Saving mangroves

As WWF’S Lauren Spurrier watches, her Ecuadorian guide kneels and plunges his arm into a deep hole. A moment later, he’s back on his feet with a red mud crab in his hand, its 10 spindly legs kicking in protest. He plucks a cord from his belt to deftly bind the crab, and then he’s off again—a member of the local mud crab association, prowling the mangroves for his quarry.

Mangroves look almost alien, with their barnacle-covered roots arching out of the ground to suspend the trees above dense mud and water. But these otherworldly forests on stilts are in fact one of Earth’s most critical ecosystems, buffering coasts from storm surges, serving as vital habitat for untold marine species, and providing food and livelihoods for local communities. And while mangroves cover only 0.1% of Earth’s land surface, they are one of our most powerful tools in the fight against climate change, storing more carbon per hectare than any other type of forest.

But mangroves are at risk of vanishing forever. Fifty percent of the world’s mangroves have disappeared in the past half-century, victims of rising sea levels; oil spills and other pollution; demand for timber; and clearing to make way for shrimp and crab fishing, coastal infrastructure, and urban expansion.

In places like this stretch of Ecuadorian coast near the city of Guayaquil, losing the mangroves would portend the loss of the mud crabs—the primary source of income for some local fishing communities—and have a severe impact on surrounding ecosystems as well.

The struggle to save mangroves like these in Ecuador is a global challenge that no single government or organization can tackle alone. That’s why WWF recently joined with Conservation International, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, The Nature Conservancy, and Wetlands International to establish the Global Mangrove Alliance. Together, the organizations seek to partner with stakeholders and governments around the world to increase mangrove habitat by 20% by 2030.

Achieving that goal will depend on work in places like Guayaquil, where Spurrier, WWF’s senior director for oceans, is meeting with the local mud crab association. It is one of approximately 50 associations that have signed agreements with the Ecuadorian government to protect the mangroves. By acting now to save these vulnerable habitats, we can build a future where both mangroves and mankind thrive.

Outfitted with a rain hat, rubber boots, and gloves, Ana Granja traipses through the mud alongside other women from her community, singing as they scour a mangrove swamp for small, black clams called piangua.

Locals like Granja know the value of this vulnerable ecosystem. The piangua found here in Sanquianga National Park, a 197,000-acre protected area that includes 105,700 acres of mangroves, are a crucial source of income for more than 125 communities along Colombia’s Pacific coast.

With WWF-Colombia and other organizations, the Colombian government is working to effectively manage and expand the country’s system of protected areas like this one. In 2017, two new coastal conservation areas were created in the Colombian Pacific.

First, to the north, a regional integrated management district named Encanto de los Manglares del Bajo Baudó was declared to protect more than 770,000 acres of beaches, mangroves, and corals. Then, a national integrated management district called Cabo Manglares, Bajo Mira y Frontera was created, ensuring the conservation of roughly 470,000 acres of coastal wetlands (including deep water ecosystems and more than 16,000 acres of mangroves) and the connectivity of coastal ecosystems between Colombia and neighboring Ecuador.

Traditional communities within both areas will still be permitted to sustainably harvest natural resources such as the piangua. Like Ana Granja and her sister clam diggers in Sanquianga, the residents of these newly created districts continue to benefit from the mangroves, wetlands, and coastlines that have sustained their people for generations.

With more than 17,000 islands, Indonesia has the second-longest coastline in the world—behind only Canada. But it’s not all white sand beaches and lush forests; man-made earthen ponds brimming with shrimp also dot Indonesia’s shores, many of them in vast grids that sprawl for millions of acres.

Nearly half of Indonesia’s mangroves have been cleared in the past three decades, many to make way for shrimp farms. That’s why WWF-Indonesia is dedicated to helping the nation’s shrimp industry adopt a more environmentally responsible approach. WWF has helped create better management practices for small-scale shrimp farms in Indonesia. And now, with technical support from WWF, one of the country’s most influential shrimp processing companies, PT. Mustika Minanusa Aurora (PT. MMA), is leading the way toward more improvements.

In August 2017, PT. MMA became the first shrimp processor in Indonesia to register its supplier farms (traditional small-scale shrimp farming) and receive the rigorous Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification. WWF has been working with PT. MMA since 2006 to achieve this certification. Together, they have rehabilitated nearly 50 acres of mangroves in a reservation park, and more than 16 acres of mangroves around the shrimp farms. These mangroves provide vital ecosystem services, serve as tourism and educational spots, and support the growth of mud crab.

The company’s ASC certification already appears to be good for business. Foreign buyers and other key players throughout PT. MMA’s supply chain fully support their efforts on behalf of environmental sustainability. And other farmers are following in their footsteps—an auspicious sign for the long-term health and well-being of local communities and mangrove forests.