Yann Arthus-Bertrand was born in Paris on 13 March 1946 in a renowned jewellers' family founded in 1803 by Claude Arthus-Bertrand and Michel-Ange Marion. His sister Catherine is one of his closest collaborators. He has been interested in nature and wildlife from an early age.

In 1963 when he was 17, he became an assistant Director, then an actor in movies. He played alongside famous actors such as Michèle Morgan in Dis-moi qui tuer (1965) by Etienne Perier and in OSS 117 prend des vacances (1970) by Pierre Kalfon.

He gave up the movie industry in 1967 to run the Château de Saint Augustin wildlife park in Château-sur-Allier (centre of France). He then left the country with his wife Anne when he was 30 (1976) to live in Kenya in the Masai Mara National Reserve. He lived amongst the Maasai tribe for 3 years to study the behaviour of a lions' family and took daily pictures of them during those years. He thus discovered a new passion for photography and the beauty of landscapes when observed from above in hot air balloons and understood how to communicate using these means.

He came back to France in 1981, published a photographs book Lions in 1983, and became an international Journalist, reporter and Photographer specialised in documentaries on Sports, wildlife and aerial photography for French magazines such as Paris Match and GEO. He photographed ten Paris-Dakar rallies. Every year he published a book on Roland Garros, the tennis French open. He also took pictures every year at the Paris International Agricultural Show, and of ethologist Dian Fossey and gorillas in Rwanda.

He founded the Altitude Agency in 1991, which was the world's first press agency and images bank specialising in aerial photography (500,000 pictures taken in more than 100 countries by more than 100 photographers).

In 1994 Arthus-Bertrand started a thorough study on the state of the Earth sponsored by UNESCO. As part of the study, he made a picture inventory of the world's most beautiful landscapes, taken from helicopters and hot-air balloons. The book from this project, Earth from Above (La Terre vue du ciel) sold over 3 million copies and was translated into 24 languages.

He is especially well known for his book Earth from Above (1999) and his films Home (2009) and Human (2015).

In 2000, his "Earth from Above" free exhibition was set up on numerous big posters on the gates of the Jardins du Luxembourg in Paris. It then travelled worldwide from Lyon to Montreal, to 110 cities and was visited by 120 million people.

On 1 July 2005, he founded the international environmental organisation GoodPlanet, and set up the programme Action Carbone to offset his own greenhouse gas emissions generated by his helicopter transports. Since then this program has evolved to help people and companies to reduce and offset their climate impact by funding projects on renewable energies, Energy efficiency and reforestation.

In 2006 he published Algeria from above which he considers as one of his best works so far. This book offers a brand new view on this country.

In 2008, he launched the project called 6 billion others. It is a video exhibition of people across the world answering the same questions.

On 22 April 2009 he was officially designated as the United Nations Environment Program Goodwill Ambassador (UNEP) and received the "Earth Champion" award for his commitment towards the environment and his work on public environmental awareness.