Mangroves, wooded areas that develop in lagoons and estuaries near the coast, where fresh and salty waters converge, form one of the most complex and diverse transition ecosystems on the planet. Now, an international team of researchers belonging to different scientific institutions warns in the journal Nature that a good part of those that grow in the Indo-Pacific region, which is home to most of them, could disappear by 2070 , as a result of the increase in the level. from sea.
According to these experts, even though this is slight – most climate models suggest that this rise will take place to a greater or lesser degree, but inevitably, over the next few decades – almost all mangroves in Thailand, Sumatra, Java, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands will be submerged.
In this sense, ecologists point out that the same phenomenon will negatively affect the communities that live in its vicinity, which could be forced to abandon their settlements, and the quality of the coast in general, since the mangroves contribute to protecting it. However, sediment build-up and preservation measures could safeguard those found in East Africa , the Bay of Bengal, northwestern Australia and eastern Borneo.
