The State of the World's Mangroves 2024 | 01 Aug 2024

Source: IE

Why in News?

Recently, a report titled "The State of the World's Mangroves 2024" was released by the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) on World Mangrove Day (26 July). 

• The GMA is the preeminent alliance of 100-plus members driving the conservation and restoration for the world’s mangroves.

What are the Key Benefits of the Mangroves as Per the State of the World's Mangroves 2024 Report? 

• About:
  • The latest world map (GMW v4.0), developed by the Global Mangrove Watch, provides a sixfold improvement in spatial resolution. 
    • It maps 147,256 km² of mangroves in 2020, adding data for six new territories. 
    • Southeast Asia holds about one-third of the world's mangroves, with Indonesia alone accounting for 21%.

• Key Benefits of Mangroves:

  • Carbon Storage: Mangroves hold, on average, a remarkable 394 tonnes of carbon per hectare in their living biomass and in the top meter of soil. 

    • Some mangrove areas, like in the Philippines, the average values are over 650 tonnes of carbon per hectare. 

  • Biodiversity: Mangroves are home to a tremendous diversity of species, reflecting their ecotone nature. 

    • Over 5,700 plant and animal species, across 21 phyla, have been recorded in Indian mangroves alone. 

  • Flood Reduction: Flooding is the most frequently occurring natural disaster worldwide and is exacerbated by climate change. 

    • Mangroves reduce flood depths by 15-20%, and over 70% in some areas. 

  • Food Security: Mangroves support nearly 800 billion young fish, prawns, bivalves, and crabs annually, crucial for global fisheries. 
    • They provide non-aquatic food resources like honey, leaves, and fruits, essential for local communities.
  • Cultural Significance: Mangrove species are widely used in traditional medicine, providing health benefits to local populations.

What are the Key Highlights in the Report Regarding India?

• Mangrove Cover in India: In India West Bengal holds the largest mangrove area followed by Gujarat, majorly located in the Gulf of Kutch and Gulf of Khambhat. 

• Biodiversity in the Mangrove Ecosystems of India: Mangrove ecosystems of India have perhaps the highest record of biodiversity of any country, with a total of 5,746 species. Of these, 4,822 species (84%) are animals.

• Critically Endangered and Vulnerable Mangroves: Natural mangrove forests on the southern Indian coast are critically endangered, particularly in the Lakshadweep archipelago and Tamil Nadu, due to rising sea levels from global warming. 

  • The report identifies shrimp aquaculture as a major driver of mangrove loss, highlighting its expansion in states like Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Gujarat. 

  • Mangroves on the western coast, extending from Gujarat to Kerala, are vulnerable to collapse due to human activities like shrimp aquaculture and natural threats such as tropical storms.
    • Conservation challenges in the Gulf of Cambay (Khambhat) include severe grazing and lopping during the flowering season, which hinders natural regeneration and damages the mangrove stock.

• Government Initiatives: The Union government has launched the Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes (MISHTI) programme to augment mangrove cover by planting mangroves in 540 sq km across 11 states and two Union territories.

  • Corporate involvement includes six major corporations signing MoUs with the Gujarat forest department to plant mangroves in 30 sq km.

What are the Challenges Highlighted in the Report?

• Conversion to aquaculture (26%), oil palm plantations and rice cultivation together explain 43% of mangrove losses between 2000 and 2020. 
  • The expansion of oil palm plantations and rice cultivation significantly contributes to the destruction of mangrove forests.
  • Logging for timber and charcoal production leads to significant mangrove degradation.
• Natural retraction, influenced by climate change, sediment shifts, and sea-level rise, also impacted 26% of mangrove areas. 
  • Increasing sea levels threaten mangrove habitats, especially those with limited freshwater and sediment input.
  • More frequent and intense cyclonic storms cause significant damage to mangrove ecosystems.
• Regional breakdowns highlight very diverse patterns of change, with human impacts dominating change in Africa, Asia, and North and Central America. 
  • Despite efforts, only 40% of the world's remaining mangrove forests are in protected areas. Some countries, like Malaysia and Myanmar, have less than 5% protection.
• The IUCN Red List identifies that half of the world’s mangrove provinces are threatened, with climate change being a significant exacerbating factor.

• Pollution from oil spills (8.2%), particularly in regions like the Niger Delta, poses severe risks to mangrove health and regeneration.
• Securing adequate financing for mangrove conservation remains a challenge.

What are the Steps Suggested in the Report for the Protection of Mangroves?

• Six Guiding Principles for Successful Mangrove Restoration:
  • Principle 1: Safeguard nature and maximise biodiversity.
    • Protect the remaining intact mangrove ecosystems, enhance their resilience, and implement science-based ecological restoration protocols. 
      • Policy frameworks like the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework are crucial in driving international conservation efforts
  • Principle 2: Employ the best information and practices.
    • Use the best available science-based knowledge, including Indigenous, traditional, and local knowledge, for mangrove interventions. 
      • Case studies from regions like the Philippines, Colombia, and Kenya highlight successful community-led restoration projects.
  • Principle 3: Empower people and address their needs.
    • Implement, in all aspects of project design, social safeguards that operate locally and contextually to protect and enhance community member rights, knowledge, and leadership to achieve fair and equitable benefit sharing. 
  • Principle 4: Align to the broader context – operate locally and contextually.
    • Operate in the local context, including cultural customs, resource use, management, and ownership regimes, while taking a land and seascape approach and aligning to international trends and their local implications.
  • Principle 5: Design for sustainability.
    • Create sustainable mangrove projects and programs that are inclusive of how these initiatives will last into the future, including considerations for financing, threat abatement, community stewardship, and climate change. 
  • Principle 6: Mobilize High-integrity capital.
    • Ensure capital flows at the scale needed and allow funding to be distributed to ready-to-scale projects.
      • Innovative financial tools, including carbon credits and mangrove insurance, are essential for supporting conservation actions.
• Expand Protected Areas: The Global Mangrove Alliance aims to halt mangrove loss, restore half of the world's lost mangroves, and double protection by 2030.
  • Increase the percentage of mangrove areas under legal protection. The Global Mangrove Alliance aims to double the protection to 80% by 2030.
• Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs): Implement OECMs that integrate biodiversity into sectors like food and water security, even if conservation is not the primary objective.