7 Helpful Ways to Conserve Mangrove Ecosystems

The mangroves of the world are struggling and need your help! These are the best ways to conserve mangrove ecosystems near your community!

It’s no secret that our natural environment is markedly declining. And seemingly, no plant, animal, or ecosystem is left untouched.

That includes mangroves.

Mangroves are incredibly important to coastal ecosystems and the ocean at large. Specifically, they operate conjunctly with coral reefs and seagrass beds in tropical environments. If one is negatively impacted, the rest are too.

The rest of this article highlights why mangroves are important and 7 easy ways to help conserve mangrove environments. By the end, you’ll know a few ways you can help conserve your local environment.

Why are Mangroves Important?

You might be wondering, what makes mangroves so special anyway? These are the top reasons why mangroves are so important and why we should conserve them:

1. Coastline Protection: Mangroves stabilize sediment along coastlines, preventing land erosion. Additionally, during hurricanes and other strong storms, mangroves absorb the impact of wind, waves, and tides – thus protecting the land and manmade structures nearby.
2. Clean Water: As water flows from land via runoff, streams, rivers, or creeks, it often passes through mangroves. In turn, the mangroves catch any pollution or sediment before it reaches the ocean. Conversely, the mangroves protect the freshwater sources from saltwater intrusion from the ocean.
3. Nursery: Mangroves work in conjunction with seagrass beds and coral reefs. Because of this relationship, many fish species live the formative years of their life in the mangroves.
4. Wildlife Home: The mangroves serve as home to all sorts of wildlife including birds, crustaceans, and some mammals.

How to Help Conserve Mangrove Ecosystems

1. Participate in a Mangrove Cleanup

If you live in an area where mangroves are present, chances are you might have the opportunity to participate in a mangrove cleanup. These events aim to involve the local community in removing trash and pollution from the environment.

It’s a fun way to engage with your fellow community members as you work to clean up the environments people are dependent upon.

2. Help Plant Mangroves

According to my wife, Laura, a research scientist in mangrove restoration at the University of Virgin Islands, mangrove out-planting efforts are negligible. Many of the planted mangroves simply do not survive. It’s a multi-faceted issue that researchers are continuously working on.

However, it’s both our views that mangrove out-planting events aren’t fruitless. Quite the contrary. We believe that any activity that engages the local community in conservation is a net positive. It instills knowledge, passion, and a deeper understanding of our relationship with nature and how to conserve it.

So yes, get out and do a mangrove planting event! The trees you plant might not survive but the engagement, connection, and spread of knowledge amongst individuals within a community and possibly down generations is invaluable. In fact, it may be the only thing that helps save our natural world!

3. Reduce Single-Use Plastic Consumption

Now, I’m not here to shame anyone because we all consume single-use plastics in some shape or form. Even the best-intentioned individuals can’t avoid it. However, that’s not to say we shouldn’t try to cut down our plastic consumption.

How does single-use plastic relate to mangroves, you ask? Well, it’s no secret that plastic is overwhelming our oceans as it enters via rivers and streams at unprecedented rates. Much of this plastic will eventually wash up into the mangroves (whether it be from the ocean or from land).

And unsurprisingly, data suggest (like the data pictured above), that plastic is by far the most likely form of marine debris to show up during mangrove cleanup events.

🌊 Companies Removing Ocean Plastic: For every bracelet sold, 4Ocean will remove one pound of trash from ocean environments – mangroves included. Receive 10% off a 4Ocean Bracelet when you use the coupon code “Oceanwide” at checkout!

4. Protect Existing Mangroves

Once mangroves die, it becomes challenging to reintroduce and regrow them in certain areas. That’s why it’s best we try to conserve the ones we already have. This means we need to reduce pollution in mangrove environments, don’t cut branches or uproot trees for development, and don’t tie boats to the mangroves (a common occurrence in the Caribbean and other parts of the world).

5. Patronize Businesses With Mangrove Conservation in Mind

Some businesses in mangrove-dependent regions will specifically market their cause for mangrove conservation. Our favorite wide-ranging company is MANG – an apparel store based in South Florida. Their mantra is “Buy One, Plant One” – for every shirt sold, they plant one mangrove. Additionally, many of the shirt designs have specific environmental causes to them sending funds to various nonprofits.

Other companies you might patronize to support mangrove conservation are:

• Hotels and Resorts: that don’t rip out the mangroves but rather protect them during development.
• Local eco-tours: Kayaking, paddleboarding, or snorkeling trips into mangrove environments.

6. Support Mangrove Nonprofits and Research

In the same breath, it’s important to support nonprofits dedicated to the conservation of mangroves. Our favorite nonprofit from our time in South Florida is Captains for Clean Water. The organization strives to preserve the Everglades and restore its natural flow to help maintain the natural state of the region.

7. Spread the word and engage your local community

And when all said and done, whatever you do might be for naught unless the local community is radically engaged in the protection of mangroves. Because once you’re gone, once the funds dry up, the businesses and nonprofits disband, the local community is the one to carry the torch.