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The Return of Mangroves Should Give You Hope · How To Protect The Ocean

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  What if I told you that one of the most important ecosystems on Earth
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  has quietly been making a comeback after decades of destruction?
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  This is the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, your weekday ocean news update.
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  If you care about staying informed on the ocean every single weekday, Monday
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  to Friday, hit that follow button right now so you don't miss tomorrow's
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  story, which is gonna be a really interesting one, where we're gonna talk
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  about studying devil rays in Gaza, a war-torn area, which there's a lot of
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  implications of that, so we're gonna get into a lot of stuff like that tomorrow.
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  So hit that follow button so you don't miss tomorrow's episode.
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  So today, we're answering a simple but important question: Can mangrove forests
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  actually recover after deforestation?
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  And what does their recovery mean for the future of the
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  coasts, fisheries, and climate?
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  For years, mangroves have been one of the most cited examples of environmental loss.
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  Across tropical coastlines around the world, these unique forests
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  have been cleared for shrimp farms, agriculture, urban development,
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  ports, and tourism infrastructure.
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  Scientists often describe mangroves as one of the most threatened coastal
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  ecosystems on Earth, and for good reason.
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  Since the 1980s, thousands of square kilometers of mangrove
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  forests disappeared worldwide.
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  But according to new research highlighted by Mongabay and
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  published in the Journal of Science, there is finally some good news.
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  The world's mangrove forests may be bouncing back.
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  And not just in a few isolated locations.
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  Researchers analyzed four decades of satellite data and found that global
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  mangrove losses have slowed down dramatically, while gains over the last
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  16 years have actually outpaced losses.
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  As a result, global mangrove coverage is now close to where it
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  was decades ago, with only about 1% net decline since the 1980s.
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  That's huge.
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  That's remarkable.
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  That's a huge find, especially when so many environmental stories seem to be
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  on the move in the opposite direction.
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  So what exactly happened?
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  Let's start with the basics.
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  What exactly are mangroves?
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  Mangroves are forests that grow where land meets the sea.
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  They're built from salt-tolerant trees that thrive in muddy
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  coastal areas throughout the tropical and subtropical regions.
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  If you've ever seen a shoreline covered in tangled roots sticking out of the water,
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  you've probably seen a mangrove forest.
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  These roots do much more than just hold the trees upright.
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  They trap the sediments, they reduce erosion, they slow storm surges,
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  and they create a nursery habitat for countless fish and invertebrates.
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  Now, I've been in mangroves before, and I've walked through them.
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  I was in Singapore on the way back from the IMCC, I think
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  it was five, in Malaysia, in Borneo, at Kuching in particular.
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  And when we came back, Andrew Thaler and I and a friend of ours, went out to a
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  marine protected area on an island, and we were walking through the mangroves.
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  There was, like, a nice boardwalk in there.
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  And these mangroves are dense.
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  They're thick, thick, thick.
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  Like, not the trees, but the root systems are all over the place, and they
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  intertwine with each other's trees but the mud that they just kinda keep together
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  and that coastline they keep together secure that coastline from erosion.
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  It's just absolutely phenomenal.
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  It goes on land and into the water.
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  So it's the home of a number of different species in different realms, ocean as
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  well as intertidal as well as land.
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  And it's really, really cool.
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  And they're all, of course, for many commercially important seafood
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  species, they spend part of their time in the mangrove habitats.
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  So without mangroves, many coastal fisheries would struggle.
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  Now, for decades, however, humans removed these forests faster
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  than nature could replace them.
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  Large areas were converted into shrimp ponds and coastal developments.
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  Scientists expected them to continue to decline.
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  Instead, something surprising happened.
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  In many places, mangroves began returning on their own.
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  Researchers found that abandoned aquaculture ponds, newly formed
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  mudflats, and protected coastlines create opportunities for
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  mangroves to naturally regenerate.
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  Restoration programs also played an important role.
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  This doesn't mean that every mangrove forest is healthy, but it does mean
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  that the mangroves appear to be far more resilient than many people
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  realize, and they seem to come back a lot faster than many people realize.
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  Now, this is where the story becomes really important because mangroves
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  aren't just trees, they're an infrastructure, a coastal infrastructure,
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  like a natural infrastructure.
