A unique Ukrainian-Peruvian photo exhibition “Grilled Planet: Vulnerable Worlds of Antarctica and Amazonia” has launched in Kyiv. Its official opening took place on the evening of February 6, 2025, at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Cultural and Art Center.
“The hot Amazon and the icy Antarctic – what do they seemingly have in common? In fact, record droughts in the tropics and the melting of glaciers on the coldest continent are all our planet’s response to climate change,” emphasized Evgen Dykyi, director of the National Antarctic Scientific Center, at the opening of the exhibition.
Photographic evidence of global changes in Antarctica and Amazonia can be seen in the exhibition’s 36 photographs. They are arranged in pairs, showing what is happening to both ecosystems and how animals and plants are responding to it.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Peru Yuriy Polyukhovych joined the event online and said that this exhibition is a traveling one. It will soon be presented in the capital of Peru – Lima, and the heart of the Amazon – Iquitos.
Peruvian scientists and Ukrainian Antarctic researchers also virtually attended the opening of the exhibition.
Fredy F. Ramirez, an employee of the National University of the Peruvian Amazon and the author of the photo, noted that 2024 was the hottest year in the history of the Amazon, and this year is expected to be even “hotter” and dry. If last year the daytime temperature in summer was at +33–35°C, now +37–38°C is predicted.
Our scientists from Vernadsky also reported about changes taking place on the icy continent under the influence of global warming. This includes an increase in the average annual air temperature by almost 4°C and weather records for maximum temperature, precipitation, and wind speed.
Accordingly, scientists are also recording nature’s response to climate change. For example, the population of heat-loving subantarctic penguins is rapidly growing around our station, although at the beginning of the 21st century there was not a single one here.
We hope you get to visit the exhibition and see how vulnerable our planet is. The exhibition is open until March 6, 2025, daily from 9:00 to 20:00.
Address: NaUKMA Cultural and Art Center (Kyiv, 9 Illinska St., PidWall Hall).
Admission is free.
Photo: Anna Torgonenko
