[Sdi-latinamericacaribbean] SERVIR-based study of the mangroves of the largest barrier reef system in the Americas

[Emil Cherrington]

Satellites Keep Eye on Mangroves within Largest Barrier Reef System in
the Americas

 

October 14, 2010 - Panama City, Panama - CATHALAC study, financed by WWF
and facilitated by SERVIR system, provides crucial glimpse into
important component of the world's second largest barrier reef complex

 

The Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the
Caribbean (CATHALAC), recently completed a World Wildlife Fund
(WWF)-financed study of the mangrove ecosystems which are a crucial part
of the Belize Barrier Reef Complex - the world's second largest coral
reef system <http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/764/>  - and part of the
broader Mesoamerican Reef Ecoregion. The study, "Identification of
Threatened and Resilient Mangroves in the Belize Barrier Reef System
<http://maps.cathalac.org/Downloads/data/bz/bz_mangroves_1980-2010_highr
es.pdf> ," found that Belize's national mangrove cover had remained at
3.4% over the 30-year period from 1980-2010, even as mangrove cover
declined from 76,250 to 74,684 hectares during that period. The
assessment made use of the Regional Visualization & Monitoring System
(SERVIR, see www.servir.net <http://www.servir.net/> ), which is jointly
implemented in Mesoamerica and the Dominican Republic by CATHALAC, the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), NASA, and other
partners.

 

Belize's mangroves have been protected since 1989 under the country's
Forests Act, which requires legal permission for altering areas with
mangroves. The clearing of some 1,566 hectares of mangrove from
1980-2010 translated to an average loss of 53.6 hectares per year, or an
annual rate of loss of 0.07%. Based on a previously determined baseline,
it was also estimated that as of early 2010, Belize's mangroves covered
96.7% of their original domain. An analysis of the 'hotspots' of
clearing showed that almost 90% of all mangrove clearings occurred in
four zones near major coastal settlements: Belize City, the Placencia
peninsula, San Pedro Town, and Dangriga. Destruction of mangroves -
largely for the development of urban- and tourism-related infrastructure
- was also found to have caused the fragmentation of 2.1% of the
country's mangrove ecosystems.

 

While the assessment examined all of Belize's mangroves - i.e. not just
the ones which interface with the coral reefs and seagrass which are
also a part of the barrier reef complex - it was found that over 90% of
mangroves lost over the 30-year period possessed connectivity with coral
and seagrass. Those types of mangroves were also estimated to contribute
US $3-4 million per year to Belize's fisheries sector alone and a total
of US $174-249 million per year to the national economy, according to a
2009 World Resources Institute assessment.

 

Belize's low rate of mangrove clearing nevertheless stands in stark
contrast to recently published estimates of global mangrove destruction.
The 2010 World Mangrove Atlas, for instance, indicates that a fifth of
the world's mangrove ecosystems have been destroyed since 1980. The
findings of a recently released USAID-supported study of deforestation
in Belize <http://www.servir.net/servir_bz_forest_cover_1980-2010.pdf> ,
implemented by CATHALAC and NASA in collaboration with Belize's Ministry
of Natural Resources and the Environment, also contrasts with the
WWF-funded mangrove study. Over the last 30 years, Belize's annual rate
of mangrove clearing was merely one-ninth of the country's annual
deforestation rate of 0.6%.

 

The study utilized Landsat satellite imagery from NASA and the U.S.
Geological Survey, and ASTER imagery from the Japanese Space Agency
(JAXA) and NASA. This work also complements a European Commission-funded
regional-level study that CATHALAC is currently undertaking of land
cover change across all of Central America, and which will also examine
changes in mangrove cover. The results of this study have also been
integrated into an index of coastal development which is included in the
soon to be released 2010 "Report Card for the Mesoamerican Reef."

 

Belize's only previous effort at specifically mapping the country's
mangroves is a national map of mangroves' cover in 1990. The present
effort thus provides decision-makers with a current panorama of the
situation of the country's mangroves. In terms of follow-up, while it is
anticipated that the study's results are highly accurate due to the
image processing approach used, in the next few months WWF and its local
partners will conduct intensive field verification activities as well as
with comparisons to aerial photography that has recently been taken of
Belize's entire coastline. They will also undertake biological surveys
to assess both ecosystem health of and the biodiversity within Belize's
mangroves. The assessment report can be downloaded from:
http://maps.cathalac.org/Downloads/data/bz/bz_mangroves_1980-2010_highre
s.pdf.

 

 

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