International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol.15, No.4, 220-232 http://www.aquapublisher.com/index.php/ijms 220 Review and Progress Open Access Strategies for Enhancing Carbon Sequestration through Mangrove Restoration and Management Hongpeng Wang1, Haimei Wang2 1 Biotechnology Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China 2 Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China Corresponding author: haimei.wang@hitar.org International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol.15, No.4, doi: 10.5376/ijms.2025.15.0020 Received: 25 Jul., 2025 Accepted: 22 Aug., 2025 Published: 30 Aug., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Wang and Wang, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Wang H.P., and Wang H.M., 2025, Strategies for enhancing carbon sequestration through mangrove restoration and management, International Journal of Marine Science, 15(4): 220-232 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2025.15.0020) Abstract In the context of global climate change, improving the carbon sink function of ecosystems is of great significance to achieving the goal of carbon neutrality. This study starts from the ecological mechanism of mangrove carbon sink function, analyzes the characteristics of mangrove biomass and soil carbon storage and their regional differences, and explores the impact of natural conditions such as tides and salinity on carbon sink capacity; analyzes the reasons for mangrove degradation and decline in carbon sink function due to factors such as coastal development, aquaculture and logging, as well as factors such as invasive species and natural disasters, and uses the mangrove loss and carbon emissions caused by large-scale shrimp pond farming in Southeast Asia as an example to illustrate. In addition, this study proposes the importance of building a mangrove carbon sink monitoring and evaluation system, introduces the application of satellite remote sensing and drone technologies in mangrove dynamic monitoring, as well as long-term monitoring methods for indicators such as soil carbon storage and biomass, and analyzes the practical experience of the Philippines in using remote sensing to monitor mangrove carbon sinks. Research shows that the comprehensive application of the above strategies can effectively enhance the carbon sink function of mangrove ecosystems and provide nature-based solutions to respond to climate change. Finally, looking forward to the future development direction of mangrove carbon sink management and research, we call for strengthening global cooperation and policy support to give full play to the key role of mangroves in carbon sink growth and coastal ecological protection. Keywords Mangroves; Carbon sink; Ecological restoration; Carbon trading; Remote sensing monitoring 1 Introduction Climate change has become a common challenge facing mankind. How to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and enhance the carbon sink function of natural ecosystems is an important way to achieve climate stability. Carbon sink refers to the process of removing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stored in ecosystems for a long time through biological action, including the absorption and storage of carbon by ecosystems such as forests and oceans. In the global carbon cycle, healthy ecological carbon sinks can offset some anthropogenic carbon emissions and slow down the trend of climate warming. Among them, coastal blue carbon ecosystems (such as mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass beds) are considered to be the key natural solution to climate change due to their high carbon sequestration efficiency per unit area and long carbon storage time. Mangroves are woody wetland plant communities that grow in the intertidal zones of tropical and subtropical coasts. Although their global coverage is relatively small, they play a unique and important role in carbon storage and carbon sinks (Alongi, 2020). The carbon sequestration capability of mangrove ecosystems is prominent in their high productivity and long-term burial of large amounts of organic carbon. Mangrove plants can grow rapidly in a salt marsh peat environment, fixing CO₂ in the atmosphere into biomass, and feeding carbon into the soil through the desolate and root systems to form a thick silt layer. These water-saturated peat soils have low oxygen content, which slows down the decomposition of organic matter and allows a large amount of carbon to be stored for a long time. Research shows that the annual carbon sequestration of mangroves per hectare is significantly higher than that of land forests, and their carbon sink rate per unit area can reach several times that of tropical rainforests. In addition, mangroves can
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==