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  Imagine a coastal community facing a hurricane or a cyclone or even a tsunami
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  like the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
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  A healthy mangrove forest can absorb wave energy before it
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  reaches homes and businesses.
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  And in fact, areas where mangroves were intact in the 2004 tsunami in the
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  Indian Ocean actually showed much more protection than areas that had that loss.
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  So in areas where they were doing coastal development or they had like
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  they removed the mangroves for shrimping like we just, shrimp farming like we just
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  talked about, those areas had much more damage and much more lives lost than the
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  areas where they had that protection.
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  So it meant like less flooding, less erosion, less damage.
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  Millions of people around the world benefit from this protection every year.
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  Mangroves are also climate allies.
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  They store enormous amounts of carbon in their roots and sediments.
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  In fact, mangroves are among the most effective carbon-storing
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  ecosystems on the planet.
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  When they are protected, they lock carbon away.
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  When they're destroyed, much of that carbon can be released
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  back into the atmosphere.
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  That's why mangroves are often considered a powerful nature-based climate solution.
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  When you hear oil companies and you hear a lot of conservatives like in Canada and
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  the US talk about having carbon capture, the best carbon capture are a lot of these
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  natural systems, whether it be mangroves, whether it be seagrass beds, whether
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  it be kelp or other algae communities.
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  These are the communities and habitats that actually help secure carbon.
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  And that if we restore, even though that can be quite
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  expensive, it will actually help.
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  And I feel as though a lot of the oil and gas companies should be made to
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  actually be able to rebuild these and fund the restoration of a lot of these
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  places, especially coastal development and coastal communities where there's,
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  you see that coastal development happen and the taking away of those areas.
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  They should be forced to be, put those back if they take it away.
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  And of course, like we talk about security, then there's also food security.
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  Many fish, crabs, shrimp, and other marine species depend on mangroves during
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  critical parts of their life cycle.
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  No mangroves often means no nursery habitats.
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  Fewer nursery habitats mean fewer fish, and fewer fish can affect local
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  fisheries and coastal livelihoods.
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  So when mangroves recover, the benefits ripple outward.
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  The ecosystem benefits, the climate benefits, coastal communities
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  benefit, and fisheries benefit.
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  That's why researchers are calling this recovery one of the most
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  encouraging conservation stories we've seen in recent years.
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  And speaking of like encouraging conservation stories, if you like to
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  hear these types of stories and you're getting value from this podcast, these
• 6:46
  quick ocean news updates, follow this show on your favorite podcast app
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  so you don't miss tomorrow's episode or any other episode after this.
• 6:53
  And of course, you can go back into our back catalog of over 1,960 episodes
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  so that you can listen to what's been happening in the past before you
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  get to know what's gonna happen in the future or what's happening now.
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  Now, before we celebrate too much of this new mangrove resurgence,
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  there are a few important caveats.
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  The recovery is real, but it's fragile.
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  Many of the new mangrove forests are still pretty young.
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  Young forests don't provide the same level of protection, biodiversity,
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  or carbon storage as mature forests that have developed over decades.
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  And there are also ongoing threats.
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  Coastal development continues in many regions, and pollution remains a problem.
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  So just imagine a coastal city or a coastal area decides, "Hey," somebody
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  comes in and says, "Hey, I wanna build a resort here," or, "I wanna build a shrimp
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  farm here." And the people let it happen, or they don't know it's happening, and
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  it just gets to happen on their watch.
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  That whole area is taken away in months, or in days, or in weeks, and
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  so you have to start that over again.
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  Even though we see the recovery of mangroves, a baby mangrove, like
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  a small mangrove plant, is very, very small and doesn't provide
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  the protection that it needs.
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  And as it grows bigger and bigger, that's when the protection really comes in from
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  coastal development, from pollution, and then of course climate change will
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  introduce a few risks if it takes out through some storms and things like that.
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  But this is where you really need to really protect these areas.
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  Not just restore, but protect the restored ones and protect the
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  ones that have always been there.
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  One example highlighted by researchers occurred in Texas, in
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  the States, where expanded mangrove populations suffered major losses
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  after an extreme freeze event.
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  A single climate-related event was able to reverse years of progress.
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  Now, researchers are also warning that sea level rise could become
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  a major challenge in the future.
