Mangroves and People: Local Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate

Huxham, Mark; Dencer-Brown, Amrit Melissa; Diele, Karen; Kathiresan, K.; Nagelkerken, Ivan; Wanjiru, Caroline

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-62206-4_8

Cited by 38 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…The total area of mangroves in Kenya is estimated at 61,271 ha; 62% of which occur in Lamu and the surrounding Islands (GoK, 2017a). These forests provide goods and services that are of ecological, economic, and environmental value to the people (Kairo et al, 2009;Huxham et al, 2017;Owuor et al, 2019;Hamza et al, 2020). Over-harvesting of mangrove wood products, conversion pressure, pollution effects, and climate change factors contributed to a 40% decline in mangrove cover in Kenya between 1990(GoK, 2017a.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Total Ecosystem Carbon Stocks of Mangroves in Lamu, Kenya; and Their Potential Contributions to the Climate Change Agenda in the Country

Kairo

Mbatha

Murithi

et al. 2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Mangroves are carbon-rich ecosystems found in tropical and subtropical areas around the world. However, they are threatened by a combination of natural and human-induced factors. When mangroves are lost or degraded, their co-benefits to human society are greatly diminished along with the ecosystem’s ability to sequester carbon. The current study assessed mangrove cover and cover change, as well as measuring carbon stocks and their emissions levels from the mangroves of Lamu County, Kenya. We sampled above-and below-ground carbon pools, including soil organic carbon (SOC), in 191 plots distributed throughout the study area. Lastly, we evaluated the economics of avoiding mangrove deforestation based on the carbon-offset market. The total carbon stock of mangroves in Lamu was estimated at 20 million Mg C, with an average density of 560.22 ± 79.79 Mg C ha–1. Southern swamps recorded significantly higher carbon densities (p < 0.05) than other mangrove management blocks in Lamu. At least 1,739 ha of mangroves in Lamu were lost between 1990 and 2019 due to anthropogenic activities, representing a decline of 60 ha yr–1. Total emissions from loss and degradation of mangroves in Lamu is estimated at 140.1 Mg C ha–1; which translates to 30,840.1 Mg CO2e yr–1. Assuming an offset price of US$10/Mg CO2e, the estimated costs of avoided emissions in Lamu is US$308,401 yr–1 plus other co-benefits such as fishery functions and shoreline protection. Mainstreaming mangroves and associated blue carbon ecosystems into national development and climate change agenda could accelerate Kenya’s achievements of both Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Total Ecosystem Carbon Stocks of Mangroves in Lamu, Kenya; and Their Potential Contributions to the Climate Change Agenda in the Country

Kairo

Mbatha

Murithi

et al. 2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

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“…Mangroves offer many fundamental ecosystem services to humans [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Besides playing an important role in the earth's carbon cycle, mangroves mitigate land degradation and erosion, act as a nursing ground for fish and invertebrates, and provide both timber and nontimber produce.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To Plant or Not to Plant, That Is the Question: Reforestation vs. Natural Regeneration of Hurricane-Disturbed Mangrove Forests in Guanaja (Honduras)

Fickert

2020

Forests

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Background and Objectives: Mangrove forests offer many essential ecosystem services, including the protection of (sub)tropical coastlines, their inhabitants, and the infrastructure from severe storms and tsunamis. However, mangroves themselves suffer severely from such phenomena. After such events, reforestation efforts are widely undertaken to facilitate the recovery of the mangroves. Many of these laborious activities, however, fail for a number of reasons. Material and Methods: In October 1998, the Honduran Island of Guanaja was severely hit by Hurricane Mitch, and, after the storm, almost all of the mangrove forests (97%) were rated as dead. Seven years after Mitch, a longterm survey on the regeneration of the mangroves started. Field samplings in six variably disturbed mangrove zones was conducted in 2005, 2009, and 2016. Along permanent line-transects, all living plant species were recorded for statistical analyses and for quantifying progress. In this paper, the focus is on the three most severely hit areas. In two of them, planting efforts were carried out while the third one was left to regenerate naturally. This setting allowed a direct comparison between natural and human-assisted regeneration processes under otherwise similar conditions and equally severe previous disturbance. Results: Reforestation measures were characterized by high mortality rates of Rhizophora mangle L. propagules planted predominantly. Some, however, surely survived and might have contributed to regeneration after the disturbance. In 2016, roughly two decades after Hurricane Mitch, low-growing Rhizophora mangle forests, with high ground cover, were found. Surprisingly, the area without any planting also witnessed similar mangrove rejuvenation in the same period. Conclusion: Findings on the recovering mangroves in Guanaja confirm the lessons learned from other mangrove rehabilitation measures: planting mostly fails and commonly does not accelerate the revegetation of disturbed forests. In naturally regenerating forests, recolonization may occur after a certain time-lag only if few diaspore sources survived in the surrounding; as soon as established mangrove plants bear propagules, a quick return to viable forests takes place, proving the high resilience of these coastal ecosystems.

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“…Historical anthropogenic pressures and rapid environmental changes have turned tropical and sub-tropical mangrove forests into one of Earth's most threatened ecosystems, causing worldwide loss of coastal livelihoods and ecosystem services (Huxham et al, 2017). Since 1950, we have lost nearly 50% of global mangrove coverage (Feller et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

1980s–2010s: The world's largest mangrove ecosystem is becoming homogeneous

Sarker

Matthiopoulos

Mitchell

et al. 2019

Biological Conservation

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Knowledge gaps in spatiotemporal changes in mangrove diversity and composition have obstructed mangrove conservation programs across the tropics, but particularly in the Sundarbans (10,017 km 2 ), the world's largest remaining natural mangrove ecosystem. Using mangrove tree data collected from Earth's largest permanent sample plot network at four historical time points (1986, 1994, 1999 and 2014), this study establishes spatially explicit baseline biodiversity information for the Sundarbans. We determined the spatial and temporal differences in alpha, beta, and gamma diversity in three ecological zones (hypo-, meso-, and hypersaline) and also uncovered changes in the mangroves' overall geographic range and abundances therein. Spatially, the hyposaline mangrove communities were the most diverse and heterogeneous in species composition while the hypersaline communities were the least diverse and most homogeneous at all historical time points. Since 1986, we detect an increasing trend of compositional homogeneity (between-site similarity in species composition) and a significant spatial contraction of distinct and diverse areas over the entire ecosystem. Temporally, the western and southern hypersaline communities have undergone radical shifts in species composition due to population increase and range expansion of the native invasive species Ceriops decandra and local extinction or range contraction of specialists including the globally endangered Heritiera fomes . The surviving biodiversity hotspots are distributed outside the legislated protected area network. In addition to suggesting the immediate coverage of these hotspots under protected area management, our novel biodiversity insights and spatial maps can form the basis for spatial conservation planning, biodiversity monitoring and protection initiatives for the Sundarbans.

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Mangroves and People: Local Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate

Cited by 38 publications

References 82 publications

Total Ecosystem Carbon Stocks of Mangroves in Lamu, Kenya; and Their Potential Contributions to the Climate Change Agenda in the Country

Total Ecosystem Carbon Stocks of Mangroves in Lamu, Kenya; and Their Potential Contributions to the Climate Change Agenda in the Country

To Plant or Not to Plant, That Is the Question: Reforestation vs. Natural Regeneration of Hurricane-Disturbed Mangrove Forests in Guanaja (Honduras)

1980s–2010s: The world's largest mangrove ecosystem is becoming homogeneous

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