North America Mangrove Map: Explore Blue Carbon Habitats in the US and Mexico
This interactive map shows the distribution of mangrove habitats across the United States and Mexico, drawn from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) North American Blue Carbon dataset. Mangroves are among the most carbon-dense ecosystems on Earth — explore where they occur, how large individual patches are, and which agencies mapped them.
Mangrove habitat polygons from the CEC North American Blue Carbon dataset (2021). Zoom in to explore individual habitat patches. Click any polygon for location, area, and source details.
How to Use This Map
Getting Started
The map opens centred on the Gulf of Mexico, where mangrove coverage is most extensive. Green polygons represent mapped mangrove habitat. Zoom in along any coastline to see individual patches. Click a polygon to open a popup showing the habitat name, location, area, data source, and publication year.
Filters and Controls
Use the Country dropdown to filter between United States and Mexico mangroves, or view both together. The map reloads data for your current view automatically as you pan and zoom — no page refresh needed. Copy the URL to share your current view and filter state.
Reading the Popup
Each polygon popup shows:
- Location — habitat name, state abbreviation, and country
- Area — size of the polygon in hectares or square kilometres
- Source — the dataset or agency that mapped this habitat patch
- Published — year the source dataset was published
Why Mangroves Matter
Mangroves are coastal forests that grow in tropical and subtropical tidal zones. They are one of the most productive and ecologically significant ecosystems on the planet, and are central to blue carbon accounting — the measurement and storage of carbon in coastal and marine ecosystems.
In the United States, mangroves are found almost entirely in Florida, with smaller stands in Texas and Louisiana. Mexico has one of the largest mangrove extents in the world, with significant coverage along the Gulf of Mexico coast, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the Pacific coast from Sinaloa to Chiapas.
Key ecological roles mangroves play include:
- Carbon sequestration — mangrove soils store carbon at rates 3 to 5 times higher than tropical upland forests per unit area
- Coastal protection — mangrove root systems reduce wave energy and protect shorelines from storm surge and erosion
- Nursery habitat — a large proportion of commercially important fish and shellfish species depend on mangroves during early life stages
- Water filtration — mangroves trap sediments and filter nutrients before they reach open water and reef systems
About the Blue Carbon Dataset
This map uses the CEC North American Blue Carbon dataset, published in 2021 as the third edition by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. The dataset integrates approximately 50 source datasets, including contributions from:
- UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC)
- US Geological Survey (USGS)
- US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory (NWI)
- CONABIO (Mexico’s National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity)
- Various regional and state-level mapping programmes
The full blue carbon dataset covers three habitat types: mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass beds. This map shows the mangrove layer only. Data is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are there no mangroves shown in Canada?
Mangroves require warm temperatures year-round and cannot tolerate extended freezing. Their natural range in North America is limited to tropical and subtropical latitudes — primarily Florida, the Gulf Coast, and Mexico. Canada’s climate is too cold to support mangrove growth.
Are mangrove habitats in the US growing or declining?
Florida’s mangrove coverage has broadly stabilised after significant historical losses, and some areas have recovered following protection under the Florida Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act. However, sea level rise, storm damage, and cold snaps periodically affect coverage. In recent years, researchers have observed mangroves expanding northward along the Gulf Coast as winters become milder.
How accurate are the polygon boundaries?
Accuracy varies by source dataset. Each polygon records its input source, publication year, and survey method where available — visible in the popup. Larger-scale source data (1:50,000 or finer) will show more precise boundaries than datasets compiled at the continental scale.
What is blue carbon?
Blue carbon refers to the carbon captured and stored by coastal and marine ecosystems — primarily mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass beds. These habitats store carbon both in living biomass and in waterlogged soils where decomposition is slow. Protecting and restoring blue carbon ecosystems is increasingly recognised as a cost-effective climate mitigation strategy.
Can I download the mangrove data?
The CEC dataset is publicly available under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Visit the CEC North American Environmental Atlas to download the full dataset, including salt marsh and seagrass layers.
