Philippine mangroves survived a typhoon, but now confront a human

Mangroves in the Philippine city of Tacloban, the area hit hardest by one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, have recovered and even expanded beyond their pre-disaster extent, thanks largely to community-led reforestation. But scientists caution that ongoing coastal development could threaten the recovering forests. In a recently published study, Hiroshi Takagi, a professor at the Institute of Science Tokyo, examined mangrove recovery in the Paraiso neighborhood in the innermost part of Tacloban’s Cancabato Bay. He used satellite imagery to track the decline and rebound of mangrove canopy following the devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan (known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda) in November 2013. He also applied wind, wave and storm surge modeling to assess the extent of ty