The Return of Mangroves Should Give You Hope

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What if I told you that one of the
most important ecosystems on Earth

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has quietly been making a comeback
after decades of destruction?

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This is the How to Protect the Ocean
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So today, we're answering a simple but
important question: Can mangrove forests

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actually recover after deforestation?

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And what does their recovery
mean for the future of the

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coasts, fisheries, and climate?

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For years, mangroves have been one of the
most cited examples of environmental loss.

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Across tropical coastlines around
the world, these unique forests

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have been cleared for shrimp farms,
agriculture, urban development,

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ports, and tourism infrastructure.

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Scientists often describe mangroves
as one of the most threatened coastal

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ecosystems on Earth, and for good reason.

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Since the 1980s, thousands of
square kilometers of mangrove

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forests disappeared worldwide.

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But according to new research
highlighted by Mongabay and

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published in the Journal of Science,
there is finally some good news.

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The world's mangrove forests
may be bouncing back.

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And not just in a few isolated locations.

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Researchers analyzed four decades of
satellite data and found that global

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mangrove losses have slowed down
dramatically, while gains over the last

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16 years have actually outpaced losses.

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As a result, global mangrove
coverage is now close to where it

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was decades ago, with only about
1% net decline since the 1980s.

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That's huge.

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That's remarkable.

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That's a huge find, especially when so
many environmental stories seem to be

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on the move in the opposite direction.

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So what exactly happened?

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Let's start with the basics.

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What exactly are mangroves?

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Mangroves are forests that
grow where land meets the sea.

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They're built from salt-tolerant
trees that thrive in muddy

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coastal areas throughout the
tropical and subtropical regions.

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If you've ever seen a shoreline covered in
tangled roots sticking out of the water,

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you've probably seen a mangrove forest.

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These roots do much more than
just hold the trees upright.

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They trap the sediments, they reduce
erosion, they slow storm surges,

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and they create a nursery habitat
for countless fish and invertebrates.

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Now, I've been in mangroves before,
and I've walked through them.

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I was in Singapore on the way
back from the IMCC, I think

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it was five, in Malaysia, in
Borneo, at Kuching in particular.

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And when we came back, Andrew Thaler and
I and a friend of ours, went out to a

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marine protected area on an island, and
we were walking through the mangroves.

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There was, like, a nice
boardwalk in there.

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And these mangroves are dense.

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They're thick, thick, thick.

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Like, not the trees, but the root
systems are all over the place, and they

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intertwine with each other's trees but
the mud that they just kinda keep together

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and that coastline they keep together
secure that coastline from erosion.

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It's just absolutely phenomenal.

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It goes on land and into the water.

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So it's the home of a number of different
species in different realms, ocean as

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well as intertidal as well as land.

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And it's really, really cool.

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And they're all, of course, for
many commercially important seafood

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species, they spend part of their
time in the mangrove habitats.

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So without mangroves, many
coastal fisheries would struggle.

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Now, for decades, however, humans
removed these forests faster

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than nature could replace them.

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Large areas were converted into
shrimp ponds and coastal developments.

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Scientists expected them
to continue to decline.

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Instead, something surprising happened.

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In many places, mangroves
began returning on their own.

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Researchers found that abandoned
aquaculture ponds, newly formed

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mudflats, and protected coastlines
create opportunities for

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mangroves to naturally regenerate.

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Restoration programs also
played an important role.

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This doesn't mean that every mangrove
forest is healthy, but it does mean

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that the mangroves appear to be
far more resilient than many people

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realize, and they seem to come back a
lot faster than many people realize.

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Now, this is where the story becomes
really important because mangroves

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aren't just trees, they're an
infrastructure, a coastal infrastructure,

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like a natural infrastructure.

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Imagine a coastal community facing a
hurricane or a cyclone or even a tsunami

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like the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

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A healthy mangrove forest can
absorb wave energy before it

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reaches homes and businesses.

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And in fact, areas where mangroves
were intact in the 2004 tsunami in the

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Indian Ocean actually showed much more
protection than areas that had that loss.

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So in areas where they were doing
coastal development or they had like

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they removed the mangroves for shrimping
like we just, shrimp farming like we just

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talked about, those areas had much more
damage and much more lives lost than the

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areas where they had that protection.

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So it meant like less flooding,
less erosion, less damage.

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Millions of people around the world
benefit from this protection every year.

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Mangroves are also climate allies.

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They store enormous amounts of
carbon in their roots and sediments.

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In fact, mangroves are among the
most effective carbon-storing

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ecosystems on the planet.

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When they are protected,
they lock carbon away.

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When they're destroyed, much
of that carbon can be released

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back into the atmosphere.

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That's why mangroves are often considered
a powerful nature-based climate solution.

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When you hear oil companies and you hear
a lot of conservatives like in Canada and

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the US talk about having carbon capture,
the best carbon capture are a lot of these

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natural systems, whether it be mangroves,
whether it be seagrass beds, whether

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it be kelp or other algae communities.

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These are the communities and habitats
that actually help secure carbon.

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And that if we restore, even
though that can be quite

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expensive, it will actually help.

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And I feel as though a lot of the oil
and gas companies should be made to

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actually be able to rebuild these and
fund the restoration of a lot of these

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places, especially coastal development
and coastal communities where there's,

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you see that coastal development happen
and the taking away of those areas.

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They should be forced to be, put
those back if they take it away.

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And of course, like we talk about
security, then there's also food security.

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Many fish, crabs, shrimp, and other
marine species depend on mangroves during

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critical parts of their life cycle.

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No mangroves often means
no nursery habitats.

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Fewer nursery habitats mean fewer
fish, and fewer fish can affect local

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fisheries and coastal livelihoods.

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So when mangroves recover,
the benefits ripple outward.

