Remote Sensing Study of Mangrove Forest Health and Resilience in the Grand-Pierre Bay, Artibonite, Haiti

As climate change increases the vulnerability of Small Island Developing States marginalized coastal communities and ecosystems, it is necessary to evaluate the health and resilience of their natural landforms and infrastructure inventories. For example, mangroves could be a central component of coastal adaptation strategies for these sites due to their storm surge attenuating properties. One such forest is located in Haiti in the Grand-Pierre Bay, south of Gonaives and at the mouth of the Artibonite Valley, a region important for its agriculture. A remote sensing study of the Grand-Pierre Bay mangroves was conducted using imagery from PlanetLabs, machine learning tools, and vegetation health indices to identify and track mangrove cover, health, and spatio-temporal changes between 2010 and 2020. Detected changes in cover and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) values display a retreat of mangrove cover from the sea, with most of the retreat and health loss occurring during the 2013-2016 Pan-Caribbean drought, which was also experienced in Haiti. While the forest displays recovery post-drought, health increases and new establishments are concentrated on the landward side of the forest, and continued retreat is occurring on the shoreline, indicating a landward migration of the forest. This migration may, however, not occur fast enough to offset the losses on the coast, and targeted conservation efforts may be required to sustain and enhance the forest s resilience.