Mangroves shelter coastal economic activity from cyclones

Mangroves shelter coastlines during hazardous storm events with coastal communities experiencing mangrove deforestation are increasingly vulnerable to economic damages resulting from cyclones. To date, the benefits of mangroves in terms of protecting coastal areas have been estimated only through in...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 116; no. 25; pp. 12232 - 12237
Main Authors Hochard, Jacob P., Hamilton, Stuart, Barbier, Edward B.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 18.06.2019
Subjects
Coastal zone
Coasts
Communities
Cyclones
Deforestation
Economic activity
Economic conditions
Economics
Impact analysis
Luminosity
Mangroves
Restoration
Shelters
Social Sciences
Statistical methods
global spatial analysis
storm protection
mangroves
natural disaster
ecosystem services
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Summary:Mangroves shelter coastlines during hazardous storm events with coastal communities experiencing mangrove deforestation are increasingly vulnerable to economic damages resulting from cyclones. To date, the benefits of mangroves in terms of protecting coastal areas have been estimated only through individual case studies of specific regions or countries. Using spatially referenced data and statistical methods, we track from 2000 to 2012 the impact of cyclones on economic activity in coastal regions inhabited by nearly 2,000 tropical and subtropical communities across 23 major mangrove-holding countries. We use nighttime luminosity to represent temporal trends in coastal economic activity and find that direct cyclone exposure typically results in permanent loss of 5.4–6.7 mo for a community with an average mangrove extent (6.3 m per meter of coastline); whereas, a community with more extensive mangroves (25.6 m per meter of coastline) experiences a loss equivalent to 2.6–5.5 mo. These results suggest that mangrove restoration efforts for protective benefits may bemore cost effective, and mangrove deforestation more damaging, than previously thought.
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Author contributions: J.P.H. and E.B.B. designed research; J.P.H., S.H., and E.B.B. performed research; S.H. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; J.P.H. and E.B.B. analyzed data; and J.P.H., S.H., and E.B.B. wrote the paper.
Edited by Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and approved May 7, 2019 (received for review November 24, 2018)
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1820067116