Mangrove Restoration - Costs and Benefits of
Successful Ecological Restoration
Roy R. Lewis III
President, Lewis Environmental Services, Inc. P.O. Box 5430, Salt Springs, Florida, USA, 32134-5430.

Conclusions
Successful ecological restoration of mangrove forests is feasible, has been done on a large scale in various parts of the world and can be done cost effectively. Rational decisions can be made as to the most cost effective methods to use based upon specific site conditions and goals of a project. The benefits that can be derived from restoring a specific forest area appear, based upon this literature review, to represent a significant positive cost benefit ratio. Lewis (2000b) however, has pointed out that the failure to adequately train, and retrain coastal managers in the basics of successful coastal habitat restoration all too often leads to projects “destined to fail, or only partially achieve their stated goals.” This would obviously result in a negative cost benefit ratio. He quotes the National Academy of Science of the United States in their report entitled “Restoring and Protecting Marine Habitat - The Role of Engineering and Technology” (National Academy of Science 1994) as stating that “the principle obstacles to wider use of coastal engineering capabilities in habitat protection, enhancement, restoration and creation are the cost and the institutional, regulatory and management barriers to using the best available technologies and practices.” This lack of training also leads to a routine failure to look for the most cost effective means of achieving restoration goals. Cost effective here means the least cost alternative that achieves both successful restoration, and those target ecological and economically important functions identified as restoration goals. It is unfortunate that much of the research into mangrove restoration that has been carried out to date has been conducted without adequate site assessment, documentation of the methodologies or approaches used and the real costs of the work. Subsequent follow-up or evaluation for success in achieving these aims is essentially non-existent. Unsuccessful (or only partially successful) projects are rarely documented. A common methodology approach of documentation should be developed for habitat restoration projects. Those involved could then begin to learn from successes and failures, act more effectively, and generate those benefits listed here in a cost effective manner. Once this kind of information reaches a wider target audience, including politicians and other decision makers, the value of preserving existing mangrove forests will be obvious, and hopefully prevent the current large scale need to restore damaged forests in the future.

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