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The ecosystem benefits, the climate
benefits, coastal communities

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benefit, and fisheries benefit.

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That's why researchers are calling
this recovery one of the most

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encouraging conservation stories
we've seen in recent years.

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And speaking of like encouraging
conservation stories, if you like to

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get to know what's gonna happen in
the future or what's happening now.

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Now, before we celebrate too much
of this new mangrove resurgence,

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there are a few important caveats.

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The recovery is real, but it's fragile.

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Many of the new mangrove
forests are still pretty young.

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Young forests don't provide the same
level of protection, biodiversity,

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or carbon storage as mature forests
that have developed over decades.

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And there are also ongoing threats.

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Coastal development continues in many
regions, and pollution remains a problem.

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So just imagine a coastal city or a
coastal area decides, "Hey," somebody

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comes in and says, "Hey, I wanna build a
resort here," or, "I wanna build a shrimp

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farm here." And the people let it happen,
or they don't know it's happening, and

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it just gets to happen on their watch.

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That whole area is taken away in
months, or in days, or in weeks, and

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so you have to start that over again.

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Even though we see the recovery of
mangroves, a baby mangrove, like

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a small mangrove plant, is very,
very small and doesn't provide

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the protection that it needs.

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And as it grows bigger and bigger, that's
when the protection really comes in from

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coastal development, from pollution,
and then of course climate change will

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introduce a few risks if it takes out
through some storms and things like that.

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But this is where you really need
to really protect these areas.

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Not just restore, but protect
the restored ones and protect the

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ones that have always been there.

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One example highlighted by
researchers occurred in Texas, in

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the States, where expanded mangrove
populations suffered major losses

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after an extreme freeze event.

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A single climate-related event was
able to reverse years of progress.

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Now, researchers are also warning
that sea level rise could become

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a major challenge in the future.

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Mangroves can adapt to changing
coastlines, but only if they

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have space to migrate inland
and conditions remain suitable.

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So if sea levels rise too quickly or
development blocks their movement,

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some forests could struggle to survive.

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So think about it.

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You have this coastline, and there's like
a certain thickness off the coastline,

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so distance from the coastline inland.

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If the sea level starts to rise, it's
gonna take out that first level, those

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first trees that are exposed to the sea.

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So as those come in, they're gonna kill
those plants, and it's gonna move inland.

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Now, it's still gonna provide
protection because if the band is

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thick enough, like it goes from the
sea inland quite a bit, then you're

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gonna have some protection there.

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But if there's nowhere for it to develop,
like nowhere for those plants to migrate

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more inland, so if there's paved roads or
there's a highway or there's a community

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there It'll be difficult to restore
that even though there's sea level rise.

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It's gonna be really hard to stop
sea level rise because there's such

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pressure coming in from the ocean.

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But if you want to go back further
inland, that would be easy.

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But if there's a housing community
there or a highway or a road,

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that's gonna be harder for those
plants and those mangrove trees to

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actually develop and move forward.

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So that's the problem that
they're having with some of the

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areas that need to be restored.

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So the lesson isn't that
mangroves are saved.

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The lesson is that the
recovery is possible.

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Conservation works.

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Restoration works, even
though it's quite expensive.

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And sometimes nature can help
itself when given the opportunity.

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In a world where environmental
news often feels overwhelming, this

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matters because success stories show
us what's possible when protection

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efforts are sustained over time.

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Now, the biggest lesson from this
study is simple: nature is remarkably

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resilient, but only when it-- we
give it the chance to recover.

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Mangroves are proving that conservation
can work and that protecting

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coastal ecosystems is one of the
smartest investments we can make

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for people, fisheries, and climate.

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It's so important that
we follow these rules.

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It's so important that we look at how
restoration and how protection, which

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is a lot cheaper, ' cause you protect
what's there and not have to pay to

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put back, is such an important part
and should be a priority, especially

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when our coastlines are at risk.

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Sea level rise is happening, and it's
gonna continue to happen as long as

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governments around the world do not do
what they're supposed to do fast enough

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and reduce greenhouse gas effects.

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So we're seeing sea level rise
happen whether you like it or not.

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Coastal communities are
already feeling the pressure.

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So having coastal areas and coastal
habitats to reduce that or to help that

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out and remediate that and provide more
coastal resilience is going to help.

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Helping with storm surges, helping with
winds, helping with wave energy, all

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these things can help with mangroves.

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Being able to sequester a lot more
carbon, being able to help fisheries by

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having nursery habitats and protecting
young animals of a variety of different

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species is such an important aspect.

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So the fact is, conservation works.

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This is an example of
conservation working.

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When we leave the planet alone,
we can help restore it, and we can

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make it go faster, but we can also
destroy it at a very rapid rate,

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and that's what we have to prevent.

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That's where we need to
speak up for the blue.

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So that's it for today's episode.

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If you wanna get a hold of me, if
you have a question or comment,

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you can comment on Spotify.

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You can also just go to my socials
in the links in the show notes.

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to listen and you find value in this.

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I do newsletters, I do
podcasts, I do YouTube videos.

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I just post on social media.

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I do a lot of things.

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I'm also gonna start posting in
Patreon, sort of like behind the

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scenes kinda stuff with what I'm doing.

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If you'd like to support that and
you wanna talk to me and interact

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with me online there, you can
go to speakupforblue.com/patreon.

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That's speakupforblue.com/patreon.

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The reason why I'm advertising this
more, a lot of people have said,

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"Andrew, you need to do this because
people wanna support you." You're

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more than welcome to continue to
listen to this without supporting me.

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But if you wanna support me,
that'd be greatly appreciated.

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Speakupforblue.com/patreon.

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I wanna thank you so much for
joining me on today's episode of the

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How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next time,
and happy conservation.