Lead Authors: Lydia Slobodian (Georgetown Law) and Adriana Vidal (IUCN).
1.1 Mangroves as a valuable ecosystem
Mangroves have a high value, both economic and non-economic. They provide habitat for 341 threatened species, ranging from crustaceans to tigers, and support 600 billion young shrimp and fish and 100 billion crabs and bivalves. They provide billions of dollars worth of ecosystem services, including an estimated $65 billion in coastal protection, sequester 21 billion tons of CO2, and support over 4 million small-scale fishers as well as high-value commercial fisheries. Mangrove ecosystems can sequester four times as much carbon per hectare as terrestrial forests. Beyond the quantifiable values that mangroves provide, they are also critical to the culture and identity of coastal communities and their health is often intrinsically linked to the health of people and adjacent ecosystems.
