We have already lost over half of the world's original mangrove forest area, estimated at 32 million hectares (app. 80 million acres). In 2007, less than 15 million hectares (37 million acres) of mangroves remain.

About half of mangrove loss has occurred in the last 50 years, mostly in the last two decades, due to:

• shrimp farming
• tourism
• urbanization
• agriculture expansion
• roadways
• marinas, and
• other intrusive developments.

The current rate of mangrove loss is approximately 1% per annum (according to the Food and Agriculture Organization - FAO), or roughly 150,000 hectares (370,050 acres) of mangrove wetlands lost each year.

The amount of mangrove forest loss is alarming:

• Thailand has lost more than half of its mangrove forests since 1960;

• In the Philippines, mangroves have declined from an estimated 448,000 hectares in the 1920s to only 110,000 hectares by 1990;

• In Ecuador, estimates of mangrove loss range from 20% to nearly 50% of Ecuador's once 362,000 ha of mangrove forested coastline. The Muisne region of Ecuador alone has lost nearly 90% of its mangroves.

A Tragedy for our Oceans

Continuing heavy loss of mangrove forests represents a real tragedy for our oceans and the extensive life-support systems mangroves engender. With climate change and sea level rise upon us, we must look to the mangroves to help turn the tides which these forests can do through their ability to control erosion, buffer against storms, and sequester huge amounts of carbon.

Mangroves may in fact be one of our last defenses against the perils of climate change and global warming. The mangrove's last stand, may well in fact be humanity's last stand!