Monitoring temporal changes in coastal mangroves to understand the impacts of climate change: Red Sea, Egypt

Abstract

This paper focuses on the current state of mangroves in Egypt, analyses how climate change is affecting mangrove forests and suggests a conservation strategy to safeguard this valuable maritime resource. Mangroves in Egypt are primarily found in regions around the Red Sea, making them popular for ecotourism across the globe. A crucial breeding and feeding ground for many commercial fishery species, mangroves are a maritime habitat that is both economically and environmentally significant and a variety of living things call them home. Mangroves are one of the most threatened tropical and subtropical ecoregions in the world. These threats come from both natural and human sources, including oil spills, human waste runoff, herbicide use, and coastal development, all of which have the potential to harm the environment. Mangrove habitats are immediately impacted by salinity changes and rising sea levels brought on by climate change. This is unfortunate as mangroves are one of the most important global carbon sinks, and their loss due to climate change may accelerate sea level rise and ocean acidification, which will cause the extinction of numerous commercial fish species. A conservation strategy should be implemented to safeguard the mangroves around the Egyptian Red Sea by using mitigation techniques, creating marine protected zones near the mangroves, and consulting the owners of the mangrove stalks. Analysis of multi-temporal satellite imagery is one of the most significant methods to assist decision-makers and environmental planners in obtaining high-precision information about environmental and climatic changes. Analysis of satellite imagery is a valuable way to detect, monitor, assess and map the environmental, human, and natural activities that are threatening the growth of the mangrove forest ecosystem. Change detection analyses using satellite imagery were conducted to evaluate the effects of rapid coastal sustainable development, including human urban and tourism activities; the decline and destruction of large areas of the mangrove forest for animal feeding along camel trade roads; and the threat of natural impacts such as flash flooding, coastal and soil erosion or human impacts such as established desalination plants and other human activities along the coastal zone of the Egyptian Red Sea.

IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Mangroves of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

“…Climate change is a growing threat to mangroves in the form of frequently occurring drought and heatwaves along the Red Sea coast that have profound impacts on mangrove ecosystems. The location of mangrove forests within intertidal areas renders them vulnerable to the consequences of sea-level rise due to climate change (Blankespoor et al, 2014, Moustafa et al, 2023. Generally, increased heatwave seasons cause seawater heating and increase salinization, which inhibits mangrove growth.…”

“…As the results from the two temporal analyses produced predicted changes in mangrove extent between -19.4% and -67.2% over 50 years, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden mangrove ecosystem qualifies between plausible range (Near Threatened -Endangered) (NT-EN). Considering investigated data that show an enhancement of rate of decline after 2010 and literature that refers to several conservation programs started in mid-1990s, including establishment of protected areas and restoration and afforestation projects (Khalil, 2015, Almahasheer et al 2016a, Friis and Burt, 2020, Moustafa et al 2023, a status of Near Threatened or Vulnerable is more likely than Endangered status. Therefore, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden mangroves assessed as Near Threatened (NT) under subcriterion A2.…”

Monitoring Coastline Dynamics Using Satellite Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems: A Review of Global Trends

“…The coral reefs coast along Atoll reef islands along Takapoto Atoll in French Polynesia (Collin et al, 2018). Modifications of coastlines can cause damage to coastal resources, such as coastal mangroves along the Egyptian Red Sea coast (Moustafa et al, 2023) and coral reefs at Moorea Island, French Polynesia (Gasc et al, 2021). The rocky cliff retreat occurs along the western coast along the Caribbean coast of Colombia (Paniagua-Arroyave et al, 2018).…”