ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Coastal Ocean Processes
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1526082
This article is part of the Research TopicPrediction of Coastal Morphological Evolution in the Context of Climate Change Adaptation and Nature-Based EngineeringView all articles
Evaluating Mangroves as Nature-based Solutions for Coastal Protection under Current and Future Sea Level Rise Scenarios
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana
- 2Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Coastal Research (HZG), Geesthacht, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
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Coastal hazards, such as erosion and flooding, pose significant threats to many coastal areas, and in extreme cases, have led to the decimation of some coastal communities. Historically, management has mostly focused on the use of grey infrastructure such as seawalls and groynes. However, these interventions are costly and can cause unintended consequences, promoting a shift toward Nature-based Solutions (NbS), such as the use of mangroves. Mangroves, particularly, have been proven to protect shorelines due to their ability to attenuate waves and trap sediment. However, there is limited research, particularly in data-deficient regions such as Ghana, West Africa, to support such NbS initiatives. This study explored the potential of mangroves as NbS to mitigate coastal erosion, using the 1D morphodynamic model XBeach. The baseline model was validated against measured coastal profiles, and the results show accurate predictions of sediment volume changes with an overall RMSE of 0.75 m. Based on the calibrations, we explored the effects of mature mangroves at varying densities on the berm and within the intertidal zone under current and projected sea level conditions, on coastal erosion. The results show a significant reduction in sediment volume erosion from 28 m3 to 0.9 m3 in the current situation, representing 97% protection; and from 468 m3 to 2.6 m3 under future sea level rise of 0.233 m by 2040, indicating 99 % protection. Notably, high densities of mangroves, introduced on the berm, which is more practical for the area, provided up to 53 % reduction in erosion for the current situation and 97 % for the future. These scenario-based simulations demonstrate the potential of mangroves as a dynamic coastal defence strategy, with the approach providing a valuable tool for testing and optimising NbS interventions.
Keywords: Nature-based solutions, XBeach, Mangroves, Coastal protection, sea level rise, Volta Delta
Received: 11 Nov 2024; Accepted: 28 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jayson-Quashigah, Staneva, Chen and Djath. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Philip-Neri Jayson-Quashigah, Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana
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