Coastal ecosystems News

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A mother and baby chimpanzee in the mangroves of Conkouati-Douli National Park.

Protected parks in peril as Republic of Congo ramps up oil drilling

Elodie Toto 7 May 2025
Woman farming seaweed at Pemba Island, Tanzania

Building a future from seaweed in coastal Tanzania

Lucia Torres 1 May 2025
Split shot in the waters of San Benedicto, Mexico. Credit: Enric Sala/National Geographic Pristine Seas

Protecting coastal waters may be the best investment you’ve never heard of, says Kristin Rechberger

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Apr 2025
Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae).

‘We belong to one ocean’: Indigenous leaders push for seat at the table of high seas biodiversity treaty

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 29 Apr 2025
Why are the British flooding parts of their coast? Once farmland protected by flood defenses, Steart Marshes in southwest England now thrives as a restored salt marsh. As the defences weakened, the land became increasingly vulnerable to flooding. Instead of rebuilding defenses, conservationists, the government and local communities made a bold choice to let the sea reclaim the landscape. Just over 10 years ago the sea wall was breached, allowing the sea to take over the land, transforming the area into a vital wetland habitat. Salt marshes, which have declined by 85% in the U.K. since the 19th century, play a crucial role in coastal ecosystems. They provide shelter for wetland wildlife, act as natural flood defenses by absorbing storm surges, stabilize coastlines against erosion, and store carbon to help combat climate change. Managed by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Steart Marshes now provides a model for future restoration projects, proving that working with nature can protect communities while rebuilding lost habitats.

England’s flooded farmlands offer habitat, carbon storage & storm protection

Mongabay.com 29 Apr 2025
The 14 women who make up Las Chelemeras.

‘It has been worth it’: The local women saving Yucatán’s mangroves

Astrid Arellano 25 Apr 2025
Ahmed Albaaj of the U.N. World Food Programme planting a mangrove in Basra.

Mangroves mount a fragile green revival in Iraq’s toxic south

Robert Bociaga 21 Apr 2025

Award-winning film highlights lasting damage from X-Press Pearl disaster in Sri Lanka

Malaka Rodrigo 11 Apr 2025
Dugong in Thailand

Dugong numbers plummet amid seagrass decline in Thailand’s Andaman Sea

Carolyn Cowan 10 Apr 2025

As Acapulco’s mangroves disappear, Mexico takes strides to protect its coastal forests

Gonzalo Ortuño López 8 Apr 2025
Beach morning glory in Texas.

Bangladesh witnesses coastal erosion, salinization as tourism crushes a flowering creeper

Khadijatul Kobra 8 Apr 2025
The families of fishers gather on Jan. 3 for a communal meal provided by the Talara Fishermen’s Guild.

Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill

Miguel Ángel Valero, Sandra Incio 2 Apr 2025
mangrove conservation

Colombia’s women clam collectors protect Pacific mangroves and mollusks

Catherine Ellis 1 Apr 2025
A fisherman repairs his boat on a beach in Soomar Goth, Karachi.

In Pakistan, sea level rise & displacement follow fisherfolk wherever they go

Waqas Alam Angaria 28 Mar 2025
Why are the British flooding parts of their coast? Once farmland protected by flood defenses, Steart Marshes in southwest England now thrives as a restored salt marsh. As the defences weakened, the land became increasingly vulnerable to flooding. Instead of rebuilding defenses, conservationists, the government and local communities made a bold choice to let the sea reclaim the landscape. Just over 10 years ago the sea wall was breached, allowing the sea to take over the land, transforming the area into a vital wetland habitat. Salt marshes, which have declined by 85% in the U.K. since the 19th century, play a crucial role in coastal ecosystems. They provide shelter for wetland wildlife, act as natural flood defenses by absorbing storm surges, stabilize coastlines against erosion, and store carbon to help combat climate change. Managed by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Steart Marshes now provides a model for future restoration projects, proving that working with nature can protect communities while rebuilding lost habitats.

Why are the British flooding parts of their coast?

Leo Plunkett, Sandy Watt 19 Mar 2025

Planned port project threatens protected Amazonian mangrove biodiversity and local livelihoods

Aimee Gabay 19 Mar 2025

Sri Lanka communities left gasping for climate mitigation support

Sahana David Menon 18 Mar 2025
Construction on the Airport of the Pacific. Photo courtesy of Casa Presidencial/X.

Mangroves at risk as El Salvador begins work on new airport

Maxwell Radwin 6 Mar 2025
Blue and gold fusilier fish above a seagrass meadow, Desroches Atoll, Seychelles. Image courtesy of Seychelles Seagrass Mapping and Carbon Assessment project.

From Kenya to Madagascar, massive effort aims to put seagrasses on the map

Malavika Vyawahare 4 Mar 2025

Illegal sea fence displaces fishers and sparks land scandal near Jakarta

Irfan Maulana, M Ambari 3 Mar 2025
A researcher notes biomass measurements in a mangrove forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Image by Kate Evans/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Mangrove deforestation for commodities limits conservation funding in SE Asia

Carolyn Cowan 25 Feb 2025
Researchers examine a dead olive ridley at Cox's Bazar Beach.

Conservationists suspect fishing nets, increased tourism for sea turtle deaths in Bangladesh

Abu Siddique 24 Feb 2025

Illegal seabed dredging surges as Indonesia resumes sand exports

M Ambari, Yogi Eka Sahputra 20 Feb 2025
Peatland forest in Central Kalimantan.

Protecting peatlands and mangroves could halve Southeast Asia’s land-use emissions

Hans Nicholas Jong 18 Feb 2025
Bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) in California.

The world’s kelp needs help — less than 2% is highly protected

Alexandra Talty 7 Feb 2025
Common pochard (Aythya ferina) photographed in Pakistan.

Better government policies could help as migratory birds lose habitat in Bangladesh

Pinky Akter 5 Feb 2025
The El Bosque community in Mexico’s Tabasco region has been swallowed up by the sea. Image by Juan Manuel Orozco.

Mexican fishers relocate in wake of sea level rise, raising job concerns

Aimee Gabay 3 Feb 2025
A mangrove pitta

How to tell if mangrove restoration is working? Listen to the birds

Carolyn Cowan 3 Feb 2025
Fishers from the community of Iguaiba, in the Alcântara Quilombo. About 2,000 people are at risk of losing their homes near the coast, as happened with other communities in the 1980s, so the FAB can carry out its plans. Image courtesy of Ana Mendes/Imagens Humanas.

Rail and port project in Amazon wetland stirs angst among Quilombola fishers

Aimee Gabay 30 Jan 2025
An oilfield location in Muanda early in the morning.

DRC orders environmental, operational audits of oil company Perenco

Shreya Dasgupta 28 Jan 2025
Mangrove restoration, Jiquilisco Bay, El Salvador. Image courtesy of Mangrove Action Project.

Lessons from successful mangrove forest restoration in El Salvador (analysis)

Alfredo Quarto 27 Jan 2025

In Panama, major port construction begins at key mangrove site

Maxwell Radwin 23 Jan 2025

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