There has been a growing number of international meetings specifically for mangrove scientists and managers called MMM (as ‘Mangroves & Macrobenthos Meetings’ or ‘Mangroves & Management Meetings’). These commenced in 2000 based on the pressing need to do something about raising greater awareness of the plight of mangroves, their fauna and their management.

The next International Mangrove Conference (MMM7) will be held in Okinawa JAPAN in 2026.

Convenor: details & dates: tba

2023 MMM6 Cartagena

The 6th International Mangrