Mangrove Forests
Mangrove Forests
Mangrove forests are distinctive coastal wetlands dominated by salt-tolerant trees and shrubs adapted to tidal environments. Found primarily along tropical and subtropical shorelines, mangroves form an ecological bridge between terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments. They provide habitat for diverse wildlife, support fisheries and coastal livelihoods, stabilize shorelines, store large quantities of carbon, and help protect communities from storms, erosion, and flooding.
Research and conservation efforts increasingly portray mangroves as complex social-ecological systems rather than simply coastal stands of trees. Their survival depends on hydrology, sediment movement, climate, sea-level change, biodiversity, land use, governance, community participation, and economic pressures. Recent evidence of slowing global mangrove loss and recovery in some regions demonstrates that conservation and restoration can succeed, while continuing losses from aquaculture, development, pollution, and climate change show that these ecosystems remain vulnerable.
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function
Mangrove forests support extensive biological diversity above and below the water. Their roots create structurally complex habitats used by fish, shellfish, crustaceans, birds, reptiles, mammals, microorganisms, and numerous other organisms. Mangrove-lined estuaries often function as feeding grounds, breeding areas, refuges, and nurseries for species that later move into reefs, seagrass beds, coastal waters, and offshore fisheries.
Mangrove biodiversity extends below ground into soils, roots, sediments, and microbial communities. These organisms participate in decomposition, nutrient cycling, carbon processing, sediment stabilization, and other ecological processes that maintain ecosystem productivity.
Different mangrove species and forest types respond differently to salinity, tidal inundation, rainfall, temperature, sediment conditions, storms, and freshwater availability. Genetic diversity and ecological connectivity can therefore influence the ability of mangrove populations to survive environmental change.
Healthy mangroves also interact with surrounding ecosystems. Carbon, nutrients, organisms, sediments, and organic matter move between mangroves and adjacent estuaries, seagrass habitats, coral reefs, mudflats, and coastal waters. Mangrove conservation consequently has implications well beyond the boundaries of the forests themselves.
Climate, Blue Carbon, and Coastal Protection
Mangroves are among the world's most important blue-carbon ecosystems. They capture atmospheric carbon through plant growth and accumulate particularly large carbon stocks in waterlogged soils where organic matter can remain stored for long periods. Research has shown that mangrove forests can contain exceptionally high quantities of carbon per unit area compared with many terrestrial forests.
Preventing mangrove destruction can therefore avoid greenhouse-gas emissions caused when vegetation and carbon-rich soils are disturbed. Restoration can gradually rebuild carbon stocks, although the amount of carbon recovered depends on location, hydrology, forest age, species composition, previous land use, and restoration method.
Mangroves also provide natural coastal defenses. Their roots stabilize sediment, while trunks, branches, and vegetation can reduce wave energy and erosion. Sufficiently extensive mangrove belts can lessen damage associated with tropical cyclones, storm surges, and coastal flooding.
Protection is determined by more than the total area of mangrove forest. Forest width, height, density, ecological condition, coastal geomorphology, and storm characteristics all influence effectiveness. A degraded or fragmented mangrove forest may therefore provide substantially less protection than an intact forest occupying the same nominal area.
These protective functions are becoming increasingly important as sea levels rise and coastal populations expand. Mangroves can sometimes migrate inland or accumulate sediment vertically, but development, seawalls, subsidence, and rapid sea-level rise can restrict their ability to adjust.
Restoration and Ecological Recovery
Mangrove restoration has expanded worldwide as governments, conservation organizations, researchers, businesses, and coastal communities recognize the ecological and economic importance of these forests. Successful projects can rebuild wildlife habitat, carbon storage, fisheries, shoreline stability, and livelihood opportunities.
Restoration, however, is not synonymous with planting mangrove seedlings. Large planting campaigns can fail when trees are placed at inappropriate elevations or where tidal flows, sediment conditions, salinity, or wave exposure prevent survival. Projects may also fail when they lack long-term financing, monitoring, technical knowledge, secure land tenure, or community participation.
Modern restoration increasingly emphasizes identifying and correcting the underlying causes of mangrove loss. Restoring natural tidal hydrology, removing barriers, reducing damaging land uses, and allowing natural regeneration may sometimes be more effective than intensive planting.
Where planting is appropriate, species selection and ecological diversity matter. Research indicates that mixed-species restoration can provide advantages over simplified plantations under some circumstances. Monitoring should evaluate ecological recovery rather than merely count the number of seedlings planted.
Restoration success must also be measured over long periods. Recovering forests may gradually regain biomass, soil carbon, fish communities, bird communities, microbial diversity, and other ecological functions, but restored systems do not necessarily become equivalent to mature natural forests immediately.
Threats to Mangrove Forests
Mangroves have historically been cleared or degraded by aquaculture, agriculture, urbanization, ports, infrastructure, timber harvesting, coastal development, pollution, and other changes in land use. Shrimp farming has been especially significant in several mangrove regions, illustrating conflicts between commodity production, local livelihoods, and ecosystem conservation.
Oil pollution represents another serious threat. Experiences in the Niger Delta and other coastal regions demonstrate how petroleum contamination can damage mangrove vegetation, sediments, wildlife, fisheries, and communities over long periods.
Climate change adds increasingly complex pressures. Rising seas, changing rainfall, altered river flows, extreme temperatures, tropical cyclones, changing salinity, and climate oscillations such as El Niño and La Niña can affect mangrove growth, mortality, regeneration, and geographical distribution.
Mangrove responses to climate change are not uniform. Forests may expand in some locations while retreating or dying in others. Local geography, sediment supply, land subsidence, freshwater flows, coastal development, and the availability of inland migration space strongly influence outcomes.
Fragmentation is another important form of degradation. Even when total forest area appears relatively stable, breaking continuous mangrove landscapes into smaller patches can alter habitat connectivity, ecological processes, and resilience.
Communities, Fisheries, and Livelihoods
Human communities have depended on mangrove ecosystems for generations. Mangroves support commercial and subsistence fisheries, shellfish collection, crab harvesting, honey production, timber and fuel resources, tourism, coastal protection, and other economic and cultural activities.
Examples from Kenya, Ecuador, Brazil, Indonesia, Cameroon, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Vietnam, and elsewhere demonstrate that community participation can be central to successful conservation. Local stewardship arrangements can give communities incentives to protect forests while maintaining livelihoods tied to healthy ecosystems.
Traditional ecological knowledge can complement scientific monitoring and restoration. Community members often possess detailed knowledge of tidal conditions, fisheries, forest history, species distributions, resource use, and environmental change.
