Reversing the Degradation of Mangroves in the Caribbean and Philippines

Abstract

"Mangrove forests are important coastal ecosystems that have been degraded and destroyed throughout the tropics. Two projects are examined--one from the Caribbean and one from the Philippines--that are attempting to halt the degradation of critical mangrove sites. Experiences revealed several key compounding factors that hindered resource conservation in both cases. For one, there has been a tendency to undervalue mangroves, in terms of their critical ecological functions as well as their direct production values to local populations. A corollary of this is a failure to acknowledge and incorporate less visible but nonetheless significant resource users and interest groups in mangrove planning and management. In addition, the unusual ecology and diverse resource values have contributed to ambiguous tenure and administrative arrangements over mangrove areas. Efforts to restore and protect the Caribbean and Philippine mangrove sites have had to address all of these factors. In particular, project work has tried to harmonise the interests of local resource users and various levels of government with the intent of establishing meaningful and lasting comanagement systems. Both communal and household (private)-based strategies have been used with some success, although the short-comings of each are also apparent and discussed."