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  Mangroves can adapt to changing coastlines, but only if they
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  have space to migrate inland and conditions remain suitable.
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  So if sea levels rise too quickly or development blocks their movement,
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  some forests could struggle to survive.
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  So think about it.
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  You have this coastline, and there's like a certain thickness off the coastline,
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  so distance from the coastline inland.
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  If the sea level starts to rise, it's gonna take out that first level, those
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  first trees that are exposed to the sea.
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  So as those come in, they're gonna kill those plants, and it's gonna move inland.
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  Now, it's still gonna provide protection because if the band is
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  thick enough, like it goes from the sea inland quite a bit, then you're
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  gonna have some protection there.
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  But if there's nowhere for it to develop, like nowhere for those plants to migrate
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  more inland, so if there's paved roads or there's a highway or there's a community
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  there It'll be difficult to restore that even though there's sea level rise.
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  It's gonna be really hard to stop sea level rise because there's such
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  pressure coming in from the ocean.
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  But if you want to go back further inland, that would be easy.
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  But if there's a housing community there or a highway or a road,
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  that's gonna be harder for those plants and those mangrove trees to
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  actually develop and move forward.
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  So that's the problem that they're having with some of the
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  areas that need to be restored.
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  So the lesson isn't that mangroves are saved.
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  The lesson is that the recovery is possible.
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  Conservation works.
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  Restoration works, even though it's quite expensive.
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  And sometimes nature can help itself when given the opportunity.
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  In a world where environmental news often feels overwhelming, this
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  matters because success stories show us what's possible when protection
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  efforts are sustained over time.
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  Now, the biggest lesson from this study is simple: nature is remarkably
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  resilient, but only when it-- we give it the chance to recover.
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  Mangroves are proving that conservation can work and that protecting
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  coastal ecosystems is one of the smartest investments we can make
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  for people, fisheries, and climate.
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  It's so important that we follow these rules.
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  It's so important that we look at how restoration and how protection, which
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  is a lot cheaper, ' cause you protect what's there and not have to pay to
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  put back, is such an important part and should be a priority, especially
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  when our coastlines are at risk.
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  Sea level rise is happening, and it's gonna continue to happen as long as
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  governments around the world do not do what they're supposed to do fast enough
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  and reduce greenhouse gas effects.
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  So we're seeing sea level rise happen whether you like it or not.
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  Coastal communities are already feeling the pressure.
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  So having coastal areas and coastal habitats to reduce that or to help that
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  out and remediate that and provide more coastal resilience is going to help.
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  Helping with storm surges, helping with winds, helping with wave energy, all
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  these things can help with mangroves.
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  Being able to sequester a lot more carbon, being able to help fisheries by
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  having nursery habitats and protecting young animals of a variety of different
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  species is such an important aspect.
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  So the fact is, conservation works.
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  This is an example of conservation working.
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  When we leave the planet alone, we can help restore it, and we can
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  make it go faster, but we can also destroy it at a very rapid rate,
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  and that's what we have to prevent.
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  That's where we need to speak up for the blue.
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  So that's it for today's episode.
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  If you wanna get a hold of me, if you have a question or comment,
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  you can comment on Spotify.
• 11:49
  You can also just go to my socials in the links in the show notes.
• 11:53
  You can also support me on Patreon if you like what I do and you like
• 11:55
  to listen and you find value in this.
• 11:57
  I do newsletters, I do podcasts, I do YouTube videos.
• 12:00
  I just post on social media.
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  I do a lot of things.
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  I'm also gonna start posting in Patreon, sort of like behind the
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  scenes kinda stuff with what I'm doing.
• 12:07
  If you'd like to support that and you wanna talk to me and interact
• 12:10
  with me online there, you can go to speakupforblue.com/patreon.
• 12:15
  That's speakupforblue.com/patreon.
• 12:18
  The reason why I'm advertising this more, a lot of people have said,
• 12:20
  "Andrew, you need to do this because people wanna support you." You're
• 12:23
  more than welcome to continue to listen to this without supporting me.
• 12:25
  But if you wanna support me, that'd be greatly appreciated.
• 12:27
  Speakupforblue.com/patreon.
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  I wanna thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the
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  How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
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  Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you next time, and happy conservation.