Tumbes National Mangrove Sanctuary, Peru, July 2021 ©FAO, UNDP Peru

26 July, Abidjan/Dakar/Lima/Quito/Rome - Mangrove forests are vital to communities living along the coasts of Africa, Asia and Latin America: they are a haven for many crustaceans, fish and mollusk species, providing food and livelihoods for fishers and fish workers around the world.

Over 70 species of these salt-tolerant evergreens grow along subtropical coastlines and deltas, forming unique ecosystems on the edge of land and sea that act as water filters and natural buffers against storm surges, rising sea levels, and erosion.

Mangroves support a wealth of biodiversity: from oysters to barracudas, from herons to monkeys, from algae to pollinator bees. And while they cover just 0.1% of our planet's surface, they store up to 10 times more carbon per hectare than terrestrial forests, making them critical to combating climate change.

Communities also use their leaves, bark and fibres for weaving, to obtain dyes and to make medicines, according to Dr Yacoub Issola, a representative of the Convention for Cooperation in the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Atlantic Coast of the West, Central and Southern Africa Region (also known as the Abidjan Convention).

"There is a direct relationship between the vitality and health of the mangrove ecosystem and the renewal of fish stocks," Dr Issola, who also serves as Coordinator for sustainable mangrove management outputs at the Coastal Fisheries Initiative in West Africa (CFI-WA), said at a recent CFI Talk.

"15.2 million hectares of mangroves are still standing, but sadly the world has lost 3.6 million hectares to aquaculture and urbanisation since 1980," said Xavier Chalen from Conservation International (CI) in Ecuador, which is the implementing partner of the Coastal Fisheries Initiative in Latin America (CFI-LA) led in Ecuador by the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Bringing the mangroves back: a community effort

Mangroves are disappearing three to five times faster than overall global forest losses. However, projects such as CFI have shown that working with local communities, authorities and NGOs can help restore these precious ecosystems.

This is the case in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, where in 2020-2021, CFI-WA has restored 60 hectares of mangroves and worked with local authorities and communities to place a further 290 hectares under protection in each country, to a total of 700 hectares.

"Awareness raising on the importance of mangroves has led to changes in the behaviour of fishers and coastal communities," Dr Issola pointed out. "Involving local communities and authorities is essential."

Similarly in Peru, one of the CFI-LA pilot sites is the 2 972-hectare Tumbes National Mangrove Sanctuary: it is run via a participatory management agreement between SERNANP, the governing body of the national park system, and local communities.

"We think this inclusive management model is the most sustainable one over time," commented Marco Arenas, who heads the Functional Operational Unit of Participative Management of the Natural Protected Areas Management Directorate at SERNANP.

"It benefits local communities, supports regional development, and conserves biodiversity," Arenas added. "It is only by generating opportunities for local communities that we can guarantee conservation."

SERNANP has entered into a 20-year co-management contract with the Northeast Peru Mangrove Consortium, which represents six associations of crab and shellfish harvesters and fishers.

"This was the first such contract ever signed with fisher and harvester associations, and it marked a milestone for conservation and for our country," Tumbes National Mangrove Sanctuary Head Rosa García explained.

In Peru, CFI-LA is led by the Ministry of Environment and UNDP, with the participation of the Ministry of Production and the Regional Government of Tumbes.

Successful conservation is bottom up, but also top down

Mangroves tend to fall through the cracks of institutional responsibility: they are forests, but they are also part of marine ecosystems, and the bodies that govern land and sea don't always take an integrated approach. Studies show that where official protection is absent, mangrove conservation can be an uphill battle.

For example in Côte d'Ivoire, the Sassandra-Dagbégo 3 243-hectare mangrove forest shrank by 10% in 2000-2020 due to logging as well as lack of rain.

In the same period, Senegal's 62 274-hectare mangrove forest in the Saloum Delta grew by 2.72%. It lies within the 420 586-hectare Saloum Delta Biosphere Reserve, which comprises 11 protected forests and four marine protected areas (MPAs).

"These results demonstrate that community-driven mangrove restoration and conservation efforts are significantly more successful in protected areas," Dr Issola concluded.

About the CFI

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the CFI is a global partnership made up of FAO and other UN agencies, CI, the World Bank, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), governments, and fisher and fish worker organizations. Together, they strive to achieve sustainable coastal fisheries in Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Indonesia, Peru and Senegal.