Photography award winners show the fragility and beauty of mangrove forests

Victor Hugo Luja Molina has been named overall winner of this year’s Mangrove Photography Awards, for his image of a female jaguar in an intimate moment with her cub in a mangrove forest in Mexico.

Run by the Mangrove Action Project, the competition, now in its sixth year, aims to show the relationships between wildlife, coastal communities, and mangrove forests, as well as the fragility of these unique ecosystems, both above and below the waterline.Luja Molina’s winning image, Once Again Being a Mother, was selected from more than 1,000 entries from nearly 70 countries.”I love this picture because it shows the mangrove roots, the mangrove forest in detail and at night,” says Luja Molina.”This is one of the very few photos that exist of jaguars in mangrove ecosystems.”After two years of failed attempts with the camera trap – blurry images, partial shots and lost cameras – Janis, a female resident mangrove jaguar, finally gave us a great moment with one of her cubs.”The mangrove ecosystem in western Mexico is facing huge conservation problems, with so much land-use change, including illegal shrimp farms.”Mangroves are an important protection against climate change, with one acre (4,000 sq m) of mangrove forest absorbing nearly the same amount of carbon dioxide as an acre of Amazon rainforest.The forests also protect coastlines from eroding as intense storms grow more frequent.Judge Steve Winter says: “Mangroves are such a vitally important part of the ecosystem, they are the nursery for many aquatic species.”The health of these ecosystems are vital to human and animal health.”Here is a selection of winning images from five competition categories, with descriptions by the photographers.

Winner of Mangroves & Wildlife: Welcome Grin, by Jenny Stock, Cuba

A beautiful and powerful animal, an American crocodile, seen in his home, the mangroves of Jardines de la Reina, Cuba.This was my first in-water encounter with a crocodile.And it was completely exhilarating.Being up close with such a wild and powerful animal would make your heart race.

Runner-up of Mangroves & Wildlife: Lemon Pups, by Anita Kainrath Anita Kainrath, Bahamas

Juvenile lemon sharks in Bimini, Bahamas, using mangrove-fringed lagoons and creeks as nurseries.

Winner of Mangroves & Communities: Coastal Community, by Morgan Bennett-Smith, Papua New Guinea

Local boys gather in front of a small mangrove-associated outcropping along the coast of Papua New Guinea.

Coastal ecosystems here rely on a community-based system of conservation and protection.The local people value their ecosystems and protect them.