In less than one human lifetime, some of the planet’s richest and most vital coastal habitats could disappear. Sea-level rise is expected to flood and drown the mangrove forests of much of the Indo-Pacific.
These subtropical and tropical intertidal forests – home to huge varieties of fish, birds and insects, and natural buffers that protect coasts and estuaries during tropical cyclones – are at risk even if sea level rise is at the bottom of the predicted range, according to Catherine Lovelock, an ecologist at the University of Queensland.