Farid Dahdouh-Guebas

• PhD Sciences, MSc Human Ecology, MSc Biology
• Professor at Université Libre de Bruxelles

Conservation conflicts pose major challenges to biodiversity conservation, and addressing related stakeholder conflicts is gaining importance in the contemporary conservation discourse. We present an innovative approach to investigate conservation conflicts by combining Social Network Analysis and Q methodology. The study focuses on human–human con...

Mangroves are essential coastal ecosystems distributed across tropical and subtropical regions, typically found at the confluence of river systems and the sea. Although air temperature has long been recognised as a key determinant of mangrove distribution, upwelling systems that transport cold, nutrient-rich waters from the deep ocean to the surfac...

Mangroves are a critical habitat that provide a suite of ecosystem services and support livelihoods. Here we undertook a global analysis to model the density and abundance of 37 commercially important juvenile fish and juvenile and resident invertebrates that are known to extensively use mangroves, by fitting expert-identified drivers of density to...

Mangrove forests provide a wide range of services to coastal communities worldwide. These services include carbon sequestration and coastal protection, both of which are critical in the context of climate change. However, these wetlands are still experiencing destructive anthropogenic impacts in many areas. Senegal and Colombia, two countries in th...

Climate change and anthropogenic activities threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services. Climate-smart conservation plans address these challenges by focusing protection in climate-resilient areas. However, integrating climate change in the design of conservation plans is often deemed too expensive, as it may require larger networks or protecting...

In the original publication [...]

The viva examination or ‘defence’ is a pivotal moment in a student’s or researcher’s career. It marks the conclusion of one stage and the beginning of another, whether during the study period or when competing for research funding. Unlike many other formal assessments, the viva is an oral performance. Its form may strongly depend on the domain of s...

The 2004 tsunami and coastal subsidence resulted in 97% mangrove loss in the Nicobar Islands (India), leading to major social-ecological change. We assessed how the Nicobar mangrove social-ecological system (SES) responded to the 2004 event using the adaptive cycle (AC) framework. We describe the changes across AC phases (collapse-X, reorganisation...

This study examined local communities’ perceptions of mangroves in coastal southeastern Cuba. A variety of methods were employed, including mixed and structured questionnaire surveys, interviews with key informants, and document reviews. Data were gathered from 334 respondents living in communities adjacent to four mangrove social–ecological system...

Mangrove ecosystems represent low-cost climate-regulating systems through carbon storage in their sediments. However, considering the complex shifts in shallow coastal ecosystems, it is clear from just a few sets of environmental impacts on their carbon storage that there is a deficit in the information required for preserving this service. Here, w...

This study examined local communities' perceptions of mangroves in coastal southeastern Cuba. A variety of methods were employed, including mixed and structured questionnaire surveys, interviews with key informants, and document reviews. Data were gathered from 334 respondents living in communities adjacent to four mangrove social-ecological system...

Mangroves are recognised as social-ecological systems where ecological dimensions constantly interact with human dimensions. In the Jaffna Peninsula of Sri Lanka, mangroves constitute the primary forest type. However, a destructive civil war spanning over 25 years, heavily affected the local vegetation and local inhabitants. Large patches of mangro...

‘Mangroves of the Western Indian Ocean’ is a regional ecosystem subgroup (level 4 unit of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology). This province spans 10 countries and includes the following marine ecoregions: Cargados Carajos/Tromelin Island, Delagoa, Mascarene Islands, Seychelles, Southeast Madagascar, East African Coral Coast, Northern Monsoon Curre...

Mangroves are a critical coastal habitat that provides a suite of ecosystem services and supports livelihoods. We undertake the first global analysis to estimate density and abundance of 37 commercially important fish and invertebrates that are known to extensively use mangroves. Geomorphic mangrove type, sea surface salinity and temperature, and l...

This opinion piece, written by ethnobiologists from different parts of the world, emphasizes the importance of ethno-biology research in advancing contemporary biology, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and, especially, contributing to the ecological transition and more just and inclusive world. To ach...

