ABSTRACT
Coastal changes and shoreline restoration after the mid-Holocene sea-level highstand are widely attributed to a combined effect of natural and anthropogenic factors. The mangrove forest wetland in the Mai Po Nature Reserve, Hong Kong had undergone several changes in the past, namely (1) coastal environmental changes influenced by Holocene transgression, (2) mangrove forest expansion caused by the generation of additional accommodation space in the past 100 years, (3) land use conversion driven by human activities and social development since the 1950s and wetland protection in recent decades, and (4) increased sedimentation rates induced by industrialization and urbanization in the Pearl River Delta.
