Where are mangrove restoration projects taking place? How many of them are successful? If they’ve failed, what happened? Finding answers to these questions isn’t easy. But those answers are critical to track how the world is working to protect a fast-degrading ecosystem. A team of researchers and conservationists have now developed a tool to streamline data related to mangrove restoration projects taking place around the world. The Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool, developed as a collaboration between the University of Cambridge, U.K., WWF and the nonprofit Global Mangrove Alliance allows other nonprofits, research organizations and conservation initiatives to track mangrove restoration projects across their lifetime while also being able to gauge if the projects are leading to positive outcomes for biodiversity as well as for local communities. “There has been lots of work done to restore mangroves across the world, but it’s very difficult to pinpoint exactly what’s been done where,” Tom Worthington, aquatic ecologist and research associate at Cambridge, told Mongabay in a video interview. “There’s a limitation when we start to think about what’s been the most cost-effective approaches and what approaches have taken into account both biophysical and socioeconomic aspects of restoration.” In a study published in the journal One Earth, the team documented how the tool collects data required to track a project’s progress from start to finish. The study also emphasizes the importance of diligently reporting the outcomes of mangrove restoration projects, even those that have failed. According to the study, “consistent and comprehensive project recording…This article was originally published on Mongabay
The post How are mangrove restoration projects doing?: Interview with Tom Worthington first appeared on EnviroLink Network.