A flock of roseate spoonbills flies overhead as a shark hunts mullet below. The water of Florida's Everglades wetlands is turquoise and calm. But the serene image tells a bigger story, of the bright pink spoonbills that are becoming increasingly rare due in part to sea level rise and the loss of mangrove habitat where they forage for fish.
The striking photograph, taken by Mark Ian Cook, won the grand prize in the 2025 Mangrove Photography Awards.
The awards, in its 11th year, aims to raise awareness of mangrove forests — salt-tolerant trees living where freshwater meets saltwater — which are found in more than 120 countries worldwide. This year, it received a record 3,303 entries from 78 nations.
"The goal of the Mangrove Photography Awards is to captivate and inspire audiences across the globe," Leo Thom, creative director and founder of the awards, told CNN. "We want to expose the beauty and complexity of mangrove ecosystems and, most importantly, to spark emotional connections that lead to conservation action on the ground."
Mangroves are key in fighting climate change, as they are carbon sinks, serve as a natural barrier against flooding, and provide a habitat to endangered animals like tigers and jaguars.
Read more at the link in @cnntravel's bio.
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📸: Mark Ian Cook/Mangrove Photography Awards; Mark Ian Cook/Mangrove Photography Awards; Satwika Satria/Mangrove Photography Awards; Tom Quinney/Mangrove Photography Awards; Ahmed Badwan/Mangrove Photography Awards; Freddie Claire/Mangrove Photography Awards; Gwi Bin Lim/Mangrove Photography Awards; Alex Pike/Mangrove Photography Awards; Nicholas Hess/Mangrove Photography Awards; Mohammad Rakibul Hasan/Mangrove Photography Awards
Sustainable construction is transitioning from concept to systemic implementation, where water management, land scarcity and resource efficiency are dictating the principles of sustainable building design. Developers across the US Mountain West are applying whole life carbon assessment and lifecycle assessment methodologies to guide construction that reflects environmental sustainability in construction practice. These models prioritise embodied carbon reduction, low carbon design and life cycle cost optimisation to enhance building lifecycle performance and ensure projects achieve measurable sustainability outcomes.
Corporate redevelopment pipelines are shifting toward net zero carbon buildings, integrating eco‑design for buildings and sustainable building practices that embed resource efficiency in construction processes. The large‑scale modernisation of major technology campuses demonstrates that sustainable architecture informed by whole life carbon and embodied carbon in materials can deliver both operational excellence and long‑term value. Strategic procurement of renewable building materials and implementation of low embodied carbon materials are reinforcing circular economy in construction models that support carbon footprint reduction and circular construction strategies.
The housing sector is adopting sustainable material specification principles, with mixed‑income and high‑performance developments achieving BREEAM and BREEAM v7 standards while addressing whole life performance. Such schemes align with life cycle thinking in construction, proving that environmental product declarations (EPDs) and low carbon building methods can achieve both affordability and environmental credibility.
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Amid uneven global decarbonisation, supply chains are evolving to accommodate low carbon construction materials and net zero whole life carbon benchmarks. The most competitive teams are uniting green construction and sustainable urban development approaches that measure the environmental impact of construction and demonstrate continual carbon footprint of construction reduction. By embedding circular economy frameworks into the design, delivery and end‑of‑life reuse in construction, the sector is progressing toward authentic carbon neutral construction and a built environment driven by sustainability and long‑term performance.
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