Mangrove Restoration in the Americas: Local Solutions

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Mangrove Restoration in the Americas Local
Solutions

• Adrián Ruiz Carvajal
• Ramsar Secretariat
• ITMEMS, Cozumel, 15-20 October, 2006

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Overview
A general overview based on experiences in the
Neotropics Mexico

• Introduction
• Why Restore Mangroves?
• Main Threats
• The Restoration
• Planning
• Implementation
• Costs
• III. Lessons Learned
• IV. What is Ramsar doing?

More info at http//www.ramsar.org/types_mangrove
s.htm
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Why Restore Mangroves?even if they are never
likely to regain their original state

• The value of restored mangroves still largely
  exceeds that of degraded ones, even if it
  typically remains below that of unaltered
  mangroves (at least in the short medium terms)

Source MEA, Ecosystems and Human Well-Being
Wetlands and Water (Synthesis),
p.32-33http//www.millenniumassessment.org
A thorough list of wetland valuation methods is
available at http//www.ramsar.org/lib/lib_valuat
ion_e.pdf
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Main Threats to Mangroves

• Involuntary
• Extreme weather events natural disasters
• Deliberate
• Aquaculture (especially shrimp farming)
• Pollution
• Biomass extraction
• Infrastructure (roads, dykes)
• Mining
• Agriculture cattle ranching
• Illegal extraction of resources (e.g. logging,
  poaching)
• Urban expansion
• Drivers
• Information deficiencies, distortions leading to
  uncertainty in property rights (land)
• Inadequate valuation of wetlands perverse
  subsidies promoting on short-term revenues
• Lack of holisitc management policies for
  wetlands and competing activities
• Lack of alternative sources of income to improve
  livelihoods (poverty reduction)
• Centralized decision making

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II. The Restoration

• The Ramsar Restoration Mini-Web site
  http//www.ramsar.org/strp/strp_rest_index.htm

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Basic Approaches to Restoration

• Natural Regeneration
• Advantages
• Cheaper
• Less labour/equipment
• Seed sources usually known
• Better early root development
• Less soil disturbance
• Disadvantages
• Less control over distribution
• Risk of seed tree loss
• Regeneration delays and failures possible
• Greater need for spacing (thinning)
• Improved stock difficult to introduce

• Assisted (artificial) Restoration
• Advantages
• Applicable in severely degraded areas
• Only realistic option in large open areas or
  areas without native mangroves
• Can be used to enhance natural regeneration
• Higher yields
• Appropriation through involvement
• Can respond to desired aesthetic needs
• Disadvantages
• Labor cost intensive
• Easier to make mistakes at various stages
• Frequent monitoring needed
• Symmetric layout of plantations less effective in
  mitigating natural disasters
• Less bio genetic diversity

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Buttonwood regeneration at Mankoté Mangrove, St.
Lucia. Project WFF/99/LCA/1
Preliminary considerations

• The local context
• Think at the catchment level
• Understand the social,
• economic political context
• Assess the damage and find
• out the root causes (drivers)
• Secure political commitment
• Engage the community, private sector and other
  users
• Secure appropriate budget know-how
• Incorporate income-generation alternatives into
  solutions

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Planning the Intervention

• Carry out a Preplanting Survey to gather relevant
  information
• Hydrology tide, water composition, salinity,
  dynamics
• Geomorphology coastal structure, sediments /
  substrates
• Climate precipitation, temperature, seasonality
• Ecosystem biodiversity, local adptations
• Understand the mangrove ecosystem
• Mangrove species, succession distribution
• Stressors Resilience
• Synergies with other species
• Network with relevant stakeholders
• Authorities, local communities, users, academic
  institutions
• Establish clear, measurable realistic goals
• Biological trees / area, functions to be
  restored, values, productivity
• Managerial establish outputs, identify
  beneficiaries, set deadlines, allocate resources
  and assign individual responsibilities

