China's Agricultural Science Field Once Again Publishes In Science.

The academician team has made new progress in mangrove research.
The team led by Academician Yang Zhifeng of the Guangzhou Marine Laboratory has made progress in mangrove restoration in China. The relevant results were published in Science under the title "Mangrove restoration in China's tidal ecosystems". The first affiliation of this paper is the Guangzhou Marine Laboratory. The first author is Researcher Ouyang Xiaoguang of the Guangzhou Marine Laboratory. The collaborating institutions include Guangdong University of Technology and The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Mangroves are coastal ecosystems that provide important ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and storage, carbon and alkalinity export, biodiversity maintenance, and coastal protection. Due to human interference (such as land reclamation), China lost 60% of its mangroves between 1973 and 2000. Although restoration efforts were implemented between 2000 and 2015, the current mangrove area is only 45.9% of that in 1973. In 2020, China launched the "Special Action Plan for Mangrove Protection and Restoration (2020‒2025)", aiming to increase the area of mangrove restoration in China. However, this plan focuses on expanding the area of mangroves in China by planting mangroves in non-forest ecosystems, which is similar to inappropriate restoration work in Africa. Like in Africa, planting trees in non-forest landscapes in China threatens ecosystems and undermines restoration goals. China plans to plant 9,750 hectares of mangroves in tidal flats, tidal creeks and other habitats, equivalent to 43.5% of China's current mangrove area. Many of these mangrove afforestation projects have been implemented. For example, 3,550 mu of mangroves have been planted on the tidal flats of Fuding. Transforming tidal flats and tidal creeks into mangroves fails to take into account the importance of tidal ecosystems. Waterbirds spend more than 70% of their foraging time on tidal flats. Migratory birds rely on tidal flats as stopover and wintering habitats. Tidal creeks transmit water, nutrients and sediments between tidal wetlands and open waters and help alleviate the death of wetland plants. Tidal creeks also help mangroves and other coastal wetlands migrate inland as sea levels rise.

According to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, coastal ecosystems should be effectively restored to enhance biodiversity, ecological integrity and connectivity. Increasing the area of mangroves at the expense of non-forest ecosystems is unsustainable. This study suggests that China should give priority to mangrove ecological restoration in reclaimed mangrove aquaculture ponds. Tidal creeks should be preserved and seawalls that hinder migration inland should not be built behind mangroves. It is recommended that China improve its mangrove restoration plan to ensure that it is practical, proactive and responsive to global biodiversity conservation initiatives. The above research is funded by key projects and general projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.