The Global Distribution of Human and Natural Threats to Protected Mangrove Regions

Over the last two decades, growing awareness of the social, cultural, economic and ecological importance of mangroves has spurred global-scale efforts to protect mangrove habitats. While the effectiveness of protected areas to conserve biodiversity has been measured globally, there exists a lack of understanding on the effectiveness of protected areas in preventing mangrove loss due to human threats. In this study, we quantify the anthropogenic and natural pressures on mangrove protected areas in all mangrove-holding nations from 2000-2016 using recent global-scale high-resolution loss driver maps. We evaluate the influence of protected area design and governance on the presence of direct human-driven pressures such as conversion to commodities or settlement, while capturing the intersection of increasingly prominent natural stressors such as erosion and extreme weather events in coastal regions. We also analyze the influence of the protected area context in terms of national Human Development Index and Gross Domestic Product metrics on protected area effectiveness. Finally, we present an interactive portal for users to identify mangrove protected areas under varying levels of success on the global scale, while mapping the national proportions of anthropogenic and natural threats in protected areas across all mangrove-holding nations. Through evaluating past primary threats to all global mangrove protected regions, we aim to inform future restoration and conservation plans in accounting for continued stressors at the local level, providing insight on priority regions for monitoring and preservation.