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KNOWLEDGE BASE

East African and Indian Ocean mangroves

Mozambique, Madagascar and Tanzania hold the largest areas; Kenya's Lamu is the biggest stand north of Tanzania.

Eastern Africa in Atlas (which includes the Indian Ocean islands) has about 759,000 hectares across 10 countries.

Main areas

  • Mozambique (~311,000 ha): the Zambezi delta and Sofala coast, plus the north near the Quirimbas.
  • Madagascar (~268,000 ha): mostly on the west coast around Mahajanga and Mahajamba, with important stands in Menabe.
  • Tanzania (~113,000 ha): the Rufiji delta, the largest single mangrove block in East Africa, plus Tanga and Mtwara.
  • Kenya (~53,000 ha): about 60% in the Lamu archipelago, the rest around Tana River, Kilifi, Mombasa and Kwale.
  • Smaller: Somalia, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, Djibouti, Eritrea.

Trend. Taken together the loaded countries show a net loss since 1996 of a few percent, with Mozambique and Madagascar losing and Kenya slightly gaining.

Local detail. Atlas adds detailed species-formation, field-survey, restoration and sea-turtle layers for Lamu and Kenya's coast, and boundaries and forest layers for Tanzania from WWF Kenya Sources.

Limits. Country shares quoted are approximate and based on local knowledge of where mangroves occur; the precise figures are on the Mangrove Change page.

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