Mangroves:
‘The FAO estimates that approximately 20% or 36,000 km2 of the world’s mangroves have been lost between 1980 and 2005. The amount of mangrove forest area that has been lost is disturbingly high, however the rate at which mangroves are declining seems to have reduced more recently, falling from an average of 1,870 km2 (or-1.10%) per year during the 1980s, to 1,185 km2 (-0.75%) in the 1990s, to 1,020 km2 (-0.67%) between 2000-2005.
This represents a 45% reduction in the annual rate of loss.’
Seagrass beds:
‘A comprehensive assessment of global seagrass losses conducted on data from between 1879 and 2006 estimated that 29% of the known, measured area of seagrass beds had disappeared, equating to a global figure of 51,000 km2. The rate of decline is high (median = 0.9% per year) and has been accelerating since 1980 averaging greater than 5%, or 110 km2 of seagrass meadow lost per year.’
Coral reefs:
‘It is thought that coral reefs have suffered a significant global decline in biodiversity since the 1970s or earlier, with coral cover in the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean regions falling by almost half during the 1980s before stabilizing but not recovering to earlier levels. There are also indications that both reef structure and the proportion of reefs with living coral has declined which has had further ramifications on levels of reef-associated biodiversity.’