A new report finds that mangroves provide valuable flood risk benefits and play a critical role in protecting coastal communities in Florida.
Mangroves significantly reduce annual and catastrophic damages from storms and are a strong first line of defense for coastal communities, according to a new study from researchers at UC Santa Cruz, the Nature Conservancy, and RMS. The study brought together a team of scientists from the engineering, insurance, and conservation sectors to quantify the effectiveness of mangroves in reducing flood risk to people and property.
Their report, Valuing The Flood Risk Reduction Benefits of Florida’s Mangroves, concludes that mangroves in Florida prevented $1.5 billion in direct flood damages and protected over half a million people during Hurricane Irma in 2017, reducing damages by nearly 25% in counties with mangroves. With coastal challenges created by growing populations, burgeoning development, and climate change, risks to people and property from flooding and storm surge are on the rise. Mangroves provide valuable flood protection and risk reduction benefits to these coastal areas, yet they are a threatened species.
“This work helps to identify where to invest cost effectively in habitat restoration and conservation, which is critical for building coastal resilience,” said project team leader Michael Beck, research professor of ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz.
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