Women have played particularly important roles in several mangrove restoration and livelihood programs. Projects in the Sundarbans, Niger Delta, Brazil, and other regions demonstrate how conservation can intersect with employment, cultural knowledge, food security, and community organization.
Conservation strategies that disregard local economic realities can create conflicts or fail altogether. Effective programs therefore increasingly seek to integrate ecological protection with secure resource rights, sustainable livelihoods, community participation, and equitable distribution of conservation benefits.
Governance, Conservation, and Finance
Mangrove conservation involves questions of land ownership, tenure, regulation, development policy, environmental law, protected areas, community rights, and international climate commitments. Scientific knowledge alone cannot determine whether forests survive when economic incentives encourage conversion or communities lack secure rights to manage local resources.
Community custody and locally managed conservation arrangements provide one approach. Such systems can connect resource rights with responsibilities for maintaining mangrove habitat and may allow fishing, shellfish harvesting, or other sustainable uses to continue.
Blue-carbon markets and biodiversity credits are emerging as potential sources of conservation finance. Projects in Kenya, Sierra Leone, and elsewhere seek to generate revenue by protecting or restoring ecosystem carbon and biodiversity while directing benefits toward local communities.
Carbon finance nevertheless raises questions about measurement, permanence, additionality, land tenure, equitable benefit sharing, monitoring, and the danger of treating complex ecosystems primarily as carbon inventories. Effective projects must protect ecological and social values alongside measurable carbon benefits.
International initiatives such as the Global Mangrove Alliance and programs involving IUCN, UNEP, conservation organizations, governments, and research institutions increasingly promote common restoration standards, improved monitoring, stronger policy frameworks, and coordinated conservation investment.
Science, Mapping, and Monitoring
Technological advances have transformed mangrove research. Landsat and other satellite records now allow scientists to reconstruct decades of mangrove loss, expansion, fragmentation, productivity, and regeneration at regional and global scales.
Remote sensing, drones, LiDAR, artificial intelligence, machine learning, GPS tracking, and ecological modeling provide increasingly detailed measurements of forest structure, carbon stocks, shoreline change, restoration performance, and habitat condition.
These tools have revealed important trends. Long-term satellite observations indicate that global mangrove decline has slowed substantially and that some regions have shifted toward net expansion. Southeast Asia, historically a major center of mangrove loss, has shown evidence of significant improvement.
Technology can also improve restoration monitoring. Rather than relying solely on planting totals, researchers can measure canopy development, hydrological recovery, biodiversity, carbon accumulation, shoreline stability, and the return of wildlife.
Monitoring remains essential because increases in mapped mangrove area do not necessarily indicate complete ecological recovery. Forest structure, biodiversity, connectivity, width, height, soil condition, and ecosystem function must also be considered.
A Global Shift Toward Recovery
One of the most encouraging findings from recent mangrove research is evidence that decades of global decline may be slowing. Satellite observations covering several decades indicate increasing regeneration and expansion in some regions, with global net mangrove trends improving substantially compared with previous periods.
This recovery demonstrates that mangrove loss is not necessarily irreversible. Protection of existing forests, natural regeneration, hydrological restoration, community management, improved regulation, and carefully designed restoration can produce measurable results.
The improvement should not be interpreted as the end of the mangrove conservation crisis. Major forests remain threatened by aquaculture, ports, pollution, urban expansion, infrastructure, resource extraction, and climate change. Recovery in one region can coexist with severe degradation elsewhere.
The emerging lesson is therefore one of cautious optimism: mangrove conservation can work, but lasting recovery requires protecting existing forests while addressing the ecological, economic, and political causes of their destruction.
Conclusion
Mangrove forests are among the most valuable and multifunctional ecosystems on Earth's coasts. They sustain biodiversity, fisheries, coastal livelihoods, cultural traditions, carbon storage, water quality, sediment processes, and natural protection from erosion, storms, and flooding.
Their importance has made mangroves central to modern discussions of biodiversity conservation, climate mitigation, climate adaptation, ecological restoration, and sustainable coastal development. Yet their complexity also demonstrates why simplistic conservation approaches can fail.
Successful mangrove conservation depends first on protecting intact forests. Where degradation has occurred, restoration must address hydrology, sediment, species diversity, land use, community rights, financing, and long-term ecological monitoring rather than focusing solely on planting trees.
Evidence of mangrove recovery in several parts of the world provides an important demonstration that environmental decline can be reversed. Sustaining that progress will require combining scientific research and technological monitoring with effective governance, community stewardship, secure livelihoods, and long-term protection of the coastal landscapes on which mangroves depend.
General Mangrove Science and Conservation
| Mavic Conde | Mongabay | June 29, 2026
A Philippine coastal farming project demonstrates approaches for producing food while retaining wetlands and their ecological functions.
| Xichen Xu et al. | Nature Communications | November 26, 2024
Global analysis finds that the coastal-protection capacity of mangrove forests declined much more rapidly than mangrove area alone, showing that forest width, height, and ecological condition matter.
| Tao Liu et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | March 8, 2024
Researchers document rapid mangrove expansion in China's Nanliu River estuary following an episode of unusually low river discharge.
| WWF, IUCN and Wetlands International | IUCN Library | 2022
A Western Indian Ocean report documents mangrove trends and conservation priorities across Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar.
| Luiz Drude de Lacerda et al. | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | August 9, 2022
An overview examines how local pressures on mangroves interact with global environmental change during the Anthropocene.
| Researchers | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | May 25, 2022
Research examines organisms responsible for breaking down fallen mangrove wood across different tidal zones in an Indonesian mangrove ecosystem.
| Siuling Cinco-Castro et al. | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | May 4, 2022
Sediment capture is examined as an ecosystem service across different ecological types of mangrove forest.
| NOAA | Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary | Undated
NOAA describes mangrove forests of the Florida Keys, including red, black, and white mangroves and their adaptations to intertidal coastal environments.
