About the Mangrove Photography Awards 2025
The Mangrove Photography Awards (MAP), launched in 2015 by the Mangrove Action Project, have once again put a spotlight on mangroves and the urgent need to protect these vital coastal ecosystems. The 2025 edition showcases a global array of finalists and winners whose images translate complex conservation messages into visible, compelling stories. Mangroves are present in 125 countries, serving as essential climate buffers and biodiversity havens while supporting the livelihoods of millions of people through fisheries, storm protection, and coastal resilience.
The grand prize: a breathtaking aerial moment
The grand prize winner for 2025 is awarded to a British biologist and photographer based in Florida, whose aerial image captures a vivid scene: roseate spoonbills gliding above a lemon shark that hunts mullet in shallow waters skirted by mangroves. The photograph blends beauty with an urgent ecological warning: the roseate spoonbill, a species highly dependent on shallow, fish-rich ponds, is increasingly at risk as climate change intensifies, sea levels rise, and habitat conditions shift.
Why this image matters
Beyond its aesthetic impact, the winning shot communicates a critical conservation message. It underscores how mangroves—often called amphibious forests—are not only biodiversity hotspots but also powerful carbon sinks. By highlighting the interconnected lives of species within mangrove ecosystems, the image invites viewers to consider how rapid environmental changes threaten both wildlife and the communities that rely on these habitats for protection against storms and for food security.
Mangroves: carbon stores and climate guardians
Mangroves store carbon at extraordinarily high densities, five times more carbon per area than tropical terrestrial forests. They shield more than 15 million people from flood risks and support a diverse array of species—from crabs and fish to birds and marine mammals. Yet projections are sobering: as urban development, aquaculture, and rising seas encroach, up to half of the world’s mangroves could disappear by 2050. The MAP competition frames this crisis in a human-centered narrative, reminding us that protecting mangroves is both an environmental and social imperative.
Impact, awareness, and action
The Mangrove Photography Awards leverage visual storytelling to accelerate conservation action. By recognizing standout imagery, MAP draws attention to mangrove restoration and protection efforts, encouraging policymakers, communities, and donors to invest in wetlands restoration, sustainable livelihoods, and coastal resilience. The 2025 winners join a growing chorus of voices calling for immediate protection of mangrove forests and for initiatives that curb habitat loss while supporting sustainable coastal economies.
What you can do
Engage with the MAP mission by sharing award-winning images, supporting mangrove restoration projects, and advocating for policies that reduce coastal habitat loss. Every image that travels online has the potential to spark a conversation, inspire a donation, or motivate volunteer action. By supporting conservation photography, audiences help ensure that mangroves continue to provide critical services—clean air and water, biodiversity, and climate resilience—for communities around the world.