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Implementation Part I

• Removing Stressors
• If the area contained mangroves before, determine
  
• cause of loss
• Remove or significantly reduce stressor
• Naturally blank areas may not lend themselves
• to sustain mangroves
• Selection Preparation of the site
• Remove dead vegetation weeds (e.g. Acrostichum
  ferns)
• Restore salt/brackish water flows by constructing
  shallow irrigation canals
• Soil conditioning address excessive soil acidity
  or salinity, flush to remove chemicals
• Adjust soil elevation to allow frequent flooding
  with limited wave action (stagnant water tends to
  overheat)
• Species Selection Implications
• Select species based on the dominant species of
  nearby locations
• Plant each species within its tidal and flooding
  tolerance range
• R. mangle often preferred due to ease of handling
  and cost, but is not suitable for soil salinities
  above 55
• Consider that monospecific plantations tend to
  diversify over time

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Implementation Part II

• Collection of seeds propagules
• Verify the seasonality of propagule production
  (e.g. annually for Rhizophoras, but time of year
  varies)
• Local mangleros can be contracted to collect
  desired species
• Select only ripe, healthy, normal size propagules
  (collect material from mangroves with desirable
  traits)
• Keep collected propagules wet and cool (collected
  material can be stored for weeks or even months)
• Nursery operations
• For species with small seeds a tree nursery for
  seedlings is recommended (e.g. Avicennia,
  Laguncularia, Heriteiera)
• Rhizophora propagules can be transplanted
  immediately, but previous development of a root
  system in a nursery increases survival rates

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Implementation Part III

• Planting density distribution
• Spacing is usually 0.5 - 2m depending on species
  location. The goal is to reduce early
  competition
• Plant seedlings propagules 5-7 cm deep leave
  seeds on the surface
• Choose suitably sheltered locations. If the
  likelihood of dispersal is high plant small trees
  instead (5 years old)
• Root-ball transplanting techniques generally
  yield higher survival rates than soil-free ones
• Survival Rates
• Anticipate approx. survival rates of 50, 30 and
  10 for years 1-10, 11-20 and 21-30
• Seed / propagule dispersal is a constant risk
• Planting on poor substrates yields weak trees
• Refill as necessary during the first years
• Thinning?
• Happens spontaneously, but can delay maturity of
  surviving trees due to competition
• Used to clear space for remaining trees to
  develop more fully (ca. 7,000 trees/ha.)
• Can be repeated a second time after a few years
  (ca. 3,000 trees/ha.)
• Avicennia and Laguncularia are more tolerant to
  pruning than Rhizophora

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Approximate Costs

• Various mangrove restoration projects in Colombia
  (2004) found the following average costs for the
  plantation
• 1 USD covers the approximate costs of either
• For the Tree Nursery
• 90 seeds seedlings collected, fertilized and
  planted OR
• For Maintenance
• 110 seedlings maintained, watered and re-filled
  as needed OR
• For Planting
• 51 seedlings or small trees transplanted in the
  field, including preparation of the site OR
• Other (transport, administration, etc.)
• 29 seedlings overall transport and
  administration
• 13 if an incentive of 5 cents is given for each
  successfully planted mangrove
• Overall the planting of each seedling costs
  approx. 0.12 USD

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III. Lessons Learned

• Plan carefully before initiating activities
  understand the mangrove and its surrounding
  context
• Secure long-term commitment from key stakeholders
• Set realistic (but meaningful) goals
• Engage all relevant sectors
• Incorporate income-generation alternatives into
  solutions (especially in zonation management
  plans)
• Be flexible in your approach (adaptive management)

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IV. What is Ramsar doing?

• Ramsar support for mangrove-related projects
• 38 projects from the Wetlands for the Future Fund
  (Americas only), of which 11 in Ramsar sites
• 25 projects in the Small Grants Fund (All
  regions)
• Topics include
• Participatory restoration
• Development of participatory management plans
• Monitoring
• Public education
• The complete project list is available at
  http//www.ramsar.org/types_mangroves.htmlist

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Thank you!
Questions?