Coastal ecosystems and associated biodiversity are under severe threat due to global climate change and subsequent sea level rise (SLR). Mangroves as a socio-ecological system are of paramount importance for combating climate change and ensuring sustainability of coastlines and sustenance of coastal communities.
Tag: coastal areas
Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment in Mangrove-Dependent Communities of Manoka Island, Littoral Region of Cameroon
This study was conducted on Manoka Island (Littoral Region of Cameroon) with the aim of analyzing climate change vulnerability and local adaptation strategies based on the local community’s perceptions and biophysical evidence. We used household surveys, focus group discussions, field observation, GIS, and remote sensing to collect data on variables of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Historical changes in rainfall and temperature, mangrove cover, and the occurrence of extreme climatic events were used as indicators of exposure. Property losses and income structure were used as indicators of sensitivity, while human, natural, social, financial, and physical assets represented adaptive capacity. 89 households were interviewed in the nine settlements of the island. Results show that Manoka Island is experiencing irregular rainfall patterns (with average annual values deviating from the mean by −1.9 to +1.8 mm) and increasing temperature (with annual values deviating from the mean by −1.2 to +3.12). The dynamics of the coastline between 1975 and 2017 using EPR show average setbacks of more than ±3 m/year, with erosion levels varying depending on the period and location. The number of households perceiving extreme climatic events like seasonal variability, flood, and rain storm was higher. From respondents’ perception, housing and health are the sectors most affected by climate change. The reported high dependence of households on fishing for income, their overall low livelihood diversification, and their poor access to climate information reported by 65% of respondents portray their poor adaptive capacity. Local response initiatives are ineffective and include among others constructing buildings on stilts and using car wheels to counter the advancement of seawater inland. The study concludes that households on Manoka Island are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Income diversification, mangrove reforestation, the development of sustainable supply chains for wood fuel, and sustainable fish smoking devices are the main pathways for adaptation planning in this area.
Diversification of Coastal Agroecosystems for Climate Resilience and Livelihood Security
The Indian coastal region of India is known for its rich diversity of climate, topography, soils,crops, livestock, fisheries, etc. Despite the abundance of natural resources, the productivity of crops and livestock in this region is poor as compared to the inland regions. Unlike the other parts of the country, the region faces unique problems like demographic pressure, land degradation, rapid urbanization, industrialization, environmental pollution, and climate change effects like increased frequency of floods, droughts, cyclones, and sea level rises. The majority of nations with sizable coastal ecosystems are threatened by extreme weather and climate change. Therefore, appropriate measures must be adopted, especially in developing nations, to lessen the vulnerability of farming communities in coastal areas. An integral part of a diverse agroecosystem, agroforestry offers both rural and urban residents a variety of necessary goods and services. The benefits that trees offer are best retained by incorporating them into agriculturally productive landscapes as natural vegetation is cleared for agriculture and other development types. Various proven agroforestry models are available for different ecologies, farming systems and their management regimes, farmer’s resources and knowledge base. These can be practiced in a spectrum of combinations, designs and scales, from subsistence to commercial farming for different purposes, such as timber, fodder, fruits, medicinal, energy, etc. In essence, agroforestry provides two things: products, and services. Some of the common products are foods and beverages, fruits, nuts, oils,gums, resins, latex, flavours, leaves for food and nutrition, feed for livestock, wood for fuel,biomass for energy generation, and medications for treating illness. As hosts to edible insects, bee habitats for pollination, shelter from the sun and wind, modification of micro-climates, nitrogen fixation, increased soil carbon, erosion control, habitat for biodiversity, and better water regulation, including groundwater recharge, agroforestry also offer a variety of benefits. Tree integration in food-producing systems can be practiced in all ecologies, social settings, and farming systems in various designs and combinations. A portfolio of trees are developed for different purposes; income and nutrition security, resilience to climate change, enhance land productivity, market needs of timber, etc. without sacrificing the farm income. To understand the challenges, potential, and opportunities of agroforestry in the coastal ecosystem, and to promote co-learning through CIFOR-ICRAF’s Asia Continental Program in collaboration with ICARCCARI an International Training Program on Diversification of Coastal Agroecosystems for Climate Resilience and Livelihood Security is being organized at ICAR-CCARI, Goa, India during 07th to 11th November 2022. This training would be vital for priority setting of research and policy decisions. The training will also be very useful for planning the road map for sustainable development of the coastal agriculture and allied sectors.
Prospects of Adaptability and Establishment of Mangroves to Achieve Carbon Capture Expansion in Korean Coastal Areas
The research team was first tasked with finding a solution to the need for more creative ways to contribute to natural carbon capture and storage solutions to meet South Korea’s national climate-change objective of reaching net zero by 2050. It was through this, and the unique properties of Korea’s southern islands, that true mangroves and mangrove associates (semi-mangroves) were suggested as possible candidates that could promise high carbon absorption rates and adaptability to continue to provide ecosystem services under climate change. Some pre-existing native habitats of semi-mangrove species (e.g. Hibiscus hamabo, Paliurus ramosissimus) on Jeju Island had already demonstrated comparatively higher carbon absorption abilities than other broadleaf species as measured by photosynthesis rates and soil carbon storage performance. This study’s sole objective is to evaluate candidate mangrove species for their suitability for responsibly planned propagation in South Korea. This includes also evaluating their carbon uptake capabilities in order to forecast projections on the carbon storage and absorption performance of selected species. This study is an opportunity to contribute knowledge towards global emission reduction and climate-change mitigation objectives, especially, given the high concentration of highly vulnerable or at-risk populations in the Asia-Pacific.
Coastal area rehabilitation for climate change adaptation: The key role of mangroves in Nationally Determined Contributions
With a coastline of more than 90,000 km – the second longest after Canada – it is in Indonesia’s interests to protect its coastal areas from climate change impacts. The continued existence and preservation of extensive coastal vegetation like mangroves and seagrasses is a nature-based solution for successful adaptation to climate change.
A coastal area rehabilitation/restoration agenda for climate change adaptation must be able to increase areas’ resilience in overcoming rising sea levels, waves, coastal erosion, flooding and inundation, so the resilience of communities, particularly fishing communities living in coastal areas, can be enhanced. Communities’ social cohesion, economic opportunities, and institutional capacity must also improve. Information and funding flows must be transparent for all stakeholders, so adaptation agenda decision making and implementation can be carried out effectively, efficiently and equitably.
This paper demonstrates efforts to bundle adaptation and mitigation measures to secure optimum outcomes in coastal area rehabilitation/restoration, as recommended in the Paris Agreement. It proposes adopting a responsive adaptation cycle so adaptive measures in these strategic coastal areas can commence immediately, and be monitored and evaluated. In this regard, emissions mitigation scenarios linked to adaptation measures can be considered to facilitate the achievement of 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Coastal area rehabilitation for climate change mitigation: The role of mangroves and subnational emissions reductions
Coastal area rehabilitation/restoration involving mangrove ecosystems for climate change mitigation is a long and risk-laden journey. It requires strong and comprehensive governance, and policies that involve stakeholders from the national to subnational levels.
Institutional complexities can become a bureaucratic hurdle and obstruct information and funding flows. These pose new challenges for the implementation of coastal area and mangrove rehabilitation/restoration both inside and outside the forest estate, particularly when they relate to aquaculture and accreted land. Therefore, these complexities need to be simplified by advancing accountability and the credibility of those involved.
Mangrove blue carbon has significant climate change mitigation potential. This relates to the huge carbon stocks in mangrove ecosystems, which are 3–5 times higher than carbon stock in protected tropical forests. As the processes involved in storing such large volumes of carbon are lengthy and complex, emissions mitigation should have a greater focus on conservation of intact mangrove forests. Conservation has a higher benefit-cost ratio and a better guarantee of achieving emissions reduction targets. In addition, mangrove conservation can generate economic activities oriented towards utilization of the environmental services mangroves provide.
Changes in mangrove coverage classification criteria could impact the conservation of mangroves in Mexico
Accurate estimates of habitat extent and rates of change are crucial inputs for the global, regional, and national assessments that guide policy-making and prioritize strategies. This can contribute to an understanding of ecosystems in the landscape for their use, management, and preservation. Mangroves are one of the types of ecosystems in which estimation discrepancies have been analyzed to determine the impacts of data quality on conservation and policy-making. We identify significant discrepancies in the extent of the last map of Mexican mangroves (i.e., 2020) produced by the Mexican Mangrove Monitoring System (MMMS). We performed a comparative assessment between the 2020 and 2015 maps by using geographical information systems to analyze the spatial extent across these years and estimate the accuracy of map changes with airborne data. We observed a spurious gain of 129,531 ha between 2015 and 2020, including 102,610 ha (79% of total changes) in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve and its surroundings. Furthermore, the mangrove definition changed, causing the MMMS to map other coastal wetlands with the presence of Rhizophora mangle scrubs dispersed in the landscape. The analysis of MMMS airborne data demonstrates that this significant increase is due to changes in mangrove mapping criteria and definitions. The definition and spatial delimitation of “mangrove” (i.e., mangrove community or stands forest) has implications relevant to the conservation policy of these coastal wetlands/coastal resources. MMMS discrepancies in mangrove extent could generate misleading perspectives on different sectors. A cartographic solution is to separate the other coastal wetland areas with the presence of R. mangle from all MMMS products and reclassify them as “other wetlands with the presence of R. mangle.” Robust ecosystem extent data is crucial for the design and implementation of efficient land use and conservation policies.
