Where Data Tells the Story
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While Southeast Asia remains home to the largest areas of mangrove forests in the world at 49,500km2, or around one third of global mangrove cover, it has also seen the greatest destruction of these ecosystems. Between 2000 and 2020, Asia lost 4,208 km2 of the treecover, which equates to just over 60 percent of global losses in that timeframe. After Southeast Asia, the next biggest mangrove regions are in West and Central Africa, followed by the two regions of the Americas.
Data from the State of the World’s Mangroves 2024 report shows that drivers of mangrove destruction vary considerably by geographic location. Where humans have dominated losses in Africa, Asia, North and Central America, natural drivers have had the greater impact in South America and Oceania. Taking a closer look at the causes of mangrove loss reveals that aquaculture was the biggest single factor in South and Southeast Asia, followed by natural retraction, oil palm plantations and rice fields. This contrasts to in West and Central Africa, where direct settlement was the primary contributor.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature warns that although the trend of mangrove conversion is slowing down in many countries around the world (particularly in South and Southeast Asia), over half of mangrove ecosystems are at risk of collapse by 2050. This calculation takes into account not only past and projected losses but also the threats of climate change, such as more frequent and severe cyclonic storms and sea-level rise.
Mangroves are vital ecosystems, important not only for wildlife, but also as natural coastal barriers that reduce the impacts of storm surges. They are also highly efficient in carbon capture and storage, with research finding that a hectare of oceanic mangroves can hold nearly three times the carbon of the same area of terrestrial tropical forest.
Recent estimates indicate that these ecosystems are being lost at a rate of 2 percent per year. While this may not sound so high, researchers at the Blue Carbon Initiative warn that carbon emissions from mangrove deforestation account for up to 10 percent of emissions from deforestation globally, despite covering just 0.7 percent of land coverage.