Global Mangrove Area Will Increase by 2025

A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025 indicates that the world's mangrove area increased by 197,000 hectares (ha) between 1990 and 2025.

In calculating the trend of global mangrove area, FAO received information from 219 countries and territories.

Periodically, the global mangrove area experienced a downward trend from 1990 to 2010. In 2010, the world's mangrove area was 14.86 million ha, a 3.1% decrease from 15.34 million ha in 1990.

Subsequently, the global mangrove area experienced an upward trend, reaching 15.53 million ha by 2025, as shown in the graph above.

FAO detailed that the mangrove area decreased between 1990 and 2015, at an average annual rate of 29,300 ha during the 1990-2000 period. This was followed by an average annual decrease of 11,300 ha during the 2000-2015 period.

"However, its area has increased in the last decade, at an average of 65,900 ha per year," FAO explained.

Regionally, the highest increase during the 2015-2025 period occurred in Asia, at 44,100 ha per year, primarily due to reported increases in Indonesia.

"There are reports of increased mangrove areas in North and Central America and Oceania in the last decade, and decreases in Africa and South America," FAO stated.