Mangrove forests and communities are distributed worldwide in tropical and warm temperate coastal areas. Their location has often placed them "in the way of" development and large areas of mangroves been lost in recent decades aquaculture, ăgriculture and urban expansion. By contrast, mangroves are now recognised as being among the most important ecosystems in the world for the array of ecosystem services they provide, including provisioning services such as fisheries enhancement, and regulating services such as carbon storage and sequestration; and coastal protection. Although often listed in reviews, the importance of mangroves for cultural services, including their use in recreation and tourism has received relatively little scrutiny. Ghermandi and Nunes' comprehensive review of 253 valuations for coastal recreation found only 11 mangrove valuations (4.6%), with beaches (25.5%), coral reefs (22.2%) and mixed ecosystems (41.4%) dominating the work. Despite this limited attention, the recreational use of mangroves it is widespread. The most popular mangrove sites attract hundreds of thousands of visitors per year (Appendix A Table Al, ) and may generate millions of dollars in visitor expenditure. Also noteworthy is the popularity of mangrove tourism among local communities, including in locations where international tourism is limited, such as Iran and Bangladesh.