Community perceptions of long-term mangrove cover changes and its drivers from a typhoon-prone province in the Philippines

Bibliographic Data

ID10889142
AuthorsJay Mar D Quevedo (0000-0003-1940-4462, Tohoku University, corresponding author), Yuta Uchiyama (0000-0001-7363-896X, Nagoya University), Ryo Kohsaka (0000-0001-6822-4340, Nagoya University)
Year2022
Volume51
Issue4
Pages972-989
Publication date2022-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAMBIO (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0044-7447 • E-ISSN: 1654-7209
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s13280-021-01608-9
PMID34426946
OpenAlexW3194620394
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited66

Mangrove forests are among the most productive ecosystems with important services such as food and livelihood provisions, recreations, and regulations (e.g., coastal protection) in local scales. At global scale, they are gaining salience for their carbon sequestration capacities, currently conceptualized as “blue carbon.” However, their essential benefits are reduced or lost when degraded. There is, therefore, a need to explore long-term mangrove cover change (MCC) and its underpinning drivers to develop sustainable management strategies. MCC has been analyzed extensively, including satellite images and field surveys, with drivers of changes frequently embedded in local contexts. Thus, in this study, MCC and the causal factors are evaluated at the local scale by gathering community perceptions in Eastern Samar, a typhoon-prone province in the Philippines, with a timeframe since the 1970s until the present. Results show that mangrove cover loss was observed following the occurrence of Typhoon Agnes in 1984 and Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 while conversion of mangrove areas to residential spaces was identified as a recurring driver of mangrove depletion from the early 1970s to 1990s. Study participants perceived that natural threats and lack of law enforcement were the leading proximate and underlying drivers of degradation, respectively. Respondents perceived that mangrove cover is increasing mainly due to successive reforestation programs coupled with stricter implementation of local ordinances in the sites. The results indicate the increased role of mangrove forests in disaster risk reduction and climate change mitigation strategies, while the perceptions of drivers change in long terms

Agroforestry · Business · Cartography · Climate change · Environmental planning · Environmental protection · Environmental resource management · Geography · Livelihood · Local community · Mangrove · Reforestation · Scale (ratio · Typhoon · Coastal and Marine Dynamics · Coastal and Marine Management · Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics · Ecology · Environmental Science · Forestry