Globally Coordinated Action and Policy Interventions Required to Stem Loss of One of the Planet's Most Threatened Ecosystems.
Mangroves
are being destroyed at a rate 3-5 times greater than the average rates
of forest loss, costing billions in economic damages and denying
millions of people the ecosystem services they need to survive,
according to a new report launched today by the United Nations
Environment Programme – UNEP.
The Importance of Mangroves: A Call to Action
launched at the 16th Global Meeting of the Regional Seas Conventions
and Action Plans, describes how emissions resulting from mangrove losses
make up nearly one-fifth of global emissions from deforestation,
resulting in economic damages of some US$6-42 billion annually.
Mangroves are also threatened by climate change, which could result in
the loss of a further 10-15 per cent of mangroves by 2100. Found in
123 countries and covering 152,000 square kilometers, over 100 million
people around the world live within 10 kilometers of large mangrove
forests, benefiting from a variety of goods and services such as
fisheries and forest products, clean water and protection against
erosion and extreme weather events.
UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, "Mangroves
provide ecosystem services worth around US$33-57,000 per hectare per
year. Add to that their superior ability to store carbon that would
otherwise be released into the atmosphere and it becomes clear that
their continued destruction makes neither ecological nor economic
sense." "Yet, the escalating destruction and degradation of
mangroves – driven by land conversion for aquaculture and agriculture,
coastal development, and pollution – is occurring at an alarming rate,
with over a quarter of the earth's original mangrove cover now lost.
This has potentially devastating effects on biodiversity, food security
and the livelihoods of some of the most marginalized coastal communities
in developing countries where more than 90 per cent of the world's
mangroves are found." "By quantifying in economic terms the value of the
ecosystem services provided by mangroves as well as the critical role
they play in global climate regulation, the report aims to encourage
policymakers to use the tools and guidelines outlined to better ensure
the conservation and sustainable management of mangroves," he added.
The
report argues that in spite of the mounting evidence in support of the
multitude of benefits derived from mangroves, they remain one of the
most threatened ecosystems on the planet. The report describes financial
mechanisms and incentives to stimulate mangrove conservation, such as
REDD+, private sector investments, and the creation of Nationally
Appropriate Mitigation Actions for developing countries to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions while increasing national capacity. Mangrove
degradation and loss is predicted to continue into the future if a
business-as-usual scenario prevails. The Importance of Mangroves: A Call to Action
offers readers and especially policymakers many management and
protection measures and tools that are available for use at national,
regional and global scales to help ensure a sustainable future for
mangroves. Policymakers, it says, should consider several of these,
including integrating mangrove-specific goals and targets into the
post-2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals agenda, as well as better
coordination of global action on mangroves through the development of a
Global Mangrove Commission, and the streamlining and coordination of
Multilateral Environmental Agreements. Protecting these long-term
reservoirs of carbon, and preventing their emissions from being released
back into the atmosphere is, the report says, a sensible and
cost-effective measure that can be taken to help mitigate climate
change.