When we imagine the frontlines of climate change and human impact, we often picture ice caps collapsing into the sea, rainforests falling silent, or coral reefs fading to ghostly white under the heat of the sun.
But what about the places where land meets sea—where trees grow on stilts, their roots tangled in mud and their leaves tough enough to shrug off salt?
Unlike some of the other causalities of human activity, mangrove forests don’t often make headlines. But that doesn’t make them any less special!
Paddling through a mangrove forest is nothing short of mesmerising! Above the water sits a thick blanket of gnarled trunks and green leaves that support an array of birds, lizards, and snakes. Below, a world of tiny glimmering fish dart in and out of thick curving struts. This combined appearance of spindly roots and shallow water giving the appearance of tree trunks balancing on crab legs.
But these trees aren’t just there to look pretty!
This tangled coastline acts like a green shield between land and sea. Their roots slow down waves, reduce flooding, and give baby fish a place to hide, acting as a nature-rich buffer zone against harsh weather. Mangroves also absorb and store up to four times more carbon than rainforests1, making them powerful allies in the fight against climate change. They support fisheries by sheltering young prawns, crabs, and fish that feed millions of people, and they reduce storm damage in coastal towns and villages. But quietly, and without much fanfare, they’re disappearing.
So, what’s the problem?
Across the world, mangroves are being lost at alarming rates — cleared for shrimp farms, replaced by ports and coastal development, logged for firewood, or degraded by rising sea levels and pollution. Despite their enormous ecological value, they’re often viewed as wastelands or obstacles to progress, rather than life-saving natural infrastructure.
In many places, the consequences of mangrove loss are already being felt — coastal erosion is worsening, fish catches are declining, and storm damage is becoming more severe. Yet efforts to protect mangroves often fall short, not because people don’t care, but because they may not know just how much they rely on them.
Phu Long commune, on the northern coast of Vietnam, is home to 630 households. These households benefit from the protection of mangrove forests every year when they are battered by typhoons. The mangrove forests help to reduce flooding and absorb some of the wind and wave energy before it reaches the houses. Yet, despite being part of the Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve, the mangrove forest is under threat. The area of forest in the commune having halved in size since 1991!
As part of the quest to understand why, scientists from Vietnam looked at the potential impact of education on local willingness to financially contribute to mangrove protection.
Local Resident Opinions
The scientists gathered data by conducting in-depth interviews with 235 households in the Phu Long area. During the interviews, respondents were given information about the ecosystem services the mangroves provide, the degradation they have already experienced, the risks facing the forests and how they can be protected in future. The respondents were then asked how much money they would be willing to voluntarily contribute to protection projects for the mangrove forests.
The interview respondents came from a range of backgrounds, including different income and education levels and areas of employment. The study found that 69.8% of those interviewed knew a bit about the environmental services from the mangrove forests and over 50% knew about the economic benefits they brought to the area.
However, nearly half were unaware of the threats the mangrove forests were facing.
Incredible Interview Results
At the end of the interviews, after learning about the environmental services the mangrove forests provide, over 75% of the respondents said they wanted to support payments for the protection of the mangroves. This is an amazing discovery and opens many doors for the future of mangrove protections. The majority viewed it as being their own responsibility to help protect the mangroves and said it would bring them personal happiness. Particularly importantly, people from all backgrounds, regardless of their age, income or education level, realised and appreciated how the mangrove forests benefitted them and were keen to help protect them.
In the future, campaigns to protect the mangrove forests need to do more education work to make sure people know what the mangrove’s ecosystem services are and how they benefit from them. In the study, 40% of respondents said they thought they didn’t benefit from the mangroves, when in fact everyone in the commune benefitted from the protections mangrove forests can provide from storm surges and flooding.
This study shows that people are willing to help the environment and put their own money into it, no matter their background. The study contrasts government narratives around the world that putting funding into environmental protections will not have public support – it does, and not just from a perceived educated elite.
How to find another way
Ecosystems of all shapes and sizes provide people across the world with benefits from ecosystem services. Even in a garden, trees absorb carbon dioxide and holes in a fence can allow hedgehogs to move through gardens looking for food. Although they may feel far away, we can still help mangroves in the face of climate change by keeping our greenhouse gas contributions to a minimum, spreading the word about the benefits that healthy ecosystems provide, and encouraging people to help what helps them.
Article written by Kalin Pugh
Primary Paper:
Thu Thuy, P. et al. (2024) ‘Households’ willingness-to-pay for mangrove environmental services: Evidence from Phu Long, Northeast Vietnam’, Trees, Forests and People, 12. p. 100474.
Other references:
Donato, D.C. et al. (2011) ‘Mangroves among the most carbon-rich forests in the Tropics’, Nature Geoscience, 4(5), pp. 293–297. doi:10.1038/ngeo1123.
