On the northern coast of Gabon, the rumble of chainsaws has now joined the usual buzz of insects in the mangrove forests fronting the Atlantic. The chainsaws are just one sign of increased human encroachment into undeveloped areas near the country’s capital, Libreville, leading to calls for conservation action as the importance of Gabon’s mangroves has come into sharper focus.
“Gabon’s mangrove trees are really critical forest biomass because the mangroves store so much carbon,” says Liza Goldberg, a NASA Goddard Flight Center researcher. In the past decade, scientists at the NASA Goddard Flight Center determined that mangroves in Gabon and other Central African nations are among the world’s tallest, with freshwater key to their growth. In Gabon, an abundance of freshwater has enabled mangroves to grow up to 63 meters in height and provide an important brake on climate change.