com)mission – Where you can contribute
1.Promote research and development to advance scientific and technical knowledge in the field of groundwater and climate change, and related fields (e.g. agriculture, energy, health);
2.Foster inter-disciplinary collaborations with research institutions, water managers
and policy makers;
3.Engage with key international organisations, agencies and programmes
(e.g. UNESCO-IHP, IGRAC, IAEA, FAO);
4.Disseminate research and development outcomes to the global research community and global development community including governmental and non-governmental organisations;
5.Create awareness of the IAH-CGCC among IAH members, related professions and wider water resources and water supply communities.
