Status of mangrove area changes trends in the world

Among the natural sub-systems located on the coastal areas of the world, mangrove forests, by having direct and indirect use values at different ecosystem levels and components, provide diverse range of goods and services required by coastal communities such as wood and marine products, preventing damage caused by the storm, flood control and protection of coastlines and controlling coastal erosion, waste assimilation, recreation, and transportation. Despite the importance of the ecosystem services in meeting human needs, degradation and loss of these unique coastal habitats around the world have been intensified over the past three decades, so that more than 50% of the world s mangrove forests have been destroyed with a continuing trend. Due to their geographical distribution at the continent-ocean interface, the mangrove habitat may suffer heavy impacts from global climate change, maximized by local human activities occurring in a given coastal region. This review analyzed the literature published on the documented response of mangroves to environmental change caused by global climate change, taking into consideration case studies and predictive modeling, worldwide. Although many reports showed that the world’s mangrove area is decreasing due to direct anthropogenic pressure, several others however showed that in a variety of habitats mangroves are expanding as a response to global climate change. Taking into consideration climate change alone, mangroves in most areas will display a positive response. In some areas however, such as low-lying oceanic islands mangroves will most probably not survive.

Keywords:

Mangroves , area changes , climate changes