Mangrove forests support extraordinary coastal biodiversity and their destruction causes severe welfare harm to fish, birds, crustaceans and marine mammals.
Mangrove destruction causes widespread welfare harm across multiple species simultaneously. Juvenile fish that use mangrove nurseries face predation, starvation and physiological stress when this habitat is removed. Birds nesting in mangroves lose both nesting sites and the invertebrate food sources the ecosystem provides. Saltwater crocodiles and proboscis monkeys lose critical habitat, forcing population compression into smaller areas that increases territorial conflict and welfare stress. Shrimp farming that replaces mangroves creates a direct welfare paradox: the destruction of habitat supporting diverse wild animal communities to create enclosed systems causing significant welfare harm to the farmed shrimp themselves. Mangrove restoration addresses welfare across the entire coastal ecosystem.