DOI: 10.1029/2025gl118093 ISSN: 0094-8276
Comment on Ju et al. (2025): Global Declines in Mangrove Area and Carbon Stock From 1985 to 2020
Pete Bunting, Ake Rosenqvist, Lammert Hilarides, Paula Castro Brandão Vaz dos Santos Abstract
This is a comment on Ju, Fu, Lyne, et al. (2025,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl115303
), for which we believe there are significant errors in the analysis that has been undertaken. While the aim and objectives of the study are appropriate, the claimed results do not align with other published studies on mangroves and are considered unlikely to be correct. Specifically, the claim that the countries around the Red Sea had more than 2 million hectares of mangroves in 1985 and 10,000 ha in 2020, corresponding to a loss of 99.5%, is not supported by other literature or by assessment of available Landsat data from the 1985 and 2020 periods. Upon inspecting the mapping products made available by the study, it is considered highly likely that the results generated by Ju, Fu, Lyne, et al. (2025,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl115303
) and used to derive the carbon change statistics are based on incorrect data; therefore, we consider Ju, Fu, Lyne, et al. (2025,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl115303
) to be misleading.