Natural shield against natural disasters | Wednesday

As the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season draws to a close, it is important to recognize how invaluable the natural systems, including mangrove forests, are along our coasts. Mangroves provide a kind of “nature’s solution” to mitigate severe weather events and long-term impacts associated with climate change.

Mangroves reduce the amount of water and wind energy produced during hurricanes, which helps protect human communities, including people’s homes and other critical infrastructure. They slow water flow and stabilize soil, reducing impacts on coastal areas such as erosion and flooding.

For example, according to a 2017 Nature Conservancy report, mangroves helped Collier County reduce its annual flood risk by about 25%, and the state as a whole avoided $1.5 billion in damages from Hurricane Irma. The researchers also suggested that mangroves significantly reduced damage during the destruction of Hurricane Yen in 2022.

The amount of protection that mangroves provide to inland coastal areas can depend on characteristics such as the maturity of the forest, the height of the mangroves, density (how close the trees grow to each other), the width of the forest, and how healthy the forest was before the hurricane. However, research has shown that while wider forests are more efficient, most wave energy and height are reduced in the first reaches of the forest, suggesting that even smaller systems can provide benefits.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection estimates that 600,000 acres of mangrove forests contribute to the overall health of Southwest Florida’s coastal areas. Mangrove trees help maintain water quality and clarity and thrive in salty environments because they are able to extract fresh water from saltwater sources.

The mangrove forests of southwest Florida provide a vibrant haven for creatures of all shapes and sizes. The root system of mangroves provides shelter for species such as fish and shellfish. Mangrove canopies provide habitat for wildlife such as insects and nesting shorebirds.

Although mangroves are adaptable and resilient, they are not immune to stressors such as storms and climate change, but they do protect us from them. Mangrove forests have some strategies to respond to impacts such as rising sea levels. In the right conditions, they can accumulate sediment under their roots or can move further inland to escape deepening water.

Their importance for estuarine biodiversity, protecting coastlines from storms and sequestering carbon can mitigate future climate impacts. These amazing forests are one of the economic backbones of tropical coastal regions and are essential to supporting the quality of life for people and nature, but their future is uncertain, both here in Collier County and around the world.

Human activities such as increased coastal development and changes in natural water flow have contributed to the significant decline of mangrove forests. The 2024 Global Mangrove Assessment Report, included in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Ecosystems, shows that 50% of the world’s mangrove systems are at risk of collapse.

Our job is to protect these incredible trees so they can continue to protect us. This includes conserving pre-existing forests, giving them space to migrate when possible, and supporting efforts to protect water quality and restore mangroves.

Carrie Schumann, Ph.D., is a climate resilience advisor at The Nature Conservancy of Southwest Florida. For 60 years, The Nature Conservancy of Southwest Florida has been a leading environmental organization dedicated to protecting the water, land, wildlife and future of our five-county area. The Conservancy has one of the longest continuous monitoring projects for Florida mangroves in the country.