Colourful sponges, sea squirts, anemones and bryozoans encrust the arching roots of red mangrove trees throughout the Caribbean
ALEX MUSTARD/
NATUREPL.COM Mangrove forests are one of nature’s frontline sea defences; self-building, self-repairing and solar-powered, they do the job for nothing and provide a home for a myriad of creatures – from sponges to sharks, fish to frigatebirds. Yet worldwide, we’ve already lost 20 per cent of our mangrove ecosystems due to coastal development. According to UNESCO, these frontier forests are disappearing three to five times faster than overall global forest losses, with serious ecological and socio-economic impacts.