- Thirty-two countries were surveyed for mangrove habitat coverage (see Table 1).
- Natural history and mangrove coverage in the Caribbean:
- In 1990, 13,501 km2 of mangrove habitat remained; “Coastline length and mangrove area data for Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama' are lengths and areal extent only for Caribbean coastlines…Data from Groombridge (1992), Lugo & Bayle (1992), Alvarez-Leon (1993), Bacon (1993c), D'Croz (1993), Polanfa (1993), Garrity et al. (1994), and Giglioli (1994). NA: data unavailable” (Table 1, 551).
- “Based on the data presented in Table 1, overall mangal area in the Caribbean declined by -10 percent during the 1980's. Mangal area declined by -17 percent on the mainland, but by only -2 percent on the islands”(552).
- Anthropogenic Disturbances:
- Extraction – any form of moderate/sustainable extraction of mangrove resources does not yield devastating consequences. Large-scale extraction of mangrove forest (deforestation), however, results in “rapid soil sulfide accumulation and subsequent soil acidification (Hamilton & Snedaker 1984).” Additionally, fishery yields may become damaged by mangrove forest extraction because it causes a loss of juvenile fish habitat (553).
- Pollution—
- “[Petroleum] oil pollution resulting from off- shore oil exploration and production, pipelines, tanker accidents, and intentional clearing of ship's ballast tanks affects mangal throughout the Caribbean (reviews in Rodriguez 1981, Burns et al. 1993, IUCN 1993a)”(553). Dozens of oil spills have occurred in the Caribbean since the 1980s, and, in some cases such as an oil spill at Galteta, Panama, causing mangrove forests to experience “massive tree defoliation, followed by seedling, sapling, and tree death…(Garrity et al 1994)”(553). Mangrove rehabilitation after oil spills is virtually non-existent due to the difficulty in growing mangroves in oil-polluted areas.
- Thermal pollution from power-plant cooling systems also affects mangroves negatively (554).
- Other pollutants identified in the paper (cited from other studies) include: mercury, mine tailings and compounds, sewage, urban runoff, pesticide contamination, N2O, and sedimentation from urban (coastal) development (554-555).
- Reclamation – this involves transforming mangrove habitat into urban development spaces (coastal development). Massive reclamation projects have been enacted in many countries throughout the Caribbean including Columbia and Venezuela (555). Tourism has also played a role in massive reclamation projects (mangrove forest conversion into resorts, golf courses, etc.) (555).
- Climate Change – while rising sea level may negatively affect certain mangrove habitats where recession is impossible due to anthropogenic obstacles or improper soil composition, rising CO2 levels may help compound these negative effects, but only slightly (557-558). Higher atmospheric temperatures may also negatively affect mangrove forests (557).
- Mangrove conservation varies among the countries in the Caribbean (558). Up to 11 international treaties could be used to protect mangroves in the Caribbean and up to six could be used to for indigenous use and/or (sensitive) ecotourism (560). Table 3 lists multiple treaties that either have or have not been ratified by countries both within and outside the Caribbean (559).