The Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool: Meeting local practitioner needs and tracking progress toward global targets
Yasmine Gatt, Rowana Walton, Dominic A. Andradi‐Brown, Mark Spalding, Joanna Acosta-Velázquez, María Fernanda Adame, Francisco Barros, Mark Beeston, Ângelo F. Bernardino, Christina A. Buelow, Charles Cadier, Alejandra Calzada Vazquez Vela, Steven W. J. Canty, Farid Dahdouh‐Guebas, Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Gomes, Clare Duncan, Aaron M. Eger, James Anthony Enright, Tannia Frausto-Illescas, Daniel A. Friess, Leah Glass, Gabriel Grimsditch, Valerie Hagger, Margaux Y. Hein, Jorge A. Herrera‐Silveira, Lammert Hilarides, Jennifer Howard, Jorge Hoyos‐Santillan, K. Kathiresan, Bridget Kennedy, Kate Kincaid, Abel Kiprono Lagat, Ana Laura Lara‐Domínguez, Kate Longley-Wood, Shauna L. Mahajan, Sangeeta Mangubhai, Philip A. Martin, Modesta Médard, Eduardo Nájera–Hillman, Tanguy Nicolas, Denise Nicolau, Lilian M. Nyaega, Yves Paiz, Alfredo Quarto, Alfred Ralifo, O. Dannick Randriamanantena, Tojo M. Rasolozaka, Danny K. Ravelojaona, Apolosa Robaigau, Jenny Alexandra Rodríguez‐Rodríguez, Stefanie M. Rog, Isaac Rounds, André Rovai, Megan I. Saunders, Michael Sievers, Det Song, William J. Sutherland, Nigel G. Taylor, Claudia Teutli–Hernández, Hazel Thornton, Senilolia Tuiwawa, Yaya Ihya Ulumuddin, Laura Veverka, Eduardo Videira, Thomas White, Dominic Wodehouse, Adaoma Wosu, Hiromi Yamashita, Martin Zimmer, Thomas A. Worthington
Abstract
Restoration is a key component of global and national efforts to combat ecosystem degradation, reduce biodiversity loss, and adapt to climate change, and there is currently an impetus to scale up restoration efforts. However, our ability to track progress toward restoration targets is limited by the lack of consistent and standardized data on objectives, interventions, and outcomes. To address this, a collaboration of conservation practitioners and scientists from around the world have developed the Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool (MRTT), an application to record and track outcomes from mangrove restoration projects. The MRTT records information across the lifetime of a project, capturing data describing the site background and pre-restoration baseline and the restoration interventions and costs, as well as post-restoration monitoring that incorporates both socioeconomic and ecological factors. The MRTT allows decision makers, practitioners, and site managers to access information that is essential in making informed, evidence-based decisions on restoration interventions to maximize impact and success.