The Mangrove Photography Awards opened submissions this month for its 2026 edition, inviting photographers worldwide to document the beauty, fragility, and vital importance of mangrove forests through conservation photography that raises awareness of ecosystems that protect 100 million people globally while storing more carbon than most terrestrial forests.
The Mangrove Action Project launched the Mangrove Photography Awards 12 years ago to harness visual storytelling for conservation. The awards celebrate mangrove ecosystems spanning tropical and subtropical coastlines across six continents. These forests provide irreplaceable services, including carbon sequestration, coastal protection from storms and erosion, and sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities. Despite their importance, more than 50% of global mangrove forests have disappeared over the past century due to human development.
The competition accepts entries across six categories: Wildlife, People, Landscape, Threats, Underwater, and Conservation Stories. Photographers of all skill levels can submit work documenting mangroves and the species, communities, and challenges connected to these coastal forests. Submissions close June 1, with winners announced July 24 and a People’s Choice Award following in August.
This year, the awards entered a new partnership with the Global Mangrove Alliance and UNESCO, expanding the reach and impact of every entry through these organizations’ global networks and conservation programs. An international jury of conservation photographers, marine biologists, and mangrove specialists evaluates entries. The Mangrove Photography Awards 2026 panel includes National Geographic Explorer Esther Horvath, photojournalist Karine Aigner, and wildlife photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee. These experts bring decades of experience documenting threatened ecosystems and species to the judging process.
The 2025 edition received record-breaking numbers with 3,303 entries from 78 nations. Mark Ian Cook won Mangrove Photographer of the Year for “Birds’ Eye View of the Hunt,” an aerial shot documenting Roseate Spoonbills gliding over a lemon shark hunting mullet in Florida Bay’s mangrove-lined waters. Cook’s image reveals how sea level rise impacts these iconic birds whose survival depends on the Everglades’ health. Despite successful recovery from just 15 pairs in the 1800s, rising seas now negatively affect their shallow-water foraging habitat in mangroves.
Mangrove Action Project organized the competition as part of broader conservation efforts. Founded in 1992, the organization partners with communities, ecologists, NGOs, and governments worldwide to conserve, manage, and restore mangrove forests. The group developed a Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration methodology that improves project success rates by addressing hydrological, ecological, and socioeconomic factors affecting mangrove health.
Many restoration projects fail despite good intentions. Successful mangrove restoration requires holistic approaches beyond simple planting. Understanding tidal dynamics, topography, freshwater flow, soil type, and species zonation proves essential. Community involvement ensures that local stakeholders gain the skills and knowledge needed for long-term ecosystem management.
Mangrove Action Project conducted training workshops across five continents over three decades. Recent sessions occurred in Kenya, Ecuador, Indonesia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, India, and Thailand. Workshops combine classroom instruction with field visits to restoration sites where participants practice measuring elevation, assessing tidal patterns, and evaluating factors influencing restoration success. Local community members share knowledge and concerns during field exercises.
The organization operates a 500-member listserv connecting mangrove restoration practitioners globally. This MAP-CBEMR network enables knowledge sharing, expert consultation, and collaborative problem-solving for restoration challenges. Participants exchange experiences from diverse geographic contexts and ecosystem conditions.
Mangrove forests store nearly one-third of the world’s terrestrial carbon despite covering a limited area. These blue carbon ecosystems sequester carbon at rates exceeding most land forests. Their dense root systems trap sediment and organic matter while preventing erosion. The complex structure provides spawning grounds and nursery habitat for countless marine species, including commercially important fish and shellfish.
Coastal communities depend directly on mangrove ecosystem services. Fisheries supported by mangrove nurseries provide protein and income. Wood serves cooking, construction, and fish-smoking needs. Non-timber forest products supplement livelihoods. When mangroves disappear, communities lose traditional resources and storm protection.
The competition awards US$7,000 in total prizes across categories. Mangrove Photographer of the Year receives US$1,000, while winners in each of the 11 categories earn US$500. The Young Mangrove Photographer of the Year and People’s Choice Award each receive US$250. Beyond financial recognition, winning images gain international exposure through exhibitions, publications, and Mangrove Action Project’s educational materials and advocacy campaigns reaching audiences beyond traditional conservation circles.
Mangrove conservation photography serves multiple purposes beyond aesthetic appreciation. Images document ecosystem changes over time, providing visual evidence of degradation or recovery. Photographs reveal the presence and behavior of species, contributing to scientific knowledge. Compelling images mobilize public support for protection policies and restoration funding.
Visual documentation proves especially valuable for mangroves because these ecosystems remain underappreciated despite their importance. Most people never visit mangrove forests or recognize their role in climate mitigation, biodiversity support, and community resilience. Photography makes distant ecosystems tangible and relatable.
The Mangrove Photography Awards accepts work from professional wildlife photographers and amateur nature enthusiasts alike. This inclusive approach recognizes that compelling conservation imagery comes from diverse perspectives and skill levels. Local community members often possess intimate knowledge of ecosystems and species that is unavailable to visiting photographers.
Photographers can enter multiple categories with different images. The competition offers a platform for photographers to contribute visual evidence supporting one of the world’s most critical and undervalued ecosystems.
Every image submitted to the Mangrove Photography Awards becomes part of a growing visual archive documenting mangrove forests at a critical juncture, where the remaining forests store irreplaceable carbon and shelter threatened species, and where restoration efforts demonstrate nature’s capacity for recovery when given support. In raising cameras toward tangled roots and open canopies, photographers do more than capture beauty. They create evidence, build awareness, and strengthen the case for protection before more mangroves fade from coastlines into memory.
