The Problem:
There is growing public awareness on the importance of coastal ecosystems, and the role climate change is playing in adversely affecting them. From images of bleached coral reefs, to destroyed mangrove trees and eroded shorelines, there is a large amount of scientific research, and an increased attention to these problems, worldwide. There is also action being taken to conserve these ecosystems by organizations both large and small. Recent natural disasters around the world have highlighted the significance of coastal ecosystems in reducing impacts from wind, waves, and flooding.
However there is a lack of three fundamental things: interconnectedness between the research and tools, an overview of how other human activities link up to coastal degradation, and how activities carried out in one ecosystem can affect another one. Focusing on a single ecosystem as a remedy for coastal erosion, sea level rise, or storm protection is not a sustainable or efficient method in coastal environmentalism.
There is also a need for systematic way to find out the status of coastal ecosystems, or those in other regions, and understand the number of factors which might cause them to degrade. Often coastal shoreline maps are presented without any context of why there might be hot-spots or vulnerability, and if there are conservation efforts currently underway.
Coral reefs, seagrass, and mangroves have the ability to provide greater protection from sea-level rise or storm conditions than any other combinations of one or two habitats (Guannel, Arkema, Ruggiero, & Verutes, 2016). They are also naturally interconnected- mangrove roots often provide shelter for corals to grow, and seagrass beds filter water sediments and silt that could affect reefs, and all three are connected through their capability to maintain the shoreline. There is a lack of comprehensive and systematic data on all three of these ecosystems and their linkages to each other. It is also important to map these ecosystems because there cannot be a one-size-fits all solution- mangroves in SE Asia are of a different variety and face different threats than mangroves in Mexico.
The Solution:
The Regrove Map is a digital platform which graphically represents these three coastal ecosystems through an interactive map. It allows a person, or an organization, interested in these coastal ecosystems to use this tool to understand where vulnerable and healthy coastal ecosystems are, the reasons behind why some are being degraded or weakened, and resources to learn more and/or help. It focuses on coastal regions where mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass beds exist in combination. The Regrove Map also:
- Identifies vulnerable mangrove, coral, or seagrass ecosystems. Factors to calculate this vulnerability include overfishing, ocean temperature change, pollution, and/or other activities which harm the environment
- Marks nearby manufacturing, and industrial or treatment plants
- Tags areas of these ecosystems that have been converted into land for aquaculture (including abandoned shrimp ponds), cattle, agriculture, or other development
- Contains information on ongoing efforts to conserve, rehabilitate, or restore the ecosystem(s) in each coastal area selected, and identifies areas in need
