Mangroves are one among Earth’s most crucial ecosystems, buffering coasts from storm surges, serving as important habitat for aquatic, semiaquatic and terrestrial species; and offering meals and livelihoods for native communities.
They cowl solely 0.1% of Earth’s land floor, however the dense, darkish canopies and roots of mangrove bushes are one among our strongest instruments to construct resilience because the local weather adjustments.
Advantages of Mangrove Ecosystems
Mangrove forests present a wealth of advantages for each folks and nature. They:
- Shield younger fish, crabs, and different marine wildlife
- Filter sediments, defending coral reefs and seagrasses
- Present habitat for birds, bees, snakes, and different terrestrial fauna
- Cut back impacts of coastal storm surges and flooding
- Stop erosion and stabilize coastlines
- Assist native fisheries, ecotourism, and native crafts
Mangroves are additionally highly effective carbon sinks:
- Mangroves retailer 7.5–10 instances extra carbon per acre, as much as 4 instances extra per hectare, than terrestrial tropical forests.
- Mangrove loss contributes to 10% of world greenhouse fuel emissions from deforestation.
- Globally, mangroves maintain roughly 21 gigatons of carbon, with WWF’s efforts aiming to guard and restore these essential carbon sinks.
- Restoring not too long ago misplaced mangrove forests (1.6 million acres) may seize a further 1 gigaton of carbon.
Why do we want mangrove restoration?
Regardless of their significance, 50% of the world’s mangroves have disappeared prior to now half-century, victims of rising sea ranges, air pollution, demand for timber, and clearing by locals and coastal builders alike.
There’s excellent news, although: Mangrove restoration is comparatively simple, quick and profitable. WWF’s mangrove restoration initiatives have demonstrated excessive success charges, with some initiatives reporting a 62.5% to 82% success charge in areas like Colombia by specializing in native species and interesting native communities.
This text options 5 methods WWF is working to guard, restore and preserve a number of the world’s most threatened mangrove habitats.
Mangrove nursery
1. Co-Founding the International Mangrove Alliance
WWF teamed up with Conservation Worldwide, the Worldwide Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and The Nature Conservancy to kind the International Mangrove Alliance with the objectives:
- reverse the lack of critically vital mangrove habitats worldwide and
- develop world mangrove habitat 20% by the yr 2030.
“Mangroves are a strong instrument that nature has offered us, however we’re not doing sufficient, quick sufficient, to guard them,” mentioned Lauren Spurrier, managing director of oceans for WWF.
Group of joyful volunteers with tree seedlings, Volunteer helpers planting bushes in mangrove forest for environmental safety and ecology, cut back world warming, Charity work
The alliance connects funders, specialists, policymakers and native communities to speed up a complete, coordinated, world strategy to mangrove conservation and restoration at a scale.
“It would take concerted motion by many gamers to reverse declines and convey again what we’ve misplaced,” Spurrier mentioned. “There isn’t a time to duplicate efforts and waste assets. Bringing this work collectively via an alliance, permits us to focus our organizations in areas the place we all know we are able to have most affect.”
The International Mangrove Alliance seeks to catalyze $10 billion in investments to enhance the resilience of native coastal communities and enhance the wellbeing of 10 million folks worldwide.
2. Partnerships to Save Coastal Kenya Forests
The Public-Personal-Folks Partnerships to Save Coastal Kenya Forests helps sustainable administration and conservation of 30,000 hectares of essential mangrove and terrestrial forest ecosystems. The undertaking focuses on mitigating environmental impacts of large-scale financial improvement by selling power and water effectivity whereas lowering their ecological footprint. It additionally builds capability of native communities, authorities companies, and the non-public sector to make sure efficient, long-term ecosystem administration.
Mangroves, Kenya
One of many key drivers of coastal forest degradation is the lack of know-how on mangrove ecosystem advantages. Mangroves are important nesting grounds for fish—a key supply of meals. Additionally they act to safeguard coastlines towards typhoons.
WWF-Kenya’s Public-Personal-Folks Partnerships to Save Coastal Kenya Forests Challenge focuses on:
- terrestrial and mangrove forest safety and restoration, plus
- supporting area people custodians of forests to understand the worth of conservation, together with indigenous data and youth engagement.
This initiative is important to boost the resilience of Kenya‘s mangroves, that are essential for biodiversity and coastal safety.
WWF collaborates with key companions to combine native data with superior environmental safeguards. The undertaking additionally helps world conservation aims just like the Aichi Targets and the Sustainable Growth Targets, by embedding ecosystem values into regional insurance policies and improvement plans, making certain these ecosystems are preserved for future generations.
Younger mangrove saplings
3. The Local weather-Good Mangrove Device
The Local weather-Good Mangrove Device is a key a part of WWF’s world technique to bolster mangrove restoration and safety efforts in response to local weather change.
The Local weather-Good Mangrove Device is a sophisticated predictive instrument that gives native communities a step-by-step course of for assessing local weather vulnerability and deciding on climate-smart administration actions.
