Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative
Live Talk
Thomas Peschak
ABOUT
THE ROLEX AND NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PERPETUAL PLANET AMAZON EXPEDITION
In the past, Amazon research has mainly concentrated on the rainforest itself with little attention to the giant aquatic web, the Amazon River basin, that nourishes and connects the forest.
Two years ago, seven teams from the Rolex and National Geographic Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition set off to investigate the world’s largest freshwater river system, from the Andes to the Atlantic.
The National Geographic Explorers have spent the last two years discovering, documenting and learning how to protect this unique aquatic ecosystem:
- Baker Perry and Tom Matthews, who installed a weather station near the Nevado Ausangate glacier (among the highest in the world at 6,000 metres above sea level) to better monitor key source waters for the Amazon
- Ruthmery Pillco-Huarcaya and Andrew Whitworth, who assessed the health of the Andean Bear population and their important role in regenerating the cloud forest that is being impacted by climate change
- Thiago Silva and Julia Tavares, who used light detection and ranging technology to scan the forest’s seasonal wetlands and investigated their functional traits to better understand how trees have adapted to environmental changes
- Andressa Scabin and Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate João Campos-Silva, who worked with local communities to study and protect six of the Amazon’s key riverine megafauna
- Hinsby Cadillo-Quiroz, Jennifer Angel-Amaya and Josh West, who investigated artificial ponds created by human activity to find solutions for regenerating the transformed landscapes
- María Jimena Valderrama and 2024 Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year Fernando Trujillo, who tracked populations of river dolphins, assessing the level of contaminants in their blood as a barometer for river health
- Angelo Bernardino and Margaret Owuor, who surveyed the mangroves along the Atlantic coast and discovered the first mangrove forest growing in fresh water known to science
Thomas Peschak
Marine Biologist and National Geographic Explorer
Helen Czerski
Physicist and oceanographer
"This isn’t just one expedition, these were 40 expeditions disguised as one big, connected one. Each one could have been a monumental, once-in-a-lifetime achievement. The only way to pull off something of this magnitude is to partner with the likes of Rolex and National Geographic."
Thomas Peschak, Marine Biologist and National Geographic Explorer
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Thomas Peschak is a National Geographic Explorer and photographer specializing in documenting the beauty and fragility of the world’s oceans and coasts. Trained as a marine biologist, he embraced photojournalism after realizing his photographs could have a greater conservation impact than scientific statistics.
Peschak has covered some of the most critical conservation stories of our time, and his work has been featured in 16 National Geographic magazine editions. His recent magazine work includes, “The Amazon’s First Storytellers” (June 2023) and “Niassa: The Myth of Wild Africa” (Sept. 2023). His images and stories have won 17 Wildlife Photographer of the Year and seven World Press Photo Awards. Peschak is a founding director of the Manta Trust, the director of storytelling for the Save our Seas Foundation, and a senior fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He’s spoken numerous times at National Geographic Live events, and his 2015 TED Talk “Dive into an ocean photographer’s world” has been viewed more than 1 million times.
In 2024, as part of the Rolex and National Geographic Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition, Peschak completed a 396-day-long exploration of the Amazon River Basin, documenting its wonders and challenges from underwater and topside perspectives. Starting with ice axes and crampons in the icy high Andes and finishing with scuba gear in the Atlantic Ocean, he created the first-of-its-kind comprehensive photographic archive of our planet’s most iconic and biodiverse river system.
First and foremost a physicist and oceanographer, Dr Helen Czerski is also an award-winning television broadcaster and writer, and was one of the ten jurors of the 2023 Rolex Awards for Enterprise.
As well as conducting extensive research, Czerski presents documentaries on physics and ocean-related topics for the BBC, and her column “Everyday Physics” regularly appears in the Wall Street Journal, while her award-winning first book, Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life (2016), has been translated into 14 languages.
In 2018, Czerski won the Institute of Physics Gold Medal (William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize) for her work championing physics to millions worldwide.