National Monitoring of Mangroves has Outpaced their Integration into Climate Policy

Purpose of Review Ambitious global targets for mangrove conservation have advanced rapidly in recent years, yet little is known about whether systems are in place to effectively track progress towards these targets. In particular, we lack understanding of national capacities for monitoring changes in mangrove extent and condition and how they interact with national climate policy. This review addresses this gap by characterizing national capacities for monitoring mangroves in the top 35 mangrove-holding countries (ranked by mangrove extent; representing ~ 95% of global mangrove cover) and situates them within key climate mitigation policy and frameworks under the Paris Agreement. Recent Findings Our review shows both progress and gaps in monitoring capacities for mangroves over the last twenty years. In particular, many countries now have strong capacities to autonomously use remote sensing approaches that track changes in mangrove extent; however, integration of mangroves into field-based systematic forest inventories (e.g., NFIs) was less common. We did not find that countries with greater integration of mangroves into climate policy had stronger monitoring capacities. Instead, we observed that many countries with strong monitoring capacities lack commensurate policy ambition, suggesting opportunities for expanded commitments for mangrove conservation. Summary Effective monitoring is foundational to tracking progress towards commitments for mangrove conservation. Our results suggest that although many countries have improved their monitoring capacities over recent decades, much work remains to be done in some regions and approaches (e.g., field-based inventories). Our findings show where targeted investment, better data standards, and stronger links between monitoring and policy could help achieve commitments to conserve these critically important ecosystems.