Ecuador Boosts Mangrove Protection While Mexico Reports Losses

In Ecuador, community‑led initiatives supported by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have strengthened the governance of nearly 36,000 hectares of mangroves. Between 2025 and 2026, technical assistance helped 13 local associations secure Sustainable Use and Custody Agreements for 15,163 ha of mangrove forest, and TNC worked with 28 custodial groups to improve management plans and capacity building. Elba Fiallo, TNC Ecuador’s coastal coordinator, emphasized that “conservation is more effective when communities are protagonists,” while Luis Arriaga, Subsecretary of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, noted that the agreements enable ancestral users to harvest responsibly.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio) reported a net decline of 27,622 ha of mangroves from 2020 to 2025, a 3 % reduction from 905,086 ha to 877,464 ha. The loss includes a five‑fold increase in disturbed mangrove area, rising from 9,680 ha to 52,130 ha. The most affected regions are the Yucatán Peninsula (23,000 ha) and the North Pacific coast (20,000 ha). Conabio’s executive secretary Raúl Jiménez Rosenberg clarified that the decrease reflects both actual loss and reclassification of mangroves affected by sea‑level rise and other stressors.