The destruction of carbon-rich mangroves ends up costing more than US$42 billion (33 billion euros) in economic damages each year, according to a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) estimate.

“Roughly 80 percent of the world’s population live within 10 kilometres of large mangrove forests, which provide a feeding ground for fish as well as shield coastal communities against tropical storms and hurricanes,” Melte Wilkie, a director from UNEP, told journalists in Athens.

Mangroves, forests made up of plants and trees that root in soil but are immersed in sea water for part of each day, are considered among the most carbon-rich ecosystems on the planet, even more than tropical forests.

Despite their many benefits, mangroves remain one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet.

According to the report, mangroves are becoming increasingly threatened by climate change, which could result in the loss of a further 10 to 15 percent of mangroves by 2100.

“The escalating destruction and degradation of mangroves, driven by land conversion for aquaculture and agriculture, coastal development and pollution, is occurring at an alarming rate, with over a quarter of the earth’s original mangrove cover now lost,” UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said in a statement.

“This has potentially devastating effects on biodiversity, food security and the livelihoods of some of the most marginalised coastal communities in developing countries where more than 90 percent of the world’s mangroves are found,” he added.

The report found that 40 percent of the animal species and 16 percent of tree species dependent on mangroves are now at risk of extinction.

- dpa