IUCN Red List of Ecosystems. Mangroves of the Sahelian

Kolawolé Valère Salako, Sean G. MCGregor, Ena Suarez

Mangroves of the Sahelian is a regional ecosystem subgroup (level 4 unit of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology). It includes the marine ecoregions of Gulf of Guinea West and the Sahelian Upwelling. The Sahelian mangrove province had a mapped extent of 1883.0 km2 in 2020, representing 1.3% of the global mangrove area. The biota is characterised by 6 species of true mangroves and many mangrove-associated taxa.

Although the province’s mangroves provide several key ecosystem services they have undergone drastic reduction in their natural range. The mangroves of the Sahelian are threatened by logging for fuel and charcoal production, conversion for agriculture or aquaculture, and industrial, urban, and tourism development. They are also threatened by climate change, and especially sea-level rise.

Today, the net area change of the Sahelian mangroves has been 1.2% since 2007. If this trend continues an overall change of -5% is projected over the next 50 years. Furthermore, under a high sea level rise scenario (IPCC RCP8.5) ≈-22.4% of the Sahelian mangroves would be submerged by 2060. Moreover, 0.13% of the province’s mangrove ecosystem is undergoing degradation, with the potential to increase to 0.38% within a 50-year period, based on a vegetation index decay analysis. Overall, the Sahelian mangrove ecosystem is assessed as Least Concern (LC).