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resource management, with many early settlements close to mangrove
areas. They continue to provide significant social, economic and cultural
benefits for the people of the Pacific Islands.
Mangroves are disappearing at an alarming rate with serious ecological
and socio-economic impacts. According to a study by Cameron et al.
(2021), the greatest drivers of mangrove loss are increasing frequency
and intensity of natural disasters such as tropical cyclones and flooding,
coastal reclamation for unsustainable aquaculture and infrastructure
development, and overexploitation of mangrove resources.
In Samoa, mangrove ecosystems are rapidly declining due to
reclamation, urban and tourism development, and land-based activities
such as agriculture, aquaculture and pollution. Consequently, there is
increased loss of important environmental and economic goods and
services such as forest products, flood mitigation and habitat for fish.
In Tonga, mangroves of the surveyed area in Fanga’uta lagoon needed
further investigation to establish the cause of reduced mangrove
condition along the mangrove fringe. A combination of both natural
(cyclones) and anthropogenic (road construction) factors may be
affecting mangrove condition. The bund wall can be the cause of altering
hydrology to adjacent mangrove areas and efforts should be undertaken
to restore tidal flow.
MANGROVES of the mangrove system include:
In Fiji, in Rewa Delta, some of the key challenges to the sustainability
Illegal cutting of mangrove forest by outsiders,
•
for the Pacific Future • Absence of sustainable harvesting approaches in communities,
Lack of awareness of the importance of the mangrove system
•
and the resources associated with it,
• Increase in population which has resulted in the need for more
mangrove fuel wood,
Mangroves along My Suva Park, Fiji. Photos: Epeli Nakautoga • Use of mangrove bark for traditional herbal medicine and dye
resulting in the destruction of these trees,
Mangroves are trees • Greater impacts of king tides,
or shrubs that are found • Communities in this region starting to experience scarcity in
in the intertidal zone of marine resource stock,
coastlines, or that area • Improper disposal of village solid and liquid waste.
between the coastal Mangroves are recognised as the most productive nature-based
environment and the solution due to the goods and services it provides yearly. Action must be
terrestrial environment. taken to protect and properly manage our mangrove ecosystem.
Mangrove trees are In the efforts to combat this loss and fast-track better management
equipped with impressive practices, the International Union Conservation for Nature - Oceania
filtration systems that Regional Office (IUCN Oceania) became a founding member of the
Mangrove planting in Lami, Fiji.
allow them to filter out Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) and the focal point for the Community
or exclude salt altogether, of Ocean Action (COA) on Mangroves with the Ramsar secretariat.
despite their twice- IUCN Oceania has also facilitated several mangrove restoration
daily inundation by projects such as the Mangrove Ecosystems for Climate Change
saltwater due to changing Adaptation & Livelihoods (MESCAL) Project in Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa,
tides. Perhaps their Solomon Islands and Tonga from 2009-2013; the Mangrove
most notable feature, Rehabilitation for Sustainably Managed Healthy Forests (MARSH)
mangroves have complex Project in PNG in 2013-2015; and the Red List of Ecosystem (RLE) Risk
root systems that extend Assessment of mangroves on Tongatapu in Tonga 2019-2021.
Mangroves stand along Nasese, Fiji.
above and below the Those listed projects have been completed however, IUCN Oceania
water line. These roots allow mangroves to stabilise themselves and has several current projects that could fund mangrove related work such
prevent erosion to the coastline, and also provide habitat, nurseries, and as the Kiwa Initiative, Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management
feeding grounds for a vast array of fish and other organisms. (BIOPAMA) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Coastal and Marine
Yet mangroves are disappearing three to five times faster than Ecosystem Resilience Programme (CMERP) projects.
overall global forest losses, with serious ecological and socio-economic Furthermore, the BIODEV 2030 project under IUCN Oceania
impacts. Current estimates indicate that mangrove coverage has been encourages business to make voluntary commitments to reduce
divided by two in the past 40 years. pressures on biodiversity over the next decade. Such voluntary
The world area of mangroves has been recently mapped at 152,000 contributions will be a big step towards building ambitious common
2
km (Spalding et al., 2010). In the Pacific Islands region, the total goals to halt the decline in biodiversity by 2030 and restore biodiversity
mangrove area is nearly 5,687 km, or 3.74% of the world’s mangroves, by 2050.
with the largest areas in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Halting mangrove loss is essential to prevent further mangrove loss,
New Caledonia. degradation, and fragmentation to ensure the persistence of healthy,
Pacific Islander societies have traditionally been based in coastal intact mangrove ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide.

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