Mangroves in the Anthropocene: From local change to global challenge

Abstract

Recently, Norman Duke et al. published a doom alert on a world without mangroves, where extinction of entire forests or over-fragmentation of large stretches of mangroves was a real and present nightmare (Duke et al., 2007). Historically, mangroves have been considered either a nuisance or a source of rapid and easy profit, both views resulting in degradation and loss. The few exceptions were the traditional “Mangrove People” (Vannucci, 1989), traditional human groups throughout the tropics living in balance with these ecosystems while directly benefitting from their services and goods. These traditional populations have suffered pressure from growing production and resource exploitation in most of today’s societies and continue to be systematically displaced along with mangrove destruction and degradation. [...]