Mangrove Ecosystems in the Face of Climate Change: Resilience, Adaptation, and Conservation Strategies

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the critical role of mangrove ecosystems in addressing climate change through their unique capacity for carbon sequestration, coastal protection, and biodiversity support. It seeks to explore strategies to enhance mangrove resilience, adaptive mechanisms, and conservation efforts in response to climate-driven threats, such as sea-level rise, temperature fluctuations, storm intensification, and habitat degradation. Key areas include the following:

Carbon dynamics: blue carbon assessment, long-term carbon storage potential, and challenges to sink permanence.

Climate impacts: effects of sea-level rise, salinity changes, and extreme weather on mangrove health and distribution.

Conservation strategies: policy frameworks (e.g., REDD+, Paris Agreement), community-led initiatives, and restoration techniques.

Ecosystem services: biodiversity conservation, coastal resilience, and socio-economic benefits for vulnerable communities.

Innovative management: adaptive governance, risk mitigation (e.g., erosion, deforestation), and integrating traditional ecological knowledge.

Expected Submissions:

We invite original research, reviews, case studies, and policy analyses addressing the following:

Quantifying mangrove carbon stocks and sequestration rates;

Successes/failures of conservation policies and community-based practices;

Restoration ecology, including species-specific resilience and reforestation methods;

Technological advances in monitoring mangrove health and carbon flux;

Interdisciplinary studies linking ecology, socio-economics, and climate modeling.

This Special Issue aims to synthesize global knowledge to inform actionable solutions for safeguarding mangroves as vital climate buffers and biodiversity hubs. Submissions from diverse geographical contexts, particularly vulnerable regions, are encouraged.

Dr. Xiaoxue Shen
Dr. Shuguang Xie
Dr. Mingming Jia
Dr. Chunhua Yan
Guest Editors

Dr. Xueqin Gao
Dr. Ping Li
Guest Editor Assistants

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.