The progressive decision-support instrument combines satellite tv for pc knowledge, local weather fashions, and native data to assist conservation practitioners:
- determine one of the best areas for mangrove restoration and conservation, and
- choose acceptable climate-smart actions to cut back the present and future impacts of local weather change on mangrove ecosystems.
The Local weather-Good Mangrove Device, developed by WWF in partnership with the College of Queensland, has been utilized in Colombia, Madagascar, Fiji, and Mexico.
Pinpointing essentially the most viable areas for restoration and conservation, the instrument enhances the resilience of significant mangrove ecosystems, important for preserving biodiversity and supporting coastal communities. The flexibility to foretell and plan for future environmental adjustments makes the Local weather-Good Mangrove Device a useful useful resource within the world battle towards local weather change, supporting each ecological and human coastal resilience.
4. ManglarIA – AI for Mangroves
ManglarIA, supported by WWF and Google.org, makes use of superior applied sciences (LIDAR-equipped drones, eDNA sensors, and automatic climate stations) on the Pacific and Gulf coasts of Mexico, notably inside biosphere reserves like Marismas Nacionales, to observe the well being of mangrove ecosystems with unprecedented precision.
The undertaking makes use of AI to investigate huge datasets, predicting the impacts of local weather change on these essential ecosystems. This data-driven strategy is crucial for guiding efficient restoration efforts.
In Mexico, WWF is working to guard and restore mangrove ecosystems due to their significance to biodiversity and the contributions they make to native livelihoods and economies. Major threats to Mexican mangroves embody coastal improvement and local weather change. Extra frequent hurricanes, altering rainfall, and sea degree rise all can hurt these complicated ecosystems and the carbon they retailer.
By providing detailed insights into how mangroves reply to environmental stresses, ManglarIA (Spanish for “AI for Mangroves”) ensures that native conservation methods are each impactful and sustainable.
The undertaking additionally performs an important position in supporting the resilience of native communities who depend on wholesome mangrove ecosystems for his or her livelihoods. Go to one such group with Nat Hab’s Nice Grey Whales of Baja itinerary, after we discover El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve.
5. Neighborhood-Based mostly Conservation in Madagascar’s Mangroves
Two p.c of the world’s mangroves are present in Madagascar, and 20% of those have been deforested for timber, charcoal manufacturing, and agricultural enlargement.
Within the Nat Hab movie beneath, Expedition Chief Rija Ratotonirinia shares, “The primary risk for the animals, for biodiversity in Madagascar, is habitat loss. 90% of our forest is gone as a result of slash and burn. Slash and burn agriculture continues to be one among our conventional methods of rising rice.”
Throughout Madagascar WWF is targeted on ecosystem-based catastrophe danger discount and supporting various livelihoods, so native communities worth mangrove ecosystems and don’t really feel stress to clearcut for his or her livelihood or survival. Options to clearcutting embody small-scale freshwater fish farming and mangrove beekeeping for honey, in addition to ecotourism.
“I want that we may convey again all the issues prefer it was, however now now we have hope. Conservation journey is one of the best ways for Madagascar. We will base a part of our economic system in tourism as a result of every part now we have is exclusive. Our visitors come to Madagascar as a result of now we have such a excessive degree of endemism. Biodiversity is so wonderful right here. We’ve got in Madagascar so many types of panorama as effectively. The native folks, they’re aware of this.” Expedition Chief Rija Ratotonirinia
In accordance with Lilia Rasolofomanana, WWF Madagascar’s Mangrove Coordinator, “WWF is now collaborating with… community-based organizations to strengthen the group administration of the mangroves, to cut back and even cease the threats to mangroves, to advertise climate-smart restoration of this ecosystem and to enhance the communities’ livelihoods and resilience to local weather change.
Witness Madagascar’s Mangroves with Us
For those who’d prefer to witness—and {photograph}—mangroves, there’s no place on the planet like Madagascar. Ninety p.c of Madagascar’s plant, mammal and reptile species are discovered nowhere else on Earth.
In 2025, Nat Hab launches a brand new itinerary for its Madagascar Wildlife Picture Expedition, together with visits to mangrove ecosystems in each the far north and south of the island:
- Ifaty, on Madagascar’s southern coast, is a laid-back fishing village famed for its otherworldly and terribly photogenic vegetation—spiny forest, barrel-like baobab bushes and coastal mangroves. Chicken life thrives right here, and we hope to catch a glimpse of the critically endangered Madagascar fish-eagle, one of many rarest birds of prey on the earth. The panorama provides countless inspiration, from the stark vegetation to the various and threatened wildlife.
- We journey by boat to northwest Madagascar’s Moramba Bay the place we take a sundown cruise via the mangroves, and you might also decide to discover the shoreline by kayak.
For over 20 years, Nat Hab and WWF have partnered to supply conservation journey—sustainable journey that helps the safety of nature, wildlife and native communities. Journey has the ability to guard nature, profit communities and protect cultural heritage in coastal communities the place, with WWF’s assist, mangroves are being protected, resored, and expanded.