This opinion piece, written by ethnobiologists from different parts of the world, emphasizes the importance of ethnobiology research in advancing contemporary biology, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and, especially, contributing to the ecological transition and more just and inclusive world. To achi...

This guide is designed as a starting point to help researchers and practitioners working in mangrove conservation and restoration who want to engage with and include LEK in their projects. This applies to, but is not limited to, members of the Global Mangrove Alliance, their collaborators, and the broader conservation community

Customary laws and traditional beliefs are progressively used in conservation and management of natural resources. However, their effectiveness has received limited attention. This case study from the Benin Republic (West Africa) examines how local deities and traditional beliefs can reduce manmade threats to mangroves. Data were collected from thr...

Effective decision-making is key to the successful conservation and management of natural resources. Mangrove ecosystems all over the world provide an array of ecosystem goods and services and are managed by a wide range of stakeholders representing various sectors. The position of mangroves in the land-sea interface and the rapid development of co...

Heavy metal pollution has become a serious threat to coastal aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, this study, aimed to assess the spatial distribution of five selected heavy metals/metalloids, arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg), in surface sediment samples collected from the Kalametiya Lagoon in southern Sri Lanka. Six...

Effective decision-making is essential for successful conservation and management of natural resources, including mangrove ecosystems, which offer a variety of goods and services and are managed by different stakeholders. However, mangrove conservation and management in Sri Lanka face unique challenges due to their location in the land-sea interfac...

Brachyuran crabs are ecologically and economically important macrofauna in mangrove habitats. However, they are exposed to various contaminants, including plastics, which bioaccumulate in relation to their feeding modes. Setiu Wetlands is a unique place on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia where different ecosystems such as mangroves, lagoon, b...

This study is the first ever to gather local mangrove scientists, forest managers and policy-makers world-wide to identify the future scientific curiosity-driven and managerial need-driven questions to which science, management, and/or governance needs an answer.

Mangrove ecosystems are recognised as one of the nature-based solutions to a changing climate. Notwithstanding the socio-ecological benefits of mangrove ecosystems, they are increasingly being destructed in some regions of the world. In Ghana, several studies have reported on the status, use, and management strategies of mangrove ecosystems in diff...

The present dataset provides information on the abundance of microplastics (MPs) in relation to different feeding habits of the four mangrove brachyuran crab species namely, Parasesarma eumolpe, Austruca annulipes, Metaplax elegans and Scylla olivacea at Setiu Wetlands in Peninsular Malaysia. Three sites namely, Pulau Layat (upstream, close to the...

Wildlife conflicts between people and large herbivores or mammalian carnivores are widely researched in Africa, but there is limited work on human-crocodile conflicts (HCC). In Uganda, conservation efforts have enabled the recovery of the Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) population, yet the expanding human population and activities increasingl...

Conflicts of interest often undermine conservation initiatives against biodiversity decline. Effective decision-making requires a deeper understanding of the positions, criteria, concerns, and perspectives of stakeholders. However, managing so many perspectives can be difficult, and if not done well, conflicts arise which make it difficult to achie...

Many coastal communities in developing countries depend on mangrove ecosystem services (ES). A combination of anthropogenic and environmental stresses threatens mangroves globally. This study at the Ankobra catchment communities in Ghana focused on the relation between ES utilization and mangrove forest structure. Through vegetation survey, we obse...

Identifying and involving appropriate stakeholders is a crucial step in natural resource management. Each of these stakeholders involved in natural resource management needs to be legitimate and transparent in their collaboration with each other to sustainably manage natural resources. Mangrove forests are natural resources at the sea-land interpha...

Kalametiya Lagoon, a highly threatened Sri Lankan wetland, has undergone drastic hydrological changes in recent decades, due to an upstream irrigation project. These changes led to the invasion of the lagoon water by monospecific Sonneratia caseolaris mangrove stands and Typha angustifolia reedbeds. As Kalametiya has been a nationally recognized bi...

Mangroves are a unique ecosystem that provides various benefits to people. In Thailand, Mangrove Action Project (MAP) has introduced Community‐Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR), a novel technique to restore degraded mangroves. Unlike conventional tree planting, CBEMR does not require a planting phase. It emphasises pre‐project assessmen...