Biodiversity, Ecology, and Ecosystem Function
| Mikael Angelo S. Francisco | Mongabay | October 8, 2025
A surviving mangrove forest near densely urbanized Metro Manila provides wildlife habitat and a rare natural buffer against coastal hazards.
| Flinders University | ScienceDaily | March 26, 2025
Research in an Australian mangrove estuary examines how introduced Pacific oyster reefs affect fish, invertebrates, mangrove seedlings, and local biodiversity.
| Anton L. Delgado | Mongabay | July 30, 2024
A biodiversity survey of Cambodia's largest mangrove forest documents a rich assemblage of wildlife and highlights the ecological value of intact habitat.
| Valerie Hsiao et al. | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | July 25, 2024
Research on arid mangroves shows how root location, forest zones, and nutrient enrichment influence microbial communities associated with mangrove roots.
| Zhen Zhang et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | January 3, 2024
Two decades of satellite data indicate that mangrove productivity has increased more rapidly, but fluctuated more strongly, than nearby evergreen terrestrial forests.
| Basten Gokkon | Mongabay | October 30, 2023
Genetic and biogeographic research identifies distinct centers of mangrove diversity within the Indo-West Pacific region.
| Elise S. Morrison et al. | Communications Earth & Environment | October 14, 2023
Mangrove peat and algal organic matter produce contrasting chemical and microbial responses when released into coastal waters.
| Maki Thomas et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | June 13, 2022
Experiments demonstrate how ocean circulation, island geography, and chance events influence the dispersal and connectivity of mangrove propagules.
| Mariana Cravo et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | December 7, 2021
Researchers characterize fish assemblages living within a small mangrove ecosystem on Príncipe Island in the Gulf of Guinea.
| Ludwig Triest et al. | Scientific Reports | March 2, 2021
Genetic evidence reveals contrasting patterns produced by the historical expansion of Rhizophora mucronata across the Western Indian Ocean.
| Parima Hajializadeh et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | September 25, 2020
Macrofaunal communities and ecological traits are compared across different mangrove habitats in the Persian Gulf.
| NASA scientists | NASA Science | September 2, 2014
NASA field researchers describe how mangrove species survive extreme salinity through salt exclusion, secretion, shedding, and other specialized adaptations.
| Ilaria Rosati et al. | FAO | 2008
The World Atlas of Mangroves explains mangrove species, adaptations, biodiversity, fisheries value, forest products, human dependence, and global conservation importance.
| Gilberto Cintrón and Yara Schaeffer-Novelli | NOAA Repository | 1982
An early scientific treatment examines mangrove ecology and the responses of mangrove forests to both natural disturbances and human-induced environmental stressors.
| IUCN SSC Mangrove Specialist Group | IUCN | Undated
The Mangrove Specialist Group coordinates research, Red List assessments, species conservation, habitat protection, workshops, and international mangrove science.
Climate, Blue Carbon, and Coastal Protection
| Edward Carver and Mohamed Fofanah | Mongabay | December 23, 2025
A major Sierra Leone mangrove conservation initiative illustrates the growing use of blue-carbon finance to fund coastal forest protection.
| Keith Anthony Fabro | Mongabay | December 4, 2025
Philippine mangroves that survived severe storms continue to face development and other human pressures that can undermine natural coastal resilience.
| Researchers | Earth-Science Reviews | October 2025
A scientific review explains how mangroves capture, transport, process, and store carbon and evaluates their significance within the global carbon budget.
| Researchers | Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science | September 30, 2025
Expanding temperate mangroves in New Zealand demonstrate how changing sediment conditions and climate can increase mangrove carbon accumulation.
| Researchers | Ecological Indicators | September 2025
Researchers use drones, remote sensing, LiDAR, and machine learning to estimate aboveground carbon stored in a Kenyan mangrove ecosystem.
| The Guardian | The Guardian | August 15, 2025
Rising seas and changing salinity are altering New Caledonia's famous Heart of Voh mangrove landscape, illustrating rapid ecological responses to climate change.
| Researchers | Forests | August 5, 2025
Research reviews the biodiversity, ecological health, economic value, carbon storage, shoreline stabilization, fisheries support, and ecosystem services associated with mangroves.
| Chance W. Sullivan, Neil David Hartstein and Moritz Müller | Discover Oceans | June 18, 2025
A scientific review evaluates technologies for measuring dissolved organic carbon exported by mangrove forests into surrounding coastal waters.
| Tulane University | ScienceDaily | May 23, 2025
Global satellite analysis shows that El Niño and La Niña influence mangrove growth through changes in rainfall, sea level, salinity, and other environmental conditions.
| Ju et al. | Geophysical Research Letters | April 18, 2025
Researchers reconstruct global changes in mangrove area and carbon stocks between 1985 and 2020 and identify major geographical patterns of loss.
| Moran Wang et al. | Scientific Data | April 1, 2025
A global dataset maps accumulated mangrove carbon storage from 2000 through 2020 at one-kilometer resolution.
| Researchers | Journal of Environmental Management | February 2025
A review identifies scientific, financial, ecological, and social considerations important when developing mangrove-based blue-carbon credit projects.
| University of Jyväskylä | ScienceDaily | February 27, 2025
Researchers examining the Sundarbans propose policies linking mangrove conservation, climate adaptation, sustainable livelihoods, infrastructure, and coastal development.
| University of California, Santa Cruz | ScienceDaily | December 5, 2024
Economic modeling values mangroves' worldwide flood-protection benefits at hundreds of billions of dollars and emphasizes their role as natural coastal infrastructure.
| NASA Earth Observatory | NASA | December 5, 2024
Long-term observations of Florida Everglades mangroves indicate that increasingly frequent and intense hurricanes may reduce their ability to recover between storms.
| Kangkuso Analuddin et al. | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | November 7, 2024
Researchers assess mangrove vulnerability and blue-carbon storage across several coastal landscapes in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia.
| Chuanyi Guo et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | September 4, 2024
Research examines environmental factors controlling mangrove carbon storage and how carbon stocks respond to ecological stress.
| NOAA | National Ocean Service | June 16, 2024
NOAA explains how salt-tolerant mangrove trees survive intertidal environments, stabilize shorelines, trap sediment, reduce erosion, and provide habitat for fish and wildlife.
| Javier Blanco-Sacristán et al. | Scientific Reports | February 26, 2024
UAV imagery is used to estimate carbon assimilation in mangrove forests, demonstrating how drones can improve monitoring of blue-carbon ecosystems.
| Luiz C. Cotovicz Jr. et al. | Nature Climate Change | February 8, 2024
Measurements show that methane oxidation greatly limits methane emissions from mangroves, strengthening estimates of their overall climate-mitigation value.
| Yaping Chen and Matthew L. Kirwan | Nature Ecology & Evolution | January 3, 2024
Global satellite observations reveal rapid greening of mangrove forests and highlight their distinctive response to atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate variability.
| Gloria M. S. Reithmaier et al. | Nature Communications | December 11, 2023
Researchers find that dissolved inorganic carbon exported from mangroves and salt marshes contributes substantially to coastal carbon sequestration.
| Celine E. J. van Bijsterveldt et al. | Nature Sustainability | October 2, 2023
Research on subsiding Indonesian coastlines examines whether mangroves can continue protecting inhabited areas experiencing exceptionally rapid relative sea-level rise.
