The Social Dynamics of Mangrove Forests in Guinea-Bissau,West Africa

Using social and GIS/remote sensing techniques, we analysed the historical, social, political, and economic processes underlying mangrove deforestation and afforestation patterns in Guinea-Bissau to explain the increase in the mangrove forest area between 1990 and 2015. By comparing several regions during the same timeframe, we highlight different ecological dynamics and the complex ways in which diverse societies respond to the same social, economic, and political processes. Our results reveal the importance of identifying the most relevant temporal and geographic scales, and the multiple (and sometimes opposing) environmental and social processes working simultaneously in different places, as well as the potential shortcomings of policy decisions or development or conservation interventions relying on broad estimates. Research efforts to assess threats to and the regeneration capacity of mangrove forests in Guinea-Bissau are thus vital.