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Some of his most striking pictures were taken in his home country, including epic photos of thousands of desperate figures working in open-cast gold mines and striking images of the indigenous people of the Amazon.

During archaeological excavations in the Schöningen open-cast coal mine in 1994, the discovery of the oldest, remarkably well-preserved hunting weapons known to humanity caused an international sensation.

A representative said commercial logging, open-cast mining, agriculture and human settlement had resulted in the loss of the ungulate's habitat and limited access to food and water sources.

Climate activists said that the village and others nearby should not be demolished and the coal under them, near an open-cast brown coal mine, should be left in the ground.

But climate campaigners say the agreement to expand the massive open-cast mine goes against Germany’s international commitments to reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases.