Coping
Strategies for Coastal Zone Managers Outlined
in New UNEP-Backed Report
Nairobi, Apia, Honolulu, 18
July 2006 - Action is needed to conserve mangroves
in the Pacific amid concern that rising sea levels,
linked with climate change, are set to drown large
areas of these precious and economically important
ecosystems.
Studies, announced today by
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
indicate that some islands in the region could
see over half of the mangroves steadily lost by
the end of the century, with the worst hit being
American Samoa, Fiji, Tuvalu, and the Federated
States of Micronesia.
The study, which has assessed
the vulnerability of the 16 Pacific Island countries
and territories that have native mangroves, finds
that overall as much as 13 per cent of the mangrove
area may be lost.
It makes a series of recommendations
to coastal planners. These include reducing pollution
from land-based sources in order to make existing
mangroves more healthy and resilient, alongside
restoring lost or degraded mangroves wetlands.
Setting back coastal infrastructure
and development to allow mangroves to spread inland
may also be possible along some sections of Pacific
island coastlines, says the report.
Achim Steiner, UNEP’s Executive
Director, said: “There are many compelling reasons
for fighting climate change--the threats to mangroves
in the Pacific, and by inference across other
low lying parts of the tropics, underline yet
another reason to act”.
“Industrialized nations must
meet their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol,
the international emission-reduction treaty, as
a first step to the even deeper cuts needed to
stabilize the atmosphere,” he added.
“But there is also an urgent
need to help vulnerable communities adapt to the
sea level rise which is already underway. This
report provides sensible and sound advice on management
regimes needed to boost the health and resilience
of coastal zones and coastal ecosystems like mangroves
in the face of current and future threats,” said
Mr. Steiner.
The new report, “Pacific Island
Mangroves in a Changing Climate and Rising Seas”,
has been compiled by the Regional Seas Programme
of UNEP, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional
Environment Programme (SPREP) based in Apia, Samoa,
the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management
Council in Honolulu, United States, and well over
a dozen additional agencies and organizations
from the Pacific Islands region.
Kitty Simonds, Executive Director
of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management
Council, explained, “Mangrove wetlands’ functional
links with other coastal ecosystems and their
important contribution to near shore fisheries
production make it critical for Pacific Island
governments and local communities to act now to
ensure the sustainable provision of mangrove ecosystem
services. The Council has recently begun to replace
its existing suite of Fishery Management Plans
with integrated ecosystem-based plans for each
island archipelago. The results and recommendations
stemming from this study are contributing to the
development of these new place-based Fishery Ecosystem
Plans.”
The true economic value of ecosystems
like mangroves is now starting to emerge as a
result of landmark reports such as the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, the work of some 1,300 scientists
and experts.
Others assessments include
the recently published “In the Front Line: Shoreline
Protection and other Ecosystem Services from Mangroves
and Coral Reefs” compiled by organizations including
UNEP’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre.
They underline that, in common
with other terrestrial and marine ecosystems such
as coral reefs, mangroves provide an array of
valuable goods and services upon which local people
and industries like tourism depend.
• Mangroves are important nurseries
for fish, act to filter coastal pollution and
are important sources of timber and construction
materials for local communities. Pacific islanders
also harvest dyes from mangroves to treat textiles,
nets and fish traps.
• The health of mangroves also affects the health
of other economically and biologically important
ecosystems, including coral reefs and seagrass
beds.
• Mangroves provide important
shoreline protection. Wave energy may be reduced
by 75 per cent during a wave’s passage through
200 metres of mangrove forest.
• According to some estimates,
the goods and services generated by mangroves
may be worth an average of $900,000 per square
kilometer, depending on their location and uses.
• Studies in Thailand put the
figure at up to $3.5 million per square kilometer
and in American Samoa at just over $100,000 per
square kilometer.
• An estimated 75 per cent of
commercially caught prawns in Queensland, Australia,
depend on mangroves.
• A 400 square kilometer managed
mangrove forests in Matang, Malaysia, supports
a fishery worth $100 million a year.
• Forestry products from the
Matang mangroves are worth $10 million annually,
it is estimated.
• Roughly half the world’s mangrove
area has been lost since 1900 as a result of clearances
for developments like shrimp farms. 35 per cent
of this loss has occurred in the past two decades.
Eric Gilman of the University
of Tasmania and the report’s lead author said:
“The report not only spells out the threats, but
also identifies national and regional priority
needs for technical and institutional capacity
building.”
“The report also offers the
elements of site-specific strategies that managers
of coastal zones can implement to minimize and
offset anticipated mangrove losses from climate
change affects. These focus on community-based
approaches and integrated coastal zone management
as well as increased public awareness and outreach,”
he added.
Vainuupo Jungblut, Associate
Ramsar Officer at SPREP and one of the report’s
authors, said: “One of the major challenges the
Pacific Islands region faces is climate change
and sea level rise, and adjusting to the responses
of coastal ecosystems to these forces. The challenge
for the region is to implement appropriate and
affordable adaptation measures with limited resources.
This report will assist Pacific Island land-use
managers to assess vulnerability as well as identify
appropriate adaptation techniques.”
Hanneke Van Lavieren of UNEP’s
Regional Seas Programme and another author said:
“The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development
set an ambitious target--to achieve a significant
reduction in the current rate of loss of biodiversity
by 2010-- as one contribution to fighting poverty
and delivering prosperity. We hope this new report
and its recommendations on mangroves and climate
change can play its part towards achieving the
biodiversity goal in the Pacific”.
Notes to Editors
The report “Pacific Island Mangroves
in a Changing Climate and Rising Seas” is available
online at www.unep.org and www.wpcouncil.org
Nick Nuttall / Elisabeth Waechter
