Can Sustainable Development Save Mangroves?

The Earth is warming, ecosystems are being overexploited, oceans are being polluted, and thousands of species are going extinct-all fueled by the need for a permanent increase in production for more consumerism and development. Business as usual continues untouched, while increasing attention has been given to the sustainable development concept. Despite their importance as life supporting ecosystems, forests, oceans, and wetlands are being destroyed at an accelerating rate. The conservation and restoration of mangroves, for example, are also vital for the planet to face catastrophic global warming. Based on a non-systematic literature review, we address how true mangrove conservation is incompatible with so-called sustainable development. We turn to the urgent changes needed to avoid environmental and societal collapse, promoted by the Western economic development paradigm, and address why the sustainable development approach has failed to stop environmental degradation and protect resources for next generations. Proposed solutions involve the rejection of the capital-oriented, nature-predatory systems, degrowth, a deep transformation of our energy matrix, and a shift in our nutrition to lower levels of the food chain. These are based on a profound sense of responsibility over the planet, respecting all life forms, ecosystem dynamics, and life sustaining properties of the biosphere.

Automated summary

The Earth is facing issues such as global warming, overexploitation of ecosystems, species extinction, and pollution due to the increasing need for production, consumerism, and development. Although the concept of sustainable development has gained attention, forests, oceans, and wetlands, which are crucial ecosystems, are being destroyed at an alarming rate. This article discusses the incompatibility of true mangrove conservation with the concept of sustainable development and proposes solutions such as rejecting capital-oriented systems, reducing economic growth, transforming the energy matrix, and shifting to a lower level of the food chain.