| Alvise Dabalà et al. | Nature Communications | September 21, 2023
Global conservation prioritization identifies mangrove areas capable of simultaneously protecting biodiversity, fisheries, coastal populations, property, and carbon stocks.
| Neil Saintilan et al. | Nature | August 30, 2023
Global analysis warns that mangroves and other coastal habitats face rapidly increasing risks when sea-level rise exceeds their capacity for vertical adjustment.
| Sílvia Lisboa and Maurício Brum | Mongabay | August 8, 2023
Research examines how mangrove protection can simultaneously support climate mitigation, adaptation, biodiversity, and coastal communities.
| Steve Trent | Mongabay | July 3, 2023
Mangroves, seagrasses, salt marshes, and other blue-carbon habitats offer major opportunities for protecting stored carbon while sustaining fisheries and biodiversity.
| C. T. Y. Chung et al. | Communications Earth & Environment | May 30, 2023
Climate projections indicate that future heat, rainfall changes, and other environmental stresses will increase risks to mangrove health across northern Australia.
| Judith A. Rosentreter et al. | Nature Climate Change | May 22, 2023
A synthesis of mangroves, salt marshes, seagrasses, and estuaries shows that coastal ecosystems collectively operate as a greenhouse-gas sink.
| USGS EROS Center | U.S. Geological Survey | May 18, 2023
Satellite observations document changing mangrove landscapes and explain their importance for fisheries, biodiversity, shoreline stability, forest products, and local livelihoods.
| Jennifer Howard et al. | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | August 18, 2022
Researchers summarize major drivers of mangrove change and their consequences for biodiversity, carbon storage, ecosystem services, and human communities.
| Ellery Lennon and Kathleen Sullivan Sealey | Frontiers in Marine Science | July 22, 2022
Fish communities associated with intact mangrove shorelines are compared with those living along altered coastal habitats in Florida's Biscayne Bay.
| J. F. Blanco-Libreros et al. | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | March 21, 2022
Mangroves spanning extremely wet to desert climates in Colombia provide baseline data for understanding environmental controls on forest structure and future change.
| Andre S. Rovai et al. | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | January 3, 2022
Brazilian mangrove forests contain globally significant blue-carbon stocks and represent important natural climate solutions.
| Kang-Chun Cheng | Mongabay | October 22, 2021
Conservation projects around Mombasa demonstrate how community participation can reduce pressure on mangroves while protecting fisheries, carbon stores, and shorelines.
| Jacob P. Hochard et al. | Scientific Reports | July 28, 2021
Global economic analysis indicates that sufficiently wide mangrove belts can protect coastal economic activity from tropical cyclone impacts.
| Rik Gijsman et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | July 8, 2021
A review examines how mangroves can be integrated with coastal engineering to reduce flood risk while accounting for ecosystem persistence and failure.
| Md Mizanur Rahman et al. | Nature Communications | June 23, 2021
Conserving mangroves can simultaneously protect biodiversity and retain substantial ecosystem carbon stocks.
| Researchers | Frontiers in Marine Science | August 28, 2020
Carbon stocks are compared among tropical seagrass habitats situated within estuaries and mangrove-fringed coastal creeks.
| T. J. Tolhurst et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | June 26, 2020
Experiments examine how mangrove shading and nutrient enrichment alter sediment organisms, erosion susceptibility, and biogeochemical processes.
| Pelayo Menéndez et al. | Scientific Reports | March 10, 2020
High-resolution global modeling estimates the value of mangrove forests in reducing coastal flooding and avoiding damage to people and property.
| Kerrylee Rogers et al. | Nature | March 6, 2019
Geological records show that long-term relative sea-level rise strongly influences how much carbon mangroves and other coastal wetlands accumulate.
| Daniel A. Friess | Nature Geoscience | December 20, 2018
A research commentary explains why global differences in mangrove height are important for understanding forest ecology and estimating carbon storage.
| Marc Simard et al. | Nature Geoscience | December 20, 2018
Global canopy-height mapping shows that precipitation, temperature, tropical cyclones, and other climatic factors strongly influence the stature of mangrove forests.
| André S. Rovai et al. | Nature Climate Change | May 28, 2018
A global analysis identifies climatic, geomorphological, sedimentary, and environmental controls governing carbon storage in mangrove soils.
| William Burnside | Nature Sustainability | January 8, 2018
Genetic evidence suggests that historical sea-level changes contributed to reduced genetic diversity in mangrove populations and may affect future resilience.
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | September 27, 2017
Kenya's Mikoko Pamoja project pioneered community-based mangrove conservation financed partly through the voluntary carbon market.
| Laura E. P. Rocchio | NASA Science | October 29, 2014
Landsat imagery helps map South Asian mangroves and documents their roles in shoreline stabilization, fisheries, flood control, water quality, transportation, and storm protection.
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | September 29, 2014
A UNEP assessment calculates substantial economic losses from mangrove destruction and emphasizes the forests' contributions to fisheries, clean water, carbon storage, and protection from extreme weather.
| Daniel C. Donato et al. | U.S. Forest Service | 2011
U.S. Forest Service researchers summarize evidence showing that mangrove forests can contain several times more carbon per hectare than many upland tropical forests.
| Daniel C. Donato et al. | Nature Geoscience | April 3, 2011
Field measurements across the Indo-Pacific establish mangrove forests as among the most carbon-dense tropical forests, with especially large quantities of carbon stored below ground.
| NASA/JPL | Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Undated
NASA describes mangroves as carbon-rich forested wetlands linking terrestrial and marine carbon cycles while supporting fisheries and coastal communities.
| Conservation International | Conservation International | Undated
Conservation International highlights Kenya's carbon-rich ecosystems, including the extensive mangrove forests concentrated along the Lamu coast.
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | Undated
Resources explore the role of healthy mangrove forests in shoreline stability, climate adaptation, disaster-risk reduction, biodiversity, and community resilience.
