ABSTRACT
The total area of mangroves in the world was 181,077 km2 as estimated by Spalding et al. (1997). FAO (2007) estimated about 154,704.5 km2 mangroves area in the world, about 14.5% less (approx.) from the previous study. The latest study estimated the total mangroves forest area of the world as 137,760 km2 covering 118 countries, 12% less (approx.) from the FAO estimation, which accounts for 0.7% of total tropical forests of the world; approximately 75% of mangroves are located in the 15 countries (Table 2.2) (Giri et al., 2011).
