Mangrove Action Project’s competition now in its ninth year was won by Mr Bhattacharyya’s image called “The Finest Flower of the Mangroves” displaying a young Royal Bengal Tigress in its natural mangrove habitat, peering and posing at the photographer. The Mangrove Action Project 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.

Daisy Gilardiini, one of the competition judge said “The solitary figure of the tiger, standing amidst the lush green mangrove forest vegetation, poignantly underscores the isolation it must endure in an ever-shrinking habitat”.

In 2021, West Bengal Forest Department estimated there were only 96 Royal Bengal tigers in the region.

Mangroves are an important protection against climate change, with one acre (4,000sq 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.

“Photographs of mangroves play a multifaceted role in advocating for the conservation and protection of these critical coastal forests,” said another of the judges, Fulvio Eccardi.

Fellow judge Octavio Aburto added: “The images from this year captivated our imagination… giving us hope and illuminating a positive future for mangrove ecosystems.”