Mangroves, fisheries and coastal communities’ perception of environmental change

Coastal ecosystems are critically important for the survival of many economically and environmentally vulnerable communities around the world, including fishing communities. With over 1.3 billion people living nearby tropical coasts, healthy ecosystems are crucial for sustaining the ecosystems services that these communities depend on for their livelihoods and resilience. However, these highly vulnerable coupled social-ecological systems are increasingly threatened by direct climate change impacts and local environmental degradation, placing both ecosystems and communities at risk. In this thesis, mangroves are used as an ecosystem of reference (described in Chapter 2) to examine the relationship between coastal communities and their surrounding environment, emphasising their vulnerable dependence on fragile ecosystems. Fieldwork from two biogeographically distinct regions provides insights into the state of mangroves and the fisheries sector in three case studies: Thailand (Chapter 4), Martinique (Chapter 5) and Jamaica (Chapter 6). In each case, the relationship between small-scale fishers and their surrounding mangroves is presented to assess their vulnerability, through their perception of environmental factors including direct degradation, climate variability, and the potential consequences for their livelihoods. Overall, the surveyed communities demonstrated a good understanding of the fragility of their activity while the associated causes varied across sites, from climate change impacts to local environmental degradation and anthropogenic pressures such as overfishing and pollution. Crucially, the communities' perceptions of these challenges, and their implications for mangrove reliance, are shaped by the unique social-ecological dynamics of each case study. Chapter 7 further explores these dynamics, identifying how relationships between mangroves and local populations differ based on biodiversity, governance structures, and cultural context. Finally, chapter 8 bridges the gap between perception, vulnerability, and adaptation, offering strategies to advance resilience, inclusiveness and equity for coastal communities facing climate and economic challenges.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Fardin, Frédérique

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sandbrook, Chris

• Climate change
• Coastal communities
• Fisheries
• Mangrove
• Resilience

Licence

• https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/9514ff53-fa7f-4d7b-b01f-d8fb9f962d82/download
• http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.120349

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/387650