Wilderness at the crossroads

THEY are among the last wild places on earth - and some of the most endangered. Wilderness photographer Colin Prior has travelled from the shifting ice sheets of Greenland to the Atacama Desert in Chile and witnessed environmental destruction on a giant scale.

The wild places are reservoirs of biodiversity, he says, and offer a unique spiritual experience that you cannot buy in a supermarket. But he has also seen their destruction, from logging or poaching but increasingly from global warming.

"Ironically, the growing awareness of the environment has made my work far more poignant than it was 20 years ago," he said.

Scotland's environment minister, Ross Finnie, last night introduced Prior's exhibition, The World's Wild Places, at the Glasgow Science Centre.

The pictures show some of the remotest places on earth, he said, "places most of us have never been, but places that, through our lifestyle choices, we are having a significant effect on".

The images are powerful and thought-provoking, Mr Finnie said, a snapshot in time of some of the most beautiful places on Earth. "Places that may never look the same unless every one of us makes sensible, sustainable choices about the way we live."

Recent research suggests that Scotland is already experiencing climate change of its own. Over the past 40 years, annual temperatures have risen by 1C, while rainfall has increased by up to 60 per cent in winter months. The country faces warmer, wetter winters, less snowfall and increased risk of floods.

Prior, right, an award-winning landscape photographer, uses the profits from publishing calendars and prints to pay for his life on the road.

SOSSUSVLEI, IN THE NAMIB NAUKLUFT NATIONAL PARK, NAMIBIA

Sossusvlei, famous for its red sand dunes, lies in one of the world's biggest deserts. The scarce wildlife includes small herds of oryx antelope. Rising temperatures mean deserts will expand as semi-scrub areas give way to dunes

RIO TARABO, VENEZUELA

Rich in macaws, toucans and eagles, the eco-system of the rainforests around Rio Tarabo is threatened by logging for hard woods and felling for grazing and agriculture. Loss of the trees means they no longer absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

ICEBERGS IN EAST GREENLAND

A pristine eco-system, the remotest and most mysterious landscape, but Greenland's ice sheet is melting. Water under the glaciers acts as a lubricant for ice entering the sea. The melting ice drives up sea levels and could knock the Gulf Stream off course

LAKE KARIBA, ZIMBABWE

The Matusadona area of Zimbabwe is home to several endangered animals, but mostly the black rhinoceros. Barely 300 are left, a critically endangered population that once numbered 2,000. Now Zambian poachers are driving up the death rate

SAMBURU NATIONAL PARK, KENYA

Samburu, in Northern Kenya, is an island of refuge for animal species surrounded by a growing human population. Not far outside its borders, over-use of land has reduced the soil to dustbowls. The park is the only reason several species are able to survive

BLUE CHROMIS, IN THE EGYPTIAN RED SEA

Worldwide, 500 million people depend on tourism income from coral reefs, it is estimated. Global warming is killing their livelihood. Increasing concentrations of in the atmosphere sink into the sea, making it more acidic and dissolving the reefs