Their loss contributed 0.6% of global greenhouse gas emissions related to tropical forest deforestation, despite occupying <0.1% of all land area. Even with a small footprint, over 200 million people live within 10 kilometers of mangrove forests
Mangroves are directly protecting 3.5 million people from the impacts of climate change, including storm surges, flooding, sea-level rise, and erosion. In addition, mangroves provide habitat to immense coastal and marine biodiversity, offer food and jobs to local communities, and sustain cultural practices and identity.
Conservation efforts globally are on the rise, with around 42% of all remaining mangroves being found within protected areas. However, they may still experience loss related to natural causes and inadequate management. While this progress spells hope, examples of integrating mangroves into coastal management and policy are still rare.
When considering management strategies, the saying goes, “you cannot manage what you cannot measure.” To that end, many papers in this topic focused on refining mangrove monitoring and carbon pool measurements for informing policy, including carbon and sediment dynamics crucial for assessing climate mitigation potential. For example, studied sediment accumulation rates in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. They found high variation in sedimentation rates seasonally and across a salinity gradient. Additionally, a global-scale database compiled from a literature review by further highlights the importance of mangrove's dead organic matter carbon pool.
A study by compares multiple assessment approaches where they evaluated mangrove forest structure derived from direct measurement, drone imagery, and satellite-based radar data in a Colombian mangrove. It weighs the efficiency and effectiveness of assessment approaches against the required costs, time, and logistics to produce reliable data. In addition, a national-scale database of Colombian mangrove forest structure provides biophysical information and sets baselines to assess the impacts of changes on ecosystem dynamics. In Brazil, work by highlights the importance of mangroves as blue carbon hotspots of global significance. They provide an integrated carbon inventory for Brazil and find the country holds about 8.5% of global mangrove carbon stocks with 15–30% above average carbon sequestration rates—highlighting the importance of protecting mangroves in Brazil. Unfortunately, a second study by documents the long-term environmental impacts on mangroves from semi-arid coastal ecosystems, such as salt pan areas and mangrove conversion to aquaculture ponds for shrimp farming. They found that these practices drove direct mangrove loss and lowered productivity, functionality, and services provided by adjacent mangroves and related habitats. Given the increasing demand for aquaculture products, solutions to maintain productivity without expanding production area are crucial.
A Guest Editorial