Restoration and Ecological Recovery
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | 2025–2026
Reports compiled by the Global Mangrove Alliance examine mangrove restoration, protection, resilience, finance, blue carbon, and progress toward international conservation goals.
| Rhett Ayers Butler | Mongabay | August 3, 2026
Bangladesh's ambitious tree-planting program illustrates why successful restoration depends on survival, ecosystem suitability, maintenance, and long-term protection.
| IUCN Bangladesh | IUCN | June 2026
A new conservation initiative for the Sundarbans combines ecosystem restoration, research, climate resilience, biodiversity protection, and collaboration with communities that depend on the world's largest mangrove forest.
| Ahmad H. Ramdhani | Mongabay | June 11, 2026
Fishing communities in Lombok are linking mangrove reforestation with improved fisheries, food security, and coastal livelihoods.
| Kenya News Agency | Kenya News Agency | May 24, 2026
A Kenyan restoration campaign planted mangrove propagules near Mombasa to rebuild degraded habitat, strengthen shorelines, support biodiversity, and improve coastal resilience.
| IUCN Mozambique | IUCN | March 4, 2026
Communities in Mozambique are restoring mangrove hydrology in areas previously cleared for salt production, demonstrating an approach centered on natural regeneration rather than planting alone.
| Rhett Ayers Butler | Mongabay | February 18, 2026
Poor hydrology, unsuitable planting locations, insufficient technical expertise, weak financing, and lack of long-term community support contribute to high failure rates in mangrove restoration.
| Marina Martinez | Mongabay | February 6, 2026
Partnerships that connect community conservation groups with financing, science, monitoring, and technical expertise are helping expand mangrove restoration projects.
| Emma Cummings-Krueger | Conservation International | February 3, 2026
Restoration programs in the Sundarbans include women who have planted large numbers of mangrove seedlings while helping rebuild habitat for wildlife and coastal communities.
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | 2025
Regional readiness assessments identify strategies for protecting and restoring mangroves in Asia, the Americas, and West Africa while mobilizing conservation finance.
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | 2025
Best-practice guidelines stress ecological suitability, local knowledge, hydrology, biodiversity, community participation, long-term monitoring, and sustainable finance in mangrove restoration.
| Will McCarry | Conservation International | December 22, 2025
Conservation projects demonstrate how restoring mangroves can combine climate mitigation, biodiversity protection, economic opportunities, and local stewardship.
| Ngala Chimtom | Mongabay | December 11, 2025
Communities around Douala, Cameroon, are restoring mangroves as declining fisheries and rising seas increase pressure on coastal livelihoods.
| Alexis Serrano Carmona | Mongabay | November 26, 2025
Community stewardship agreements in Ecuador have helped crab harvesters protect and restore mangrove habitat while sustaining traditional livelihoods.
| Wetlands International | Global Mangrove Alliance | July 2025
Kenya's mangrove restoration experience emphasizes community-based ecological restoration, hydrological repair, natural regeneration, monitoring, and sustainable coastal livelihoods.
Conservation organizations established a Kenyan chapter of the Global Mangrove Alliance to coordinate mangrove protection, restoration, research, financing, and community-led management.
| Rhett Ayers Butler | Mongabay | July 22, 2025
Research on hundreds of restoration projects provides new estimates of the financial costs involved in restoring mangrove forests around the world.
| Juliet Akoth Ojwang | Mongabay | July 1, 2025
A Kenyan biodiversity-credit program combines mangrove nurseries, restoration work, local employment, and coastal ecosystem conservation.
| Sebrian M. Beselly et al. | Communications Earth & Environment | May 31, 2025
Modeling shows that strategically designed mangrove restoration can substantially increase the quantity of carbon retained within restored coastal landscapes.
| Florida Atlantic University | ScienceDaily | March 20, 2025
Researchers develop a planning tool for choosing mangrove restoration, oyster reefs, vegetation, and hybrid approaches to protecting vulnerable Florida Keys shorelines.
| Zheng Li, Yangfan Li and Bingxiong Fan | Forest Ecology and Management | February 2025
A global meta-analysis finds that restored mangrove forests containing multiple tree species can store more carbon than single-species plantations.
| Mark Ram et al. | Restoration Ecology | February 21, 2025
Researchers compare fish communities in restored and natural mangroves to determine whether restored forests eventually recover important biodiversity functions.
| Carolyn Cowan | Mongabay | February 3, 2025
Bioacoustic monitoring of bird communities could provide conservationists with a relatively inexpensive way to measure ecological recovery in restored mangrove forests.
| Maxwell Radwin | Mongabay | January 23, 2025
Conservationists warn that construction of a major Panama port and navigation channel could damage protected mangroves and marine nursery habitats.
| Aimee Gabay | Mongabay | January 16, 2025
Ogoni women are restoring oil-damaged Niger Delta mangroves while developing livelihoods tied to the recovery of coastal ecosystems.
| Researchers | Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment | 2024
Satellite imagery spanning nearly four decades is used to map mangrove regeneration and identify factors influencing successful restoration in Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
| Abhishyant Kidangoor | Mongabay | December 3, 2024
Mangrove restoration research emphasizes the importance of monitoring outcomes rather than judging success simply by the number of seedlings planted.
| Ruth Kamnitzer | Mongabay | November 27, 2024
Restoration in Guinea-Bissau combines ecological rehabilitation with local knowledge, livelihoods, community participation, and improved management.
| Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool researchers | One Earth | November 15, 2024
The Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool provides standardized ecological, socioeconomic, cost, intervention, and monitoring information for restoration projects around the world.
| Researchers | Journal of Environmental Management | August 2024
UAV-LiDAR and remote sensing are used to evaluate mangrove rehabilitation along eroding shorelines in Thailand and identify conditions favoring natural recolonization.
| Sadiqur Rahman | Mongabay | August 15, 2024
Women in the Sundarbans are participating in mangrove restoration projects that provide alternative income while strengthening coastal protection.
| Darren Incorvaia | Mongabay | August 14, 2024
Five decades of data reveal encouraging signs of mangrove recovery in Madagascar while underscoring the continuing importance of conservation.
| Global Mangrove Trust | Global Mangrove Trust | May 21, 2024
A community restoration project in Indonesia reports large-scale planting while illustrating the organizational and logistical requirements of rebuilding degraded mangrove forests.
| Inger Andersen | United Nations Environment Programme | February 27, 2024
UNEP describes mangrove restoration as a nature-based solution capable of supporting biodiversity, carbon sequestration, coastal adaptation, livelihoods, and economic development.
| Researchers | Science of the Total Environment | February 25, 2024
Mangrove restoration age strongly influences soil microbial biomass, bacterial and fungal communities, ecological functions, and microbial networks.
| Researchers | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | February 7, 2024
Restoration work in Qinzhou Bay demonstrates how recovering mangrove vegetation can increase blue-carbon storage in biomass and soils.
| Severino G. Salmo III et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | December 14, 2023
An editorial reviews mangrove restoration challenges and scientific priorities across Southeast Asia during the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
| Yuhang Wang et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | November 29, 2023
Remote-sensing indices are used to evaluate more than three decades of mangrove restoration in China's Shankou Mangrove National Nature Reserve.
