What is it about?
Coastal flooding is becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change and rising sea levels. This threatens millions of people living near coastlines. This study examines whether restoring mangrove forests, which are tropical trees that grow along coastlines, can protect communities from flooding when combined with traditional defenses like dikes or seawalls. We analysed coastal areas worldwide to understand where mangrove restoration could reduce flood damage and protect vulnerable populations. Our findings show that restoring mangroves in front of coastal defenses could prevent about $800 million in flood damage annually and protect 140,000 people from flooding each year. Importantly, we discovered that mangrove restoration disproportionately benefits most vulnerable coastal communities. These communities often live in areas highly exposed to flooding where mangroves can thrive, making this approach particularly valuable for low- and middle-income countries where people in vulnerable communities have fewer resources to cope with disasters.
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Photo by Kristin Hoel on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Climate change is intensifying coastal flooding while simultaneously 50% of mangroves are at risk of collapse by 2050. This creates a dangerous convergence where protection from flooding is most needed just as natural coastal defenses are disappearing. Our research shows that mangrove restoration offers $44-125 billion in flood protection benefits that disproportionately help the world's lower income and vulnerable coastal populations. This comes at a pivotal moment when international frameworks are pushing for nature-based solutions and countries must decide where to invest limited resources before both climate risks and mangrove degradation worsen further.
Perspectives
What drives my research is the injustice that the world's poorest communities face the worst impacts of climate change despite contributing least to the problem. Discovering that mangrove restoration disproportionately protects these vulnerable populations gives me hope that we can address both flood risk and inequality simultaneously.
Timothy Tiggeloven
Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Mangrove restoration and coastal flood adaptation: A global perspective on the potential for hybrid coastal defenses, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2510980123.
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