ABSTRACT
Coastal zones are places where the sea and the land meet, and they have social, economic, and environmental importance as they attract both human settlements and economic activity. The habitats include beaches, sand dunes, marshes, river mouths, coral reefs, and mangroves. These support not only recognizable ecosystem services including tourism, food production, and wildlife but also less obvious ones such as carbon and pollution sinks. An illustration of the importance of these areas comes from a review by Gedan et al. (2011), which concluded that coastal wetland plants interact with water and sediment in a variety of direct and indirect ways to slow water flow and facilitate sediment deposition, increasing shoreline cohesion and providing natural protection.