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | July 25, 2023
Mangroves support more than a thousand species, provide nurseries for marine organisms, protect shorelines, filter water, and store unusually large quantities of carbon.
| Cassie Freund | Mongabay | March 9, 2023
Research questions whether Indonesia has enough ecologically appropriate land available to meet its ambitious national mangrove restoration targets.
| Shanshan Song et al. | Nature Communications | February 10, 2023
Analysis of more than 370 restoration sites finds that reforestation of former mangrove habitat generally produces greater carbon benefits than creating mangroves in previously unvegetated areas.
| Sigit D. Sasmito et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | January 2, 2023
Indonesia's enormous mangrove-restoration ambitions are analyzed in relation to poverty reduction, food security, water quality, climate mitigation, and other Sustainable Development Goals.
| WWF, IUCN and Wetlands International | IUCN | 2022
A regional assessment reviews mangrove extent, gains, losses, economic importance, governance, conservation, and restoration in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar.
| IUCN | IUCN | December 6, 2022
Community forest associations in Kenya's Tana Delta are restoring mangroves and native forests while establishing nurseries and locally managed conservation programs.
| Researchers | Frontiers in Marine Science | December 1, 2022
A review of mangrove restoration in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta assesses progress, ecological outcomes, institutional challenges, and lessons from 2015–2020.
| Researchers | Frontiers in Marine Science | September 29, 2022
A systematic review of hundreds of studies evaluates ecological and social dimensions of mangrove restoration across Southeast Asia.
| Researchers | Frontiers in Marine Science | September 23, 2022
Modeling evaluates whether restored mangrove forests necessarily provide effective protection against waves, storms, erosion, and coastal flooding.
| Martin Zimmer et al. | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | August 9, 2022
A review compares natural regeneration, assisted recovery, planting, hydrological restoration, and other levels of intervention used to re-establish mangrove forests.
| Yasmine M. Gatt et al. | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | May 16, 2022
Analysis of restoration studies finds substantial inconsistency in how mangrove projects report objectives, methods, ecological indicators, monitoring, and outcomes.
| Farid Dahdouh-Guebas and Stefano Cannicci | Frontiers in Marine Science | December 10, 2021
Mangrove restoration is examined in the context of shifting ecological baselines, socioeconomic change, uncertainty, poverty, biodiversity, and future climate conditions.
| Researchers | Frontiers in Marine Science | October 20, 2021
Fine-root production is compared in single-species and mixed mangrove stands to determine implications for restoration and carbon sequestration.
| Jie Su, Daniel A. Friess and Alexandros Gasparatos | Nature Communications | August 19, 2021
A meta-analysis compares ecological and economic outcomes of restored mangrove forests with degraded and natural reference ecosystems.
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | July 23, 2021
UNEP outlines practical principles for mangrove recovery, emphasizing protection of existing forests, understanding causes of loss, appropriate restoration, and sustainable coastal choices.
| Beth A. Middleton and Eric Ward | U.S. Geological Survey | July 1, 2021
Mangrove restoration can increase both aboveground biomass and soil carbon while rebuilding highly productive coastal wetland ecosystems.
| Ludwig Triest and Tom Van der Stocken | Frontiers in Marine Science | June 28, 2021
Coastal landforms influence local dispersal, genetic diversity, kinship, and regeneration patterns within mangrove populations.
| IUCN World Conservation Congress | IUCN | 2020
An IUCN resolution calls for stronger global conservation, restoration, sustainable management, governance, education, and climate action for mangrove ecosystems.
| Farid Dahdouh-Guebas et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | November 19, 2020
Scientists argue that public perceptions and misconceptions about mangrove forests can strongly influence conservation policy and restoration outcomes.
| Stewart-Sinclair et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | September 15, 2020
A review considers financial, technical, ecological, institutional, and social barriers to restoration of mangroves and other coastal blue ecosystems.
| Vanderklift et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | September 15, 2020
Restoration approaches using seeds, propagules, larvae, and other reproductive material are compared across mangroves and several other marine ecosystems.
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | July 24, 2020
Restoration of degraded mangroves in Haiti helped encourage the return of birds, fish, crustaceans, and other wildlife following decades of overexploitation.
| Aaron M. Ellison et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | May 15, 2020
Case studies from Singapore and Belize present mangrove rehabilitation as an adaptive-management process rather than a simple tree-planting exercise.
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | March 22, 2020
Mangroves connect terrestrial forests with marine ecosystems, providing fish nurseries, carbon-rich soils, coastal protection, and habitat for diverse wildlife.
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | January 6, 2020
Community restoration in Nigeria demonstrates how mangrove recovery can reduce flooding, restore fisheries, and provide resources while encouraging sustainable harvesting.
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | July 24, 2019
Kenya's Vanga Blue Forests initiative demonstrates how carbon finance can support mangrove conservation, restoration, community development, and fisheries.
| Catherine E. Lovelock and Benjamin M. Brown | Nature Ecology & Evolution | July 8, 2019
Mangrove restoration success depends not only on ecological techniques but also on land ownership, tenure rights, governance, and incentives affecting restoration sites.
| Shing Yip Lee et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | April 29, 2019
Scientists argue that poorly designed mass-planting programs can fail and that mangrove restoration policy should emphasize appropriate sites and ecological processes.
| IUCN and contributors | IUCN | 2011
A broad assessment reviews mangrove restoration methods, sustainable management, biodiversity conservation, fisheries, coastal protection, and community participation.
| FAO | Food and Agriculture Organization | Undated
FAO provides an overview of mangrove ecology, global distribution, fisheries habitat, forest products, storm protection, restoration, and sustainable management.
| NOAA | National Ocean Service | Undated
NOAA explains the role of mangrove forests within estuaries as nursery, feeding, breeding, and nesting habitat for fish, shellfish, and birds.
| Wetlands International | Wetlands International | Undated
Wetlands International documents mangrove conservation, restoration, community management, monitoring, alternative livelihoods, and ecological recovery in Kenya's Tana Delta and Lamu regions.
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | Undated
A collection of restoration resources includes project reports, ecological restoration guidance, monitoring tools, local ecological knowledge, climate-smart planning, and global mangrove assessments.
Restoration Initiative resources include mangrove restoration strategies and policy frameworks developed for coastal landscapes in Africa and elsewhere.
IUCN's marine ecosystem program covers mangrove restoration, blue natural capital, coastal conservation, biodiversity, climate resilience, and sustainable ocean management.
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | Undated
The alliance's resource library brings together research, restoration manuals, policy guidance, monitoring information, finance tools, and assessments of mangrove condition.
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | Undated
Scientific resources address mangrove mapping, restoration ecology, carbon storage, biodiversity, resilience, monitoring, and conservation planning.
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | Undated
Policy resources examine how governments can incorporate mangroves into climate commitments, biodiversity strategies, coastal planning, and restoration programs.
