FOR years, mangrove forests had an image problem. They are muddy, smelly, and thought to be teeming with disease-carrying mosquitoes and parasites, as well as slithering with snakes.
They certainly aren’t the Instagrammable archetype of, say, Cameron Highland’s moss forest with its wisps of lichen, or Japan’s serene Arashiyama Bamboo Forest.
But that was before scientists discovered the plethora of ecological services that mangroves provide, such as acting as a water filtration system, as a natural coastal defence against storms and erosion, and as a habitat for marine life as well as everything from proboscis monkeys to kingfishers and white-bellied sea eagles.
And once climate change was understood, researchers realised mangroves store huge amounts of carbon.
But that early negative image might have cost mangroves the attention they needed in the earlier days of conservation, says a group of over 40 experts, and can still affect perceptions today.
Writing in a peer-reviewed article in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science in 2020, the group – which includes mangrove scientists and members of the Inter-national Union for Conservation of Nature – contends that mangrove forests have been cast in a “negative light due to their (often perceived) ecosystem disservices”, such as being habitats for dangerous animals and insects.
“Such views have contributed to the large-scale clearance and drainage of mangrove forests and their conversion to aquaculture, agriculture, or areas for infrastructure and urban development in ever more human-dominated land and seascapes”, the group asserts, pointing out that such misinformed and biased public communication has important implications for environmental management.
“Despite our improved understanding of the importance of mangrove forests and their ecosystem services, negative perceptions of these wetlands are still common,” the researchers say.
It is no surprise then that for decades, mangrove forests were one of the world’s fastest disappearing ecosystems.
This is particularly true in Malaysia, as we are one of the world’s most important mangrove countries, and home to 39 tree species – according to the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia in 2024 – in areas such as the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve in Kuala Gula, Perak, and in Sungai Pulai and Pulau Kukup in Johor.
Some of the species found in these areas include the critically endangered Bruguiera hainesii (known locally as the “eye of the crocodile”) and Sonneratia griffithii trees.
As understanding of mangrove ecosystems around the planet grew, not only was the forest type increasingly earmarked for conservation but restoration techniques evolved and improved over the years too.
Where land meets sea
According to the Natural Resources and Environment Sustainability Ministry, Malaysia currently has 586,548ha of mangroves; we have lost over 40,000ha since 2017 to, among other factors, coastal erosion and land use conversion to aquaculture and coastal infrastructure development.
Making up 3.36% of the country’s total forested area, much of the mangroves in the country are found in Sabah, Sarawak, and along the sheltered coasts of Peninsular Malaysia.
To date, more than 3,800ha of coastal areas have been successfully restored with the planting of over nine million trees, says the ministry.
Malaysia has very good mangrove forest coverage, ranking sixth in the world, as well as high mangrove species diversity, says Dr Giovanna Wolswijk from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu’s (UMT) Marine Science and Environment Faculty.
“The presence of the mangroves is very important for coastal protection, as habitat for fauna and as fish nurseries, as well as for carbon sequestration.
“Unfortunately, there has been a loss of mangroves over the past decades due mostly to coastal development, agricultural and aquaculture activities, as well as natural causes such as coastal erosion,” she says.
“Sometimes, the mangroves will still be there but they will be in stressed conditions, which leads to cryptic ecological degradation,” she explains.
Cryptic ecological degradation is hidden damage – on the surface, an ecosystem may look healthy, but important plants, animals, or natural processes have already been lost or weakened.
Wolswijk and Assoc Prof Dr Behara Satyanarayana from UMT’s Institute of Oceanography and Environment were recently awarded a grant to work with mangroves by the Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate under the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs.
The grant is a collaboration with the University of Manchester and an interdisciplinary team from Universiti Malaysia Tereng-ganu, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, University of Warwick, Cardiff University, and the Penang Inshore Fishermen Welfare Association.
The funds will go towards a project called “Revive: Just Restoration and Equitable Value Chains for Inclusive, Viable Mangrove Ecosystems: The Case of Malaysia”, which will run from July 2026 to June 2029.
The project will focus its conservation work on the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve in Perak, Sungai Acheh and Sungai Chenaam in Penang, and the Setiu Wetlands in Terengganu.
The three sites chosen for the Revive project, explains Wolswijk, all have unique characteristics.
A haven for migratory birds, the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, which spans over 40,000ha, has a long history of silviculture (ie, the development and care of forests) for charcoal production while at the Sungai Acheh and Sungai Chenaam sites, the local communities are highly involved in the protection of the mangroves, she says.
The Setiu Wetlands, meanwhile, is unique in that it is a recently gazetted state park where mangroves are protected but suffering some degradation due to a shift in the river mouth and increased sand deposition.
Planting hope
While much of conservation work for mangroves in Malaysia at the moment involves replanting – courtesy of many companies’ CSR programmes – carried out with good intentions in mind, many are not being monitored or even planned properly.
The main issue with restoration activities, says Wolswijk, is the lack of proper planning.
“There are several factors that need to be considered before considering a plantation activity: the hydrology, sediment type, and species composition in the area all need to be considered.
“Importantly, replanting activities are often not monitored properly, resulting in an unsuccessful restoration,” she says, adding that “post-restoration monitoring is also essential to ensure a successful restoration”.
Planting, according to Wolswijk, is also not always the solution as sometimes restoring the hydrology will allow mangroves to come back naturally.
One example of a good restoration scheme that Wolswijk cites is the Kertih River Mangrove Rehabilitation Project in Terengganu, which was started by the Malaysian Nature Society in 2005, as it has shown some successful mangrove growth.
“However, there are also many projects that fail, mostly due to replanting in areas that are too sandy and are not suitable for mangrove growth.
“To increase the success rate, scientific guidelines should be followed and local communities should be involved in the monitoring of the newly established mangroves,” she says.
It takes a village
The involvement of local communities, says Wolswijk, is crucial if projects are to have a long-term impact on the restoration of mangroves.
“As scientists, we can provide guidelines and tools to help local communities fully understand the value of their mangroves.
“But then we want the communities to be recognised as stewards and participate in the decision-making about and management of the mangroves,” she says.
It is for this reason that the Revive project will use an interdisciplinary approach to combine the survey of the ecological value of the mangroves in terms of blue carbon (ie, carbon stored in ocean-related habitats, including mangroves) with the socioeconomic aspects of mangrove use by local communities.
“We aim to provide some tools to the local communities for them to improve restoration efforts as well as define the value-chains related to the use of the mangroves, for example, the selling of mangrove products or ecotourism,” Wolswijk says.
The team from universities in Australia, Britain, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the United States used satellite imagery from the 1980s to 2023 to track annual changes in mangrove extent and canopy condition.
As much of this offsetting in historical decline appears to be from natural regeneration and expansion, the team says this shows that these forests are even more resilient than originally thought.
With this finding, which was highlighted by the United Nations Environment Programme, does this now make Malaysia’s mangrove forests the poster child for conservation rather than the ugly duckling?
The work continues.
