Mangroves to the rescue

By giving nature the space to recover, these ‘forests of the sea’ can continue to shelter coastal communities and thrive alongside them for generations to come

Mangrove forests are distributed along tropical and subtropical shores. Though they occupy only a small fraction of the world’s total coastal zone, they have long served as natural guardians of coastal communities, buffering the effects of typhoons while sustaining abundant fisheries.

For many Chinese people who grew up beside mangroves before the 1970s, childhood was inseparable from these forests. They followed their parents into the mangroves to catch shrimp and crabs or gather clams from the tidal flats. They walked narrow stone paths winding through the forests from one village to the next, often trailing behind their mothers. Looking up, they watched the mangrove branches sway in the sea breeze; looking down, they saw fiddler crabs scurrying across the mud at their feet. Those memories remain vivid to this day.

But this began to change in the mid-1970s. As population growth intensified shortages of food and salt, many mangrove forests were cut down to make way for rice paddies and salt pans. In Sanjiang township of Hainan province alone, around 800 hectares of mangroves were felled between 1975 and 1976. The destruction accelerated in the late 1980s and early 1990s as booming coastal aquaculture drove the widespread conversion of mangrove wetlands into fish farms.

The Chinese government, however, did not stand idly by as the losses mounted. Systematic mangrove restoration began in the 1980s, alongside the establishment of the Dongzhaigang National Nature Reserve in Hainan in 1980. More protected areas were later established across the country. In 1998, Hainan became the first province to introduce regulations on the protection of mangroves, effectively bringing the widespread mangrove clearance under control.

Protecting mangroves has never been solely a challenge for China. It is a global imperative. In 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization designated July 26 as the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, often referred to as World Mangrove Day. Since then, the occasion has evolved from a symbolic commemoration to an opportunity for countries to reaffirm the ecological value of mangroves and strengthen the collective commitment to protecting them.

In China, over a decade of sustained investment and restoration efforts have steadily revived mangrove ecosystems that had once been lost to fish farms.

Since 2016, China has funded mangrove restoration through major programs such as the Blue Bay environmental improvement initiative and the coastal zone protection and restoration project. A key milestone was the Mangrove Protection and Restoration Action Plan (2020-25), under which about 18,800 hectares of mangroves have been restored through measures such as converting fish farms back into forests, recovering degraded habitats and strengthening long-term monitoring and management.

According to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, by February 2025, China’s mangrove coverage had reached 30,300 hectares, increasing approximately 8,300 hectares from what it was at the start of the century.

Restoring mangroves is a complex, long-term process that requires scientific research, the removal of fish farms, the reshaping of tidal flats, seedling cultivation and planting, and years of monitoring and maintenance. In the Xiaohai coastal lagoon in Wanning, Hainan province, the restoration of mangroves has involved investment in removing aquaculture ponds, dredging waterways and rehabilitating tidal flats since 2019. Similar progress has been made in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Guangdong and Fujian provinces. Across China, mangrove forests once in decline are making a remarkable comeback.

At the opening of the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 2022, China announced plans to establish the International Mangrove Center in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, marking China’s transition from a participant in global conservation to a leading contributor. In July 2025, the center was officially endorsed as a Ramsar Regional Initiative for the 2026-28 period.

Operating as an independent, nonprofit intergovernmental organization under the Ramsar Convention, the International Mangrove Center, with 21 signatory countries as of June 2026, aims to promote international cooperation in mangrove conservation, restoration and sustainable use.

In 2025, the center organized a series of international training programs for government officials and experts from countries including Cambodia and Madagascar, sharing China’s experience in mangrove restoration. Later that year, the China Meteorological Administration released a sectoral standard for estimating carbon stocks and assessing carbon emissions in mangrove and salt marsh wetlands, providing a scientific framework for measuring mangrove carbon sequestration.

Together, these initiatives demonstrate that China is not only restoring its own mangrove ecosystems but also contributing knowledge, technology and standards to global conservation efforts.

Going forward, mangrove restoration should place greater emphasis on ecosystem quality rather than simply expanding forest cover. This means maintaining an appropriate balance among mangrove forests, tidal flats and open water, preserving the ecological function of tidal channels, and restoring benthic biodiversity.

Encouragingly, mangroves are remarkably resilient. Once major disturbance factors are removed, many degraded ecosystems can recover naturally, with carefully targeted intervention helping to accelerate the process where needed.

It is also important to explore sustainable integrated mangrove aquaculture models to balance the needs for environmental recovery and economic development. By reconnecting mangrove forests with the livelihoods of coastal communities, we can help restore a landscape where people once again share winding mangrove paths with crabs and other wildlife.

By giving nature the space to recover, mangroves, the “forests of the sea”, can continue to shelter coastal communities and thrive alongside them for generations to come.

Yang Xiaobo is a professor at School of Ecology and Environment at Hainan University.  Lyu Xiaobo is an assistant research fellow at the Hainan Academy of Forestry (Hainan Academy of Mangroves). 

The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.