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | Undated
Mangrove-finance resources explore blue carbon, conservation investment, restoration finance, private capital, public funding, and safeguards for high-integrity projects.
Threats, Degradation, Pollution, and Development
| Suryadi | Mongabay | August 12, 2026
A farmer on Sumatra is working to restore mangroves on environmentally fragile peatlands affected by degradation and land-use change.
| Guardian staff | The Guardian | July 24, 2026
The Mangrove Photography Awards document mangrove wildlife, underwater habitats, coastal communities, pollution, restoration, fishing, and other dimensions of these ecosystems.
| Alyona Synenko | United Nations Environment Programme | July 24, 2026
Satellite research indicates that global mangrove losses have slowed substantially, demonstrating the potential of conservation, natural regeneration, community stewardship, and scientifically planned restoration.
| Naina Rao | Mongabay | July 13, 2026
Decades of satellite observations suggest Southeast Asia has shifted from being a major center of mangrove loss toward net mangrove expansion since around 2010.
| Elizabeth Schell | Mongabay | June 23, 2026
Four decades of satellite observations indicate that mangrove decline has slowed globally and that expansion and regeneration are offsetting substantial portions of recent losses.
| Dan Collyns | The Guardian | June 19, 2026
Ecuador's booming shrimp industry is placing continued pressure on mangrove forests, shellfish populations, traditional livelihoods, water quality, and protected coastal areas.
| Victoria Schneider and David Akana | Mongabay | June 6, 2026
Reporting examines the continuing impacts of petroleum operations and oil contamination on Nigeria's extensive Niger Delta mangrove forests.
| Shanna Hanbury | Mongabay | May 21, 2026
Research highlights mangrove forests as natural filters capable of removing substantial quantities of excess nitrogen entering coastal waters.
| IUCN | IUCN | April 16, 2026
The Global Mangrove Alliance's policy program seeks stronger national and international frameworks for halting mangrove loss, restoring degraded forests, improving community management, and integrating mangroves into climate policy.
A review examines mangrove biodiversity, coastal protection, climate benefits, oil pollution, agricultural conversion, urban development, and opportunities for ecological restoration.
| Maxwell Radwin | Mongabay | February 23, 2026
Environmental organizations opposing coastal development in Panama face legal pressure while seeking to protect mangrove ecosystems from port construction.
| The Guardian | The Guardian | February 5, 2026
Fishers and conservationists in Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay have helped restore polluted mangrove habitat and encourage the return of wildlife.
| Malavika Vyawahare | Mongabay | January 26, 2026
The long-term environmental consequences of the Wakashio oil spill continue to raise questions about the health and recovery of Mauritius's coastal ecosystems.
| Catherine E. Lovelock et al. | Nature Reviews Biodiversity | November 17, 2025
A comprehensive review examines mangrove biodiversity, ecological processes, food webs, structural complexity, ecosystem services, climate threats, and priorities for conservation research.
| Kristine Sabillo | Mongabay | July 25, 2025
Global restoration initiatives are attempting to reverse mangrove degradation while protecting biodiversity, coastal communities, and climate-related ecosystem services.
| Carolyn Cowan | Mongabay | February 25, 2025
Commodity-driven deforestation continues to threaten Southeast Asian mangroves while complicating efforts to finance their protection and restoration.
| University of Galway | ScienceDaily | February 18, 2025
Satellite imagery, artificial intelligence, and remote sensing reveal extensive mangrove mortality associated with crude-oil pollution in Nigeria's Niger Delta.
| National University of Singapore | ScienceDaily | February 10, 2025
Conserving Southeast Asian peatlands and mangroves could substantially reduce regional land-use emissions because these ecosystems store extraordinary quantities of soil carbon.
| Shan Wei et al. | Communications Earth & Environment | October 20, 2024
A global study explores the complex relationship between urbanization, climate, mangrove growth, and carbon storage along increasingly developed coastlines.
| Carolyn Cowan | Mongabay | July 25, 2024
Economic pressures associated with shrimp farming illustrate the challenge of reconciling short-term livelihoods with long-term mangrove conservation.
| Sarah Brown | Mongabay | July 11, 2024
Expansion of shrimp aquaculture threatens Mexican mangrove habitat and terrestrial wildlife including jaguars that use these coastal forests.
| Vitor Alexandre Araujo Prado dos Anjos | Mongabay | July 1, 2024
Brazilian mangrove scientist Mário Soares discusses carbon storage, coastal resilience, climate change, oil spills, conservation, and limitations of carbon-market approaches.
| Niladry Sarkar | Mongabay | June 19, 2024
Rapid expansion of shrimp farming is transforming parts of India's Sundarbans and increasing pressure on mangrove ecosystems and coastal communities.
| A. Gijón Mancheño et al. | Scientific Reports | April 4, 2024
Coastal-engineering models demonstrate how mangrove growth, mortality, and wave reduction can be incorporated into flood-protection designs.
| Songfeng Liu et al. | ISME Journal | October 25, 2023
Researchers identify previously poorly understood microorganisms responsible for methylmercury production deep within mangrove sediments.
| Elodie Toto | Mongabay | April 6, 2023
Loss of mangroves around Libreville, Gabon, is reducing natural flood protection as urbanization expands into vulnerable coastal landscapes.
| Madeline McSherry et al. | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | March 16, 2023
Researchers examine whether integrated mangrove-aquaculture systems can reduce environmental damage associated with conventional shrimp farming.
| Teguh Suprayitno | Mongabay | January 30, 2023
Mangrove clearing along Sumatra's coast raises questions about environmental regulation, permitting, and legal loopholes affecting protected ecosystems.
| Morgan Erickson-Davis | Mongabay | December 30, 2022
A review of major mangrove stories examines deforestation, restoration, blue carbon, biodiversity, development pressures, and coastal protection.
| Luiz Drude de Lacerda et al. | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | April 6, 2022
A review explores how climate change may alter trace-metal storage, mobility, and biogeochemical cycling in mangrove soils.
| David Lagomasino et al. | Nature Communications | June 28, 2021
Hurricane Irma caused extensive mangrove canopy damage and dieback in southwest Florida, with prolonged flooding and poor drainage determining where forests failed to recover.
| S. M. Hickey et al. | Scientific Reports | April 14, 2021
ENSO-driven changes in sea level and climate help explain recurring mangrove dieback at an environmentally marginal site in Western Australia.
A collection of research explores mangrove ecology, genetics, ecosystem services, threats, management, restoration, and relationships between coastal forests and human communities.
| Thomas A. Worthington et al. | Scientific Reports | September 4, 2020
A global classification divides mangroves into deltaic, estuarine, open-coast, and lagoonal systems and connects geomorphology with forest structure and deforestation risk.
| Daniel R. Richards et al. | Nature Communications | August 26, 2020
Researchers quantify the amount of mangrove carbon lost worldwide through two decades of deforestation and land-cover change.
| Dale N. Bryan-Brown et al. | Scientific Reports | April 28, 2020
Global mapping reveals changing patterns of mangrove forest fragmentation, an important dimension of habitat degradation beyond outright forest loss.
| Daniel A. Friess et al. | Annual Review of Environment and Resources / USGS | August 23, 2019
A major review traces mangrove history, global distribution, anthropogenic threats, deforestation, restoration prospects, climate change, and sea-level rise.
| Laura Carugati et al. | Scientific Reports | September 5, 2018
Mangrove degradation alters microbial and animal biodiversity and disrupts ecological processes essential to ecosystem functioning.
| Stuart E. Hamilton and Daniel A. Friess | Nature Climate Change | February 26, 2018
Global mapping quantifies mangrove carbon stocks and estimates potential greenhouse-gas emissions caused by mangrove deforestation between 2000 and 2012.
| Stephanie S. Romanach et al. | Ocean & Coastal Management / USGS | February 22, 2018
A global review examines mangrove loss, conservation policy, restoration approaches, ecosystem services, and the importance of incorporating human livelihood needs.
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | August 4, 2017
Pollution, plastic waste, coastal development, and other pressures threaten mangrove forests despite their exceptional biodiversity and carbon-storage capacity.
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | July 25, 2017
UNEP reviews mangrove biodiversity, fisheries, coastal defense, carbon sequestration, habitat loss, aquaculture impacts, restoration, and international conservation efforts.
Satellite analysis finds that aquaculture, rice farming, oil-palm expansion, and other land uses drove substantial mangrove deforestation across Southeast Asia.
| Daniel R. Richards and Daniel A. Friess | PNAS | December 28, 2015
Detailed regional mapping identifies national and subnational differences in the causes of mangrove loss and demonstrates why conservation policies must address specific land-use drivers.
| Conservation International | Conservation International | Undated
An accessible overview explains mangrove adaptations to saltwater, global distribution, biodiversity, nursery habitat, carbon storage, and major conservation threats.
| World Bank | World Bank | Undated
Economic analysis of Indonesian mangroves evaluates coastal protection, fisheries, climate regulation, raw materials, cultural services, degradation, conservation, and restoration.
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | Undated
The Global Mangrove Alliance coordinates international efforts to halt mangrove loss, restore degraded forests, expand protection, improve science, and mobilize finance.
| Global Mangrove Alliance | Global Mangrove Alliance | Undated
Protection resources examine conservation policy, protected areas, community stewardship, land-use pressures, governance, and strategies for preventing further mangrove loss.
Communities, Livelihoods, and Traditional Stewardship
| Carolina de Marchi | Mongabay | August 13, 2026
Land rights and mangrove conservation intersect in a Brazilian quilombo where residents are defending coastal forests, traditional livelihoods, and community territory.
| Mongabay | Mongabay | July 15, 2026
Traditional spiritual practices in Benin are helping communities preserve mangrove forests and reinforce local conservation institutions.
| David Akana | Mongabay | June 25, 2026
Fishers around Kenya's Mida Creek are adapting to environmental change while relying on mangroves and other coastal habitats for fisheries and livelihoods.
| Amina Juma Hamza et al. | Frontiers in Sustainable Resource Management | September 25, 2024
A systematic review documents regional differences in how communities use mangrove wood, fisheries, construction materials, fuel, and other ecosystem services.
| Sarah Brown | Mongabay | August 19, 2024
Women known as the Mothers of the Mangroves are protecting Brazilian coastal forests while maintaining cultural knowledge associated with mangrove-dependent communities.
| Carolyn Cowan | Mongabay | June 18, 2024
Beekeeping provides communities with mangrove-compatible income while creating economic incentives to maintain healthy coastal forests.
| Célia Macamo et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | February 29, 2024
Experiences from rural Mozambique illustrate opportunities and challenges associated with community-based mangrove forest management in Eastern Africa.
| Margaret Owuor et al. | Frontiers in Environmental Science | February 7, 2024
Research in the Brazilian Amazon traces how fisheries, regulating services, cultural benefits, and other mangrove ecosystem services reach coastal communities.
| Lam Nguyen and Danielle Keeton-Olsen | Mongabay | February 28, 2023
Development and livelihood pressures are challenging conservation of Vietnam's Cần Giờ mangrove forests.
| Barita News Lumbanbatu | Mongabay | February 16, 2023
A failed ecotourism initiative demonstrates why mangrove conservation programs need meaningful community participation and viable long-term planning.
| Calvin Rock Odhiambo | Mongabay | February 2, 2023
Kenyan conservationist Kelly Roberts Banda discusses mangrove protection, environmental law, community engagement, and coastal ecosystem management.
| Yogi Eka Sahputra | Mongabay | January 16, 2023
Declining mangrove cover on Batam Island demonstrates the close connection between healthy coastal forests, fisheries, and community livelihoods.
| Soon Loong Lee et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | November 25, 2022
A Malaysian case study argues that mangrove valuation studies work best when researchers, communities, policymakers, and other stakeholders are closely connected.
| Rebecca Borges et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | December 1, 2021
Traditional ecological knowledge, participatory mapping, and GPS tracking are combined to study small-scale fisheries associated with Brazilian mangrove landscapes.
Conservation Policy, Governance, and Finance
| Xitao Yang et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | September 13, 2024
Researchers develop an ecological health assessment for mangrove forests within protected areas of Guangdong Province, China.
| Raphaëlle Flint et al. | IUCN | 2018
Guidance for donors and conservation practitioners examines ecological, social, economic, and financial factors influencing successful mangrove investments.
Science, Mapping, Monitoring, and Technology
| James Riordon | NASA Science | June 4, 2026
Landsat observations from 1984 to 2023 show a major shift from long-term mangrove decline toward global net expansion beginning around 2010.
| Researchers | Frontiers in Marine Science | November 20, 2023
A systematic review examines how satellite and other remote-sensing technologies are being used to study mangroves across Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
| Danghan Xie et al. | Nature Communications | November 11, 2023
Modeling suggests that removing mangroves can unexpectedly increase sediment trapping and worsen estuarine infilling through landscape-scale feedbacks.
| Astrid J. Hsu et al. | Frontiers in Marine Science | April 9, 2021
Researchers discuss drones and other aerial technologies for mangrove science while highlighting access, training, cost, and research-equity issues.
