Wrapping the surviving tree, 2014 Cambodian Buddhist monks and local villagers bless one of the remaining large trees in an area destroyed to make way for a banana plantation. Though they have arrived too late to stop the destruction completely, by wrapping an orange cloth around the remaining trees and praying, they hope to deter future loggers by making the trees sacred. Following uncontrolled forest destruction in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest in Southwest Cambodia, an eco-warrior monk movement has begun to try and protect areas of forest at risk.

Watering Melon, 2015A husband and wife watering watermelon saplings on the Teesta river bed, in West Bengal, India. The river is gradually drying up, so the couple have resorted to watering by pumping the river water through a long, flexible pipe.

Families are living under the Bridge, 2015School-aged boys chat, seemingly oblivious to the dereliction of their surroundings. Dipayan works in Kolkata, India, and has been a photographer for four years, slowly building up recognition in his own country and abroad for his intimate images of daily life in the developing world.

Eden Restored - The Mesopotamian Marshes of Iraq, 2015 People have returned to their traditional way of life after they were forced to evacuate the marshes when they were drained in the early 90s by Saddam Hussein.

The toxic price of leather, 2014On the banks of the Ganges River in northern India lies the largest producer of leather products in the country. Kanpur’s leather is exported across the world, with 95% of it destined for western markets. It is now notorious for having some of the country’s worst water, laced with toxic chemicals from tanneries’ waste effluent. The grey water is used by local people and channelled onto local farmland, poisoning the soil, and entering the food chain. An array of health problems now afflict locals who suffer from bio-accumulation of toxins over decades.

Man in the face of nature 1, 2014 Engels Leaching Tower, 135m below ground level, in the Wieliczka Salt Mine in Kraków, Poland. Saline water flows through the tower, dissolving lumps of salt placed inside to produce fully saturated brine.

Life in the circle, 2014According to a government report, the total number of beggars across Bangladesh is now more than 900,000. The circumstances of beggars in the country appear to contradict the right to life and freedom of movement, which are guaranteed as fundamental rights by the Bangladeshi constitution. There are allegations of physical, mental and even sexual torture against people in shelter centers, leading many homeless to take to the streets and find whatever shelter they can.

Fishing net checking, 2014Fishermen check their nets in Vietnam. The marine economy is one of the strongest economic sectors of Vietnam, targeted to reach 53-55% of GDP by 2020 and to comprise more than 60% of the country’s export turnover. Overfishing is a real concern as areas of the Mekong Delta, home to millions, grow devoid of fish.

Collecting crabs, 2014 A former farmer and resident of Satkhira, Bangladesh, on his land. The severe cyclonic storm Aila hit the west Bengal coast, west of the Bangladesh border, on 25 May 2009. It caused a storm surge of two to three meters above tide levels along the west Bengal and Bangladesh coasts, with severe devastation to these areas. His land once-fertile land was waterlogged and is no longer cultivable due to the high salinity of soil and water. Now he supports his family by collecting crabs and selling them at the market.

Retrace our steps, 2014 Midori Ito is staged in an abandoned supermarket in Namie City inside the Fukushima no-go zone. Nothing here has changed since the disaster happened. The products stored in the supermarket have passed their expiry date for several years now. Ironically, a sign written in Japanese boasts “fresh products”. The photographers asked former residents or inhabitant from the Fukushima region, and in some cases, the actual owners of certain properties, to join them inside the no-go zone and open the doors to these ordinary, but now unfriendly, places.

Beauty Salon, 2014 Two women, dressed in purple and holding weaves, stand in the doorway of a hair and beauty salon, one of several such waterside establishments in Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. They are usually very busy on Sunday, when the women of the local community are preparing for church or other ceremonies. The Makoko slum is a community, under threat from eviction, built over the polluted waters of the Lagos Lagoon.