A changing coastal ecosystem: Cox’s Bazar in southeastern coastal region of Bangladesh
The southeastern coastline of Bangladesh where the longest natural sea beach Cox’s Bazar is located has experienced more pronounced changes due to human intervention compared to the changes due to storms, cyclones and flooding. Over the past 30 years, nature-dependent livelihood and economic activities have generated employment, income and shelter to people but has also enhanced exposure level and consequent vulnerability and risks to fast growing economic activities and human settlements to projected climate-induced natural disasters. Satellite imageries clearly show the changing land-use pattern due to human intervention. On the ground, questionnaire-based, face-to-face interview method has helped in understanding the key drivers behind the changing economic activities, occupation category-wise exposure and vulnerability of the people along the coast. Fishing, salt-shrimp practice, fish drying, agriculture, tourism, and related small trading business are now the main economic activities, and human settlement expansion has changed the coastal ecosystem. The vulnerability assessment suggests that the fast emergence of salt-shrimp farm-based employment and livelihood is one of the most sensitive to natural threats. As per anthropogenic threats, the hotel and restaurant industries are polluting the most fragile coastal ecosystem.
Proximal remote sensing and gross primary productivity in a temperate salt marsh
Salt marshes are highly productive ecosystems relevant for Blue Carbon assessments, but information for estimating gross primary productivity (GPP) from proximal remote sensing (PRS) is limited. Temperate salt marshes have seasonal canopy structure and metabolism changes, defining different canopy phenological phases, GPP rates, and spectral reflectance. We combined multi-annual PRS data (i.e., PhenoCam, discrete hyperspectral measurements, and automated spectral reflectance sensors) with GPP derived from eddy covariance. We tested the performance of empirical models to predict GPP from 12 common vegetation indices (VIs; e.g., NDVI, EVI, PSRI, GCC), Sun-Induced Fluorescence (SIF), and reflectance from different areas of the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e., VIS-IR, RedEdge, IR, and SIF) across the annual cycle and canopy phenological phases (i.e., Greenup, Maturity, Senescence, and Dormancy). Plant Senescence Reflectance Index (PSRI) from hyperspectral data and the Greenness Index (GCC) from PhenoCam, showed the strongest relationship with daily GPP across the annual cycle and within phenological phases (r2=0.30–0.92). Information from the visible-infrared electromagnetic region (VIS-IR) coupled with a partial least square approach (PLSR) showed the highest data-model agreement with GPP, mainly because of its relevance to respond to physiological and structural changes in the canopy, compared with indices (e.g., GCC) that particularly react to changes in the greenness of the canopy. The most relevant electromagnetic regions to model GPP were ∼550 nm and ∼710 nm. Canopy phenological phases impose challenges for modeling GPP with VIs and the PLSR approach, particularly during Maturity, Senescence, and Dormancy. As more eddy covariance sites are established in salt marshes, the application of PRS can be widely tested. Our results highlight the potential to use canopy reflectance from the visible spectrum region for modeling annual GPP in salt marshes as an example of advances within the AmeriFlux network.
The role of mangroves in supporting ports and the shipping industry to reduce emissions and water pollution
This report provides scientific evidence on the role of mangroves in absorbing greenhouse gases and improving water quality through analysis of monitoring data relating to the water environment in Saigon
River (Ho Chi Minh City), greenhouse gas emissions from Ho Chi Minh City seaports, and greenhouse gas sequestration in Can Gio mangrove forest (Ho Chi Minh City). This document presents, for the first time,
comparative results of water quality indices for 2010–2020, at monitoring points in different areas including metropolitan, seaport, mangrove forest and open coast. A correlation between carbon emissions from seaports, and the amount of carbon absorbed by mangroves in Ho Chi Minh City, was also analysed for the first time. Our findings confirmed that mangroves can support the maritime industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the environment. These findings can assist policymakers to identify those who can financially contribute towards the environmental services that mangroves provide, enabling the effective implementation of policy around payment for forest environmental services. We also highlight the need to have further specific studies, in other areas of the country, in order to build a complete database of
the ecosystem services provided by mangroves in Vietnam.