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| | | Muisne - Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, Pacific Ocean |
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| | In Ecuador, estimates of mangrove loss range from 20% percent to nearly one half of Ecuador's once 362,000 ha. of mangrove forested coastline. In the 1980s Muisne was surrounded by 20,800 hectares (52,000 acres) of life-supporting mangrove forests; today only 650 hectares (about 1,600 acres) remain, despite the fact that destruction of all mangroves has been illegal in Ecuador since 1994 (by Presidential Decree #1907.94). | | | | The mangroves are essential to local life, 70% of communities live by extracting fisheries and forest resources from them. The real clearcutting problem is due to illegal shrimp farms that establish in areas of mangrove. It is very difficult to stop these operations from functioning as they are widespread and in some provinces officials also illegally invest in the farming schemes. | | | | New reserves protecting Ecuadorian mangroves are a way forward for the future. Also in the province of Esmeraldas, are some of the best conserved and tallest mangroves in the world, including individuals of over sixty metres in height. Even here over 90% of the ponds installed are illegal. Ecuador has discouraged the further destruction of its mangroves by giving shrimp farmers incentives to restore them. | | | | |
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