New report shows slowdown in mangrove losses–providing a ‘last best chance’ for global action to protect coastal forests
On July 26 2021, the Global Mangrove Alliance released their inaugural report, The State of the World’s Mangroves, a compilation of the most current information available on what we know about mangrove forests and what’s being done to reverse the downward trends impacting the forests and the local communities who depend on them.
Due primarily to human-caused deforestation, some 4.3% of mangroves were lost globally in the two decades leading up to 2016, with much larger losses prior to that. Today there are 136,000km2 of mangroves remaining worldwide—an area about the size of Costa Rica—and nearly 20% of these forests are found in Indonesia.
This publication represents a remarkable synthesis, 100 authors from around the world (over 40 locales) have come together, sharing cutting-edge science and compelling stories. The narrative they tell, for the first time, is that we now have the knowledge to turn things around for these critical ecosystems. We know the problems, but we also know the solutions. The challenge is turning these solutions into actions, by swaying leaders at all levels of society to protect the mangroves still standing and restore what has been lost.
Tiisetso Mathole
