▲ Yesterday was celebrated World Wetlands Day, systems that, among other aspects, help combat climate change.Photo The Day
Alexia Villasenor
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, February 3, 2026, p. 13
Mexico ranks fourth among countries that have mangroves, below Indonesia, Australia and Brazil, with an area of 905,086 hectares, which represents six percent of the world total, according to data from the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio).
On World Wetlands Day, celebrated yesterday, the commission noted that through the Mexican Mangrove Monitoring System – which allows satellite and field studies to be carried out – it is possible to know how these formations change over time, threats and opportunities to restore them are identified, along with the amount of carbon they store, how they recover after hurricanes and the detection of invasive species.
This system was launched two decades ago and currently incorporated a project that seeks to use artificial intelligence to generate knowledge from a climate variability perspective, Conabio stressed.
Mangroves are much more than coastal landscapes, he stated, as they represent natural barriers against hurricanes, as well as refuges for fish, birds and crustaceans. They also help combat climate change by storing and capturing significant amounts of carbon.
These ecosystems are present in the 17 states of the republic that have a coastline. In Quintana Roo the largest area is located, with 247 thousand 17 hectares, while in Baja California there is the smallest, with 42.
The system divides the location of the mangroves into five regions: North Pacific, made up of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa and Nayarit (181 thousand 36 hectares); Central Pacific: Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán (7,275); South Pacific: Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas (77,021).
Also, the Gulf of Mexico, formed by Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Tabasco (95,585 hectares); Yucatán Peninsula: Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo (544 thousand 169).
In 2005, Conabio established the baseline of the mapping of the Mangrove Monitoring System of Mexico, from which the mapping for 2010, 2015 and 2020 was obtained.
