On the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, Mangrove Action Project is thrilled to announce the winners of the Mangrove Photography Awards 2024.
Celebrating its 10th year, the awards harness the power of visual storytelling to drive awareness for mangrove conservation. Found in 123 countries, mangroves are one of the world’s biggest allies against climate change — and one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. According to a recent Redlist of Ecosystems report, 50% of global mangrove ecosystems are at risk of collapse by 2050.
The Mangrove Photography Awards was founded for people immersed in the world of mangroves to shed light on the beauty and fragility of these precious ecosystems.
Year after year, creatives continue to inspire us with their incredible shots that help raise awareness of the people and wildlife that rely on these unique habitats, the threats they face, and why urgent action is needed to protect them.
The 2024 awards has been our most diverse yet, with over 2,500 entries from 74 nations, including new entries from Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahrain, Grenada, Guadeloupe, and Mauritania.
This year, India’s Supratim Bhattacharjee has been crowned Mangrove Photographer of the Year with his image, ‘Sinking Sundarbans’, a powerful shot of a young girl whose tea shop was destroyed following a cyclone.
“This is an example of an image being full of story,” says judge Morgan Heim. “The gaze of this young woman commands you to pay attention and not only ponder what is happening to the people and ecosystems of the mangrove, but think about our own responsibility to them.”
Winners have also been selected in six categories – People, Landscape, Underwater, Threats, Wildlife, and Conservation Stories – as well as the Young Mangrove Photographer of the Year award.
Announced in time for International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, these images are a stark reminder of the importance of mangrove ecosystems for people, wildlife, and our climate. As a UN Ocean Decade endorsed program, the awards hopes to catalyze action for their future preservation.
Judge Dhritiman Mukherjee said: "The Mangrove Photography Awards has become a platform to intrigue people about the magnificent ecological role mangroves play in all of our lives, and the need to preserve them."
Learn more about the 2024 Mangrove Photography Awards 2024 and visit the photo gallery.
– NOTE TO EDITORS –
The Mangrove Photography Awards is organized by Mangrove Action Project (MAP), a US-based non-profit that collaborates with stakeholders at all levels to preserve, conserve, and restore our world’s mangrove forests. MAP is dedicated to reversing the degradation and loss of mangrove forest wetlands and their associated coastal ecosystems around the world by giving a voice to the global South, local communities, and partner NGOs. Through its grassroots, bottoms-up approach, MAP strives to provide mangrove restoration and conservation, education, training, and consulting that promotes community-based, sustainable management of coastal resources. Through this combined approach of action, advocacy, and education, MAP can ensure mangrove forests are healthy for current and future generations. For more information about the awards, Mangrove Action Project, or to speak to a member of our team, please contact Leo Thom: [email protected]