Integrated and Adaptive Mangrove Management Framework — an Action Oriented Option for the New Millennium

Abstract

Mangrove losses have been occurring at an alarming rate despite general acceptance of the role that mangroves play in maintaining the productivity of the coastal ecosystem, and despite many concerted efforts to curb the destruction. It is generally accepted that mangrove ecosystems are highly productive, dynamic and complex. They provide four types of ecological services — (i) converting solar energy, nutrients and water through primary and secondary productivity processes and food chain interactions into fauna and flora; (ii) providing physical habitat and refuge for various fishes and non-fishes at different stages of their life cycle; (iii) storing and filtering sediment and nutrients, recycling nutrients and maintaining the quality of the aquatic system; and (iv) maintaining the biological order in the system (Hamilton and Snedaker 1984; Twilley et al. 1993; Gilbert and Janssen 1998; Costanza et al. 1997).