Mangrove News Digest # 625 – May 30, 2025
Voices from the forest
INDIA – The fate of Sundarbans’ landscape has always been shaped by the outsiders’ perceptions of it. Locals who feel most at home in the landscape have never had any say in determining its fate. With the right systems and policies in place, millions of people who have an intimate knowledge of the hyper-localised ecosystems that they have lived in and have observed across generations can play a game-changing role in aligning the local economy with the mangrove ecology.
Absa Kenya Foundation scales up mangrove restoration to 350,000 trees across Kenya’s coastline
KENYA – Absa Kenya Foundation launched the next phase of its coastal restoration program at the Sabaki Estuary in Malindi, planting an additional 200,000 mangrove trees. This marks a significant scale-up of the initiative launched in 2023, which saw the planting of 150,000 mangrove trees across Mombasa and Kwale Counties.
Philippines uses mangrove buffer zones to protect its coastlines
PHILIPPINES – Often battered by typhoons and floods, protecting the coastline is a priority for the sugar-producing Philippines province of Negros Occidental. Negros Occidental began setting up its “coastal greenbelt” network in 2022, the first of its kind in the Philippines.
Fruit Farm Creek mangrove restoration update
USA – Two years into the $3.3 million Fruit Farm Creek mangrove restoration project – the largest in Florida history at 209 acres – things are not progressing as quickly as planned. There appears to be little mangrove growth in much of the die-off area at this point.
Grabbers feast on Sonadia forest
INDIA – Over 1,000 acres of protected mangrove forest on Sonadia Island in Moheshkhali upazila of Cox’s Bazar have been razed since August 5 last year. Over the years, encroachers have cleared over 3,000 acres of Sonadia’s mangrove forest and established 37 shrimp enclosures.
Study shows how El Niño and La Niña climate swings threaten mangroves worldwide
GLOBAL – A new international study led by researchers at Tulane University shows that the El Niño and La Niña climate patterns affect nearly half of the world’s mangrove forests, underscoring the vulnerability of these vital coastal ecosystems to climatic shifts.
Reviving Niger Delta’s Mangroves: A Natural Solution To Climate Crisis
NIGERIA – Mangroves are under serious threat in Nigeria, especially across the Niger Delta region. Stakeholders in the advocacy of restoring mangrove forests in the Niger Delta, have emphasised that replanting and protecting these ecosystems is not only good for the planet and the people, but can also bring back lost livelihoods for fishing communities, improve food security, and slow shoreline erosion that threatens homes and farmlands in the region.
Where In The World Is MAP?
This Week’s Featured MANGROVE ACTION PROJECT Case Study:
Delivering mangrove restoration best practices in the Bahamas
Location: Bahamas
Timeline: March – April 2023
Goal: To support local mangroves restoration efforts and implement best practices for future management
ACTION ALERTS
URGENT NOTICE – Save Panama’s Mangroves: sign the petition.
Keep Deutsche Bahn out of Amazonia!
Fight the Marine Bitumen Spill
Stop land grabbing and racial discrimination for palm oil in Ecuador
Thank you to our many supporters who made this work possible, and to all of our friends and partners working to protect mangrove forests, worldwide. Mangrove Action Project relies on the generosity of donors to do our urgent work. Whether it’s a one-time or monthly commitment, your contributions make a real difference in safeguarding these critical ecosystems.
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