Threats & Conservation - To Mangroves

The principal threat to mangrove habitats is outright removal and destruction.  Especially in areas near Belize City, Ambergris Caye, Placencia, Caye Caulker and other coastal island locations undergoing rapid development, where mangroves are being removed completely for development purposes, principally residential subdivisions and resorts.  This represents not only a total loss for the organism depending upon the habitat.  It is also a loss to:


The fisheries industry, which depends upon mangroves for production of young lobsters and scalefish.

The tourism industry, which depends upon mangroves for production of decorative organisms that grow up and populate coral reefs with beautiful life, and also in themselves provide tourists with an interesting and rich experience.

The local people themselves who, are faced with beach losses following mangrove deforestation, who then much resort to expensive fill and sea walls to restore their beaches. Beach losses from Hurricane Mitch at South Water Caye were very substantial, showing that a seawall and sand fill are not equal to the original mangrove-protected shoreline.

These effects can be forestalled by trimming mangroves-that is, leaving roots and canopy while removing some of the dense foliage in the middle to allow the breeze to penetrate.  The law allows 25% of foliage to be trimmed away in this fashion.

Although mangroves are detritus-based systems, nature is limited in the amount of excessive nutrients, toxic materials and other pollutants that they can process in a given amount of time.  Overloading mangrove systems by dumping large amounts of waste, spills an other materials, is another way to degrade or destroy the mangrove system.  To forestall this, appropriate waste management and proper handling of fuel and other toxic materials in the cayes and coastal zones is essential.

Countrywide, about 20% of mainland mangroves are under some form of protection, while less than 1% of those on cayes have protected status.

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