STORY HIGHLIGHTS The Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) is an online platform that provides remote sensing data for the real- time monitoring of mangroves. The JAXA radar can see through clouds that often persist in coastal regions and collect data from every mangrove region once a week. The GMW platform and alerts ensure that data on mangrove destruction is available to decision makers.
WATCHING MANGROVES FROM SPACE - AND PROTECTING THEM ON THE GROUND
By Fred Pearce
A Japanese satellite sensor circling the planet picked up an unexpected change in the mangrove forests amid the coastal creeks of the small West African state of Guinea-Bissau. About 300 hectares of the country’s extensive mangrove swamps in the Safim area close to the capital Bissau showed up as a giant red blotch on the processed satellite images. The mangroves were being rapidly removed. Back at Wetlands International global office in the Netherlands, they scanned the data and contacted Joaozinho Sa, the head of our Guinea-Bissau operation. His team immediately set off to investigate – taking pictures, talking to local communities, and bringing back information to share with the government’s Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP) to initiate a possible law-and-order response.
Satellite imaging of the Rufiji Delta from the Global Mangrove Watch.
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Wetlands International Annual Review 2020
Wetlands International Annual Review 2020
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