Mangrove Ecosystems: Their Value and Benefits in Central America Central America is known for being one of the most culturally and environmentally diverse regions in the world. The area also serves as a home for many mangrove forests. These plants are invaluable as they provide countless economic and environmental benefits. However, mangroves also face a multitude of natural and anthropogenic threats. These threats jeopardize mangrove ecosystems as well as the benefits that they provide. This paper will investigate: What environmental and economic impacts do mangroves have in Central America? How they have changed over time? Why is it important to evaluate these factors? GIS data, remotely sensed imagery from NASA, and well-established scientific analyses were used to answer these questions. First, remotely sensed imagery and analysis techniques were used to determine the area of mangroves present in each Central American country. Then Ashournejad’s (2019) evaluation of the monetary worth of ecosystem services that mangroves provide was used alongside data gathered from the imagery to dictate the fiscal value of mangroves present in Central America. Additionally, scientific information regarding how much Carbon is sequestered per hectare of mangrove forest present was gathered. It was consolidated with the data of mangrove coverage gathered earlier to calculate the amount of Carbon mangroves in Central America sequester. It concluded that the total area of mangroves present in Central America is 381,982.3731 ha, making the monetary value of Central American mangroves $28,546,837,662.00781, and they have the ability to sequester 20,865,193.404 tons of Carbon. This paper breaks down the values by country. Unsurprisingly, there was a direct correlation between mangrove area, monetary value, and Carbon sequestration abilities. In the future, this type of analysis can be conducted on a global scale to see the worldwide impact that mangrove ecosystems have on our planet.
Author: Carlie Klapper
Faculty Advisor: Marcia England, Geography
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