Climate Change Impacts on Mangrove Forests in South Asia: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

In South Asia, mangrove forests are found along the coasts of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The region's coastal residents rely on the woods as key providers of products and services, and they also support critical ecological processes. Mangrove forests have survived long-term erosion events despite attests worldwide confirming past episodes of local and regional intervention, primarily in reaction to sudden rapid rising sea levels. The objective of this systematic literature review is to assess the impact of climate change on mangrove forests in South Asia, changes in temperature, rainfall, and increase in CO₂ concentration are also contemplated. The systematic review design was adopted for conducting this study. The articles for this review were searched through the keywords; “mangrove”, climate change” “impacts of climate change”, impacts of climate change on mangroves”, and “south Asia”. The scrutiny process was comprised of three steps. Firstly, 440 articles were identified through keyword searches. Secondly, 277 articles were removed through title analysis. Finally, 100 articles were selected for this review after a screening of the abstract and body of the paper. Through qualitative analysis and descriptive statistics, the analysis was completed. The finding reveals that the area of mangrove forests in South Asia is in the region of 1,187,476 ha which represents 8% of the total worldwide. Mangrove forests are particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise. The main reasons for the change in forest management are similar throughout the region, although specific factors may be concentrated in specific areas. All of these interact to determine the spatially variable resilience of populations to climate change impacts because mangroves vary in type and geographic location. Mangrove Southeast Asian forests account for about 6 to 8% of the world’s total and are located along the coasts of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan. These forests provide important environmental goods and services for biological ecosystems and the functioning of densely populated coastal populations. Forests are threatened by both natural and anthropogenic forces. Deforestation causes reduced freshwater runoff and reduced alluvium flow.