On the occasion of the 20th anniversary edition of SpeleoFotoContest, the Sentry Award is enriched by a new and significant perspective: the introduction of the Climate Change category, a section dedicated to documenting and visually interpreting the effects of climate change observable in subterranean environments.

This initiative has been made possible thanks to the valuable collaboration with Tullio Bernabei—a long-standing reference point in the field of speleological outreach—and through the active dialogue established with the UCC – Underground Climate Change project.

The idea for this category was born precisely from our encounter with Bernabei. Together, we recognized the urgency and importance of encouraging speleologists to focus their attention on a topic as timely as it is complex: the often silent but unmistakable signs of climate change, even deep within cave systems—the central theme around which the entire UCC project revolves.

Here are the words of Tullio Bernabei, one of the promoters and supporters of this initiative:

“One of the categories of the ‘Sentry SFC25’ Award is Climate Change, developed in collaboration with the UCC (Underground Climate Change) project.

UCC is a national speleological citizen science project, launched at the end of 2023, aimed at contributing to the understanding of climate change by measuring and monitoring the extent and effects of this global transformation within underground environments—specifically, in caves.

The project involves creating a standardized monitoring network and the widest possible database of air, water, and rock temperatures measured in caves—past, present, and future. It also seeks to initiate scientific interpretations and hypotheses about the ongoing warming process and its consequences for subterranean ecosystems and drinking water reserves.

Although the need to monitor cave climates has been recognized for decades, existing studies are all isolated, local efforts carried out with different tools and methods, often making them non-comparable. UCC therefore aims to focus on two essential elements: a unified overview—a true network—and the definition of a standardized technical protocol.

It is now a certainty that temperatures are rising even inside caves. What remains much less clear is how, at what rate, and in what ways these changes are occurring, as well as what visible effects are already manifesting.

The challenge facing photographers who wish to address climate change in caves is therefore complex, not straightforward, but open to many forms of interpretation.

What is certain is that this is a real and urgent issue, and its communication is primarily the responsibility of those who frequently explore caves: speleologists.”

A challenge for photographers, a responsibility for all speleologists

The Climate Change category is not just an opportunity to express creativity through cave photography—it’s also a call to responsibility. Photographing climate change in some of the most hidden places on the planet means becoming active and conscious witnesses to what is happening beneath our feet.

With this new section of the Sentry Award, SpeleoFotoContest aims to promote a culture of documentation and awareness, engaging not only professional photographers but also enthusiasts and speleologists who wish to contribute to the narrative of an epochal transformation.

We invite all participants to embrace this challenge—with sharp eyes and open minds—because the future of our planet is also being told in the darkness of caves, among drops of water, millennia-old formations, and thermometers that silently speak of change.