Ethnobiological knowledge is an important part of people's capacity to manage, conserve, and improve the governance of mangrove ecosystems. This paper assesses the ethnobiological importance of mangroves to coastal communities adjacent to seven mangrove forests in Southern and North-western Sri Lanka. 197 households were interviewed, and respondent...

Understanding the extent of collaboration among stakeholders is key to supporting mangrove management. Despite the existence of robust policies, collaboration among stakeholders of mangrove co-management remains largely unexplored in Sri Lanka. This was partly due to the civil war, natural disasters, and other socio-economic changes over the past 3...

Mangrove forests are reported to be invaded by invasive alien species (IAS). This study was therefore aimed at studying the level of distribution of the IAS, Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. ex Benth. in mangrove ecosystems in the southern coast of Sri Lanka and assessing the risk to periphery of mangrove forest by considering the Rekawa mangrove for...

1. Among the several threats to the conservation of mangrove ecosystems in most South Asian countries, shrimp farming is predominant. Since the introduction of shrimp farming in Sri Lanka in the 1980s, mangroves on the island’s north-western coast have been continually cleared to create new shrimp farms, leading to a decline in the social-ecologica...

From 2022 onwards the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the Convention on Biological Diversity will guide biodiversity conservation actions worldwide, which includes mainstreaming biodiversity into a wide range of activities, sectors and policies. Biodiversity mainstreaming in development cooperation is particularly relevant given th...

We identified the function of mangrove ecosystems that underpin ecosystem services, their responses to extreme weather and climatic events, and their role as crucial social-ecological systems as important paradigms shaping mangrove research now and in times to come. Since themes around functions and connectivity, ecological resilience to extreme ev...

The short- to long-distance dispersal (SDD and LDD) of propagules is critical for the regeneration of mangrove forests. Mark–recapture experiments are considered to be a good tool for assessing such dispersal patterns. However, dense mangrove roots, exposed mudflats, shallow water, etc. often limit the number of recaptured propagules and their impl...

Anthropogenic activities threaten global biodiversity and ecosystem services. Yet, area-based conservation efforts typically target biodiversity protection whilst minimising conflict with economic activities, failing to consider ecosystem services. Here we identify priority areas that maximise both the protection of mangrove biodiversity and their...

The sustainable management of complex social-ecological systems (SES) typically requires coordination and collaboration between various groups of stakeholders. Yet, research on collaborative stakeholder networks and their linkages with sustainable mangrove management strategies is lacking in Sri Lanka. This study presents a social network analysis...

In order to achieve collaborative action in nature conservation and natural resources management, stakeholders have to understand and acknowledge other stakeholders’ interests, values, world visions and objectives and they have to overcome the problem of irrational decision-making through innate opposition discourses. In this paper we developed the...

Protecting existing mangrove forests is a priority for global conservation because of the wide range of services that these coastal forests provide to humankind. Despite the recent reduction in global rates of mangrove loss, high historical loss rates mean that there are at least 800,000 ha globally that are potentially suitable for mangrove re-est...

The Negombo lagoon is one of the coastal lagoons in an urbanized city in the Northwestern province of Sri Lanka. The lagoon is heavily surrounded by human settlements, farms, aquaculture, and hospitals, which exposes it to sewage pollution. Locating and assessing the effluent discharge points into the lagoon is very important to know the ecological...

Tropical small islands are particularly vulnerable to environmental impacts. In the small islands of the Western Indian Ocean (WIO), multiple stressors of environmental and socio-economic change interact and intensify at reduced spatial scales. Actors and institutions need to respond to these changes through responses – reactive or proactive action...

Tropical lagoon ecosystems constituting lagoons with fringe mangroves are continually polluted with effluents from different sources. This study assessed the spatial variation of selected physicochemical parameters (pH, nitrates, phosphates, and conductivity) in water and sediments from the Chilaw lagoon and its fringe mangroves located on the Nort...

