Tulane researcher available to talk about the climate-saving power of mangrove forests

Tulane University researcher Daniel Friess and his team work to unveil the critical role that mangrove forests play in the fight against climate change. Mangroves are shrubs or trees that grow mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves have numerous tangled roots above ground that form dense thickets and have special adaptations to tolerate conditions that would kill most plants.

Friess leads The Mangrove Lab at Tulane University. In a recent study, Friess and a team from the National University of Singapore used data from the past two decades to show how mangrove ecosystems surpass terrestrial forests in their ability to offset greenhouse gas emissions.

Friess has researched and can discuss: - Mangrove forests sequester and store “blue carbon” at rates far exceeding their terrestrial counterparts. Mangroves can store up to five times the amount of carbon per acre than a terrestrial forest — this can help them contribute to mitigating and offsetting climate change.

- Mangroves and their blue carbon face unique challenges in responding to climate changes such as drought and sea-level rise, but their productivity is expected to increase faster than terrestrial forests in a CO2-rich future.

- Corporate sector and government strategies to harness blue carbon to meet climate targets (e.g., corporate net zero ambitions, the Paris Agreement). Blue carbon may be an especially powerful climate change mitigation tool for Small Island Developing States.

- Restoration of mangroves to mitigate climate change. Many governments have ambitious targets to restore more than a million acres by 2024.However restoring mangroves is challenging to do at scale due to having to fix the environmental conditions that allow them to grow.

- Other benefits provided by mangroves, such as their ability to slow wave energy and storm surge effectively in coastal areas such as the U.S. Gulf coast.

To schedule an interview, contact Stacey Plaisance with Tulane University media relations at 504-247-1420 or splaisance@tulane.edu.