Healthy mangrove ecosystems are critical for global climate action – playing a key role in carbon storage and in building resilience to a rapidly warming world. Mangroves stabilize coastlines, reduce erosion, foster biodiversity growth and protect coastal communities by building their adaptive capacity and making them more resilient to the impacts of climate change, such as sea-level rise, storms and coastal erosion, Mangroves prevent more than US$65 billion in property damages and reduce flood risk to some 15 million people every year. Beyond coastal protection, mangroves also help secure livelihoods and food security for communities around the world. They provide a critical home and breeding ground for sea creatures such as fish, oysters crabs and shrimps. Additionally, mangroves sequester carbon at up to four times the rate of terrestrial forests, making them indispensable allies in the race to a net zero world. The return of restorable areas could support sequestration and ensure the maintenance of 0.35 gigatonnes (350 million megagrams) of carbon, stored in both aboveground biomass and soil carbon. This year, our report highlights the GMA members and describes the revised goals of our Alliance. We describe important new research findings and policy developments. We also shine a spotlight on mangrove restoration, including research, tools, and stories from the field.
