Taking Action to Increase Global Mangrove Habitat by 20 percent by 2030: The Global Mangrove Alliance

Mangrove forests deliver invaluable ecosystem services that play a critical role in supporting human well-being through climate regulation, disaster risk reduction, food security, and poverty reduction. Mangrove ecosystems provide protection from the impacts of climate change, often for some of the world’s most vulnerable people, by attenuating wave energy and storm surges, adapting to rising sea levels, and stabilizing shorelines from erosion. Yet with 67% of mangroves lost or degraded to date, and an additional 1% being lost each year, mangroves are at a risk of being destroyed altogether. To accelerate a comprehensive global approach to large-scale mangrove conservation, restoration, and sustainable use, IUCN, World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and Wetlands International have come together to form the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA). The GMA is an unprecedented collaboration that brings together NGOs, governments, industry, local communities and funders towards a common goal of halting mangrove degradation and increasing mangrove cover by 20% by 2030 with defined underlying objectives utilizing mangroves as a nature-based solution to enhance climate adaptation & mitigation, food security, and human well-being.