Managing a complex social-ecological system requires data about the many social and ecological variables characterizing it and about their interactions. While the selection of research topics has its own, mostly unpredictable dynamics and contingencies, there has been a recent surge of interest regarding the involvement of non-academic stakeholders...

Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (MMFR) in peninsular Malaysia has been managed for pole and charcoal production from Rhizophora stands with a 30-year rotation cycle since 1902. The aim of this study is to estimate the carbon budget of the MMFR by considering the carbon stock of the forest, evaluated from remote sensing data (Landsat TM and ETM+, JER...

A common strategy to counteract global biodiversity loss is sustainable management of protected areas. However, as protection of nature sometimes conflicts with human livelihoods and involves stakeholders with different interests, conservation conflict is globally on the rise. These conflicts can hamper sustainable development, social equity and ef...

Background Evidence suggests that plants can behave intelligently by exhibiting the ability to learn, make associations between environmental cues, engage in complex decisions about resource acquisition, memorize, and adapt in flexible ways. However, plant intelligence is a disputed concept in the scientific community. Reasons for lack of consensus...

Mangrove forests provide key ecological processes which support the livelihoods of local communities and beyond, through the provision of a diverse set of ecosystem goods and services (Dahdouh-Guebas et al., 2021). In recent years, mangroves in Northern Sri Lanka have been exposed to increasing anthropogenic stressors that led to their degradation...

This study aimed to assess the heavy metal (HM) profile of the main upland tributaries of three major rivers, the Mahaweli, the Deduru and the Gin Rivers, which are commonly used for urban water supply in Sri Lanka. The HM profiles of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) were investigated by ICP-MS. Land-use classification was per...

This poster was prepared on an ongoing research aimed at assessing the vegetation structure, and the ecosystem goods and services provided by the Ankobra mangrove system. The specific objectives included documentation of the ecosystem services, local ecological knowledge, and making an inventory of the vegetation stand and regeneration potential th...

This poster was one part of a bigger research "Bench-Marking the value of mangrove ecosystem goods and services". We aimed at assessing the floral structure of the Ankobra mangrove forest, mainly the natural regeneration capacity of the forest. We goaled at providing baseline information to managers and future researchers of the forest. The informa...

Sea turtles have been exploited at unsustainable rates globally. In Malaysia, their populations have faced serious declines because of diverse anthropogenic stressors including turtle egg consumption. Redang Island, off the northeast coast of Peninsular Malaysia, is an important rookery for green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Southeast Asia. The...

The declining mangrove cover worldwide highlights the necessity of understanding the linkages between ecological and socio-economic dimensions of mangrove management. This study analyses the socio-economic aspects of the pole and charcoal production systems at Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (MMFR), known as the world’s longest managed mangrove fore...

The status and potential degradation of an ecosystem is often difficult to identify, quantify, and characterize. Multiple, concurrent drivers of degradation may interact and have cumulative and confounding effects, making mitigation and rehabilitation actions challenging to achieve. Ecosystem status assessments generally emphasize areal change (gai...

Mangrove ecosystems are distributed worldwide, along tropical and subtropical coastlines. For a long time, mangrove biogeographers have been challenged by the question: why is mangrove distribution restricted to its current latitudinal limits? The Araranguá estuary in Brazil is located ∼75 km beyond the eastern South America mangrove limit. Despite...

The mangrove forests surrounding Douala, Cameroon, have a long history of human impact due to rapid urbanization, resulting in patches of true mangrove forest interspersed with areas dominated by the mangrove-associated Pandanus species. A survey carried out to assess the possible shift in crab fauna composition and dominance between mangrove and P...

Heavy metal (HM) pollution has become a serious threat to coastal aquatic ecosystems. This study, therefore, aimed at assessing the spatial distribution of selected heavy metals/metalloids including Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Lead (Pb), and Mercury (Hg) in surface sediment (0–15 cm) samples collected across Kalametiya Lagoon in sout...

Contemporary mangrove forest areas took shape historically and their genetic connectivity depends on sea-faring propagules, subsequent settlement, and persistence in suitable environments. Mangrove species world-wide may experience genetic breaks caused by major land barriers or opposing ocean currents influencing their population genetic structure...

Archive records such as maps, journals, books, sketches, cadastre and notarial documents have been underutilised in describing past and present changes in ecological systems, such as mangrove forests. Historical records can be invaluable information sources for baseline establishment, to undertake long-term study on mangrove dynamics and enhance th...

A global review of mangrove forests - extent, condition, protection, ecosystem services, restoration, global mapping, policy, economics, community engagement

Significance Global mangrove deforestation and degradation drive the loss of the associated invertebrate fauna vital to ecosystem services. The functional diversity and resilience of this fauna has not been assessed. We show that even small mangrove patches host functionally diverse faunal assemblages and can act as biodiversity reservoirs. However...

(1,2) In this theoretical study, we apply MesoFON, a field-calibrated individual-based model of mangrove forest dynamics, and its Lotka–Volterra interpretations to address two questions: (a) Do the dynamics of two identical red mangrove species that compete for light resources and avoid inter-specific competition by lateral crown displacement follo...

The present research developed a novel methodological framework to differentiate natural mangrove stands (i.e., original), from stands which were planted and stands naturally established after interaction between planted and non-planted stands (e.g., through pollination, i.e., non-original). Ground-truth and remote sensing data were collected for Z...

• The mangrove horseshoe crab, Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda, has divergent populations between the east and west coasts of Peninsular Malaysia, with the southern coast acting as a land barrier. The actual position of such a genetic break along Peninsular Malaysia as well as the connectivity status of the southernmost C. rotundicauda populations wit...

Assessments of coastal artisanal fisheries are progressively adopting a social-ecological system (SES) approach as an effective means to accumulate knowledge and integrate findings on different aspects of the fisheries. Ostrom’s SES framework was used to guide assessment of interactions between and within the harvesting and supply-chain processes a...

Amongst the several mangrove forests present in Sri Lanka, those in the Puttalam district have suffered the highest level of degradation arising from human activities, particularly shrimp farming. The occurrence and spread of the White Spot Disease (WSD) on shrimps both in shrimp farms and natural waters of Sri Lanka during 1994-1995 caused the aba...

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, international exchange students and mobility researchers, including ethnobiologists, are an important neglected group within academia. We highlight their challenges within academia and society, and propose solutions towards more academic flexibility, enhanced mobility preparedness, and a better cultural immersi...

Sri Lanka is at the forefront of global mangrove conservation. It is the first country to officially protect all its remaining mangrove forests and has embarked on an ambitious plan to restore 10,000 ha of wetland during the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. One incentive for this conservation effort is a recognition, based on researc...

Despite their ecological and economic importance, mangroves have suffered degradation in West-Africa, mostly from anthropogenic activities. To sustainably and successfully manage natural resources in complex social-ecological systems (SES), it is important to take into consideration the divergent viewpoints, values, and knowledge of stakeholders, t...

The Malaysian Mangrove Research Alliance and Network (MyMangrove) was established in recognition of the needs for a collaborative effort to significantly influence the management and conservation of mangrove forests through research and education. MyMangrove brings scientists and researchers together, to join forces in exploration and enhancement o...

Amongst the several mangrove ecosystems present in Sri Lanka, the mangrove forests in the Puttalam district have suffered the greatest level of degradation arising from human activities, particularly shrimp farming. The occurrence and spread of the White Spot Disease (WSD) on shrimps in both shrimp farms and natural waters of Sri Lanka during 1994-...

For centuries, mangrove forests and adjacent ecosystems have been cast in a negative light due to their (often perceived) ecosystem disservices. We give contemporary examples of how such viewpoints about mangroves continue to be communicated today, with potentially adverse consequences for mangrove conservation and public support. Since public perc...

The dataset contains tree height data collected in 200 man- grove and non-mangrove trees sampled in various sites in Malaysia. Different height measurement methods were per- formed, including visual measurements (stick, thumb rule) and precision field instruments (clinometer, laser rangefinder and altimeter), which were compared against benchmark v...