A Global Rebound for Mangroves
A global rebound began around 2010, the scientists found, led by the expansion of mangrove forests in Asia, Australia, and South America.
Key points
- The country lost mangroves rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s due to the expansion of agriculture, aquaculture, and firewood harvesting in coastal areas, but the trend reversed around 2010, when mangrove area began expanding in many places.
- In several areas, such as around the mouth of the Amazon River and in northern Australia, extensive deposition of sediment has created new mudflats that mangroves have successfully colonized, contributing to steady increases in each of these regions since the 1990s.
- At the northern and southern edges of their range, including the southeastern U.S., warming temperatures and fewer freezes have also allowed mangroves to push….
They tallied losses of nearly 3,000 square kilometers (1,200 square miles) between 1984 and 2010, followed by an unexpected increase of nearly 2,000 square kilometers (770 square miles) of mangroves after 2010.
Additional details
- “About two-thirds of the expansion was due to mangroves colonizing new areas and the other third due to restoration and regrowth in degraded areas,” he added.
- People on nearby Pyin Bukyi Island, meanwhile, have experimented with conservation projects and tree planting efforts to support mangroves.
- For decades, the story they told about mangroves was dominated by loss and decline.
- The authors attribute the turnaround to increased awareness and restoration efforts after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, strengthened legal protections for forests, and high rates of sedimentation that opened up new mudflats for colonization.
- The pair of Landsat images above shows expansion of mangrove forests in Palaw Township in Burma’s Myeik District—an area that has seen both significant regeneration of degraded mangrove forests and the spread of trees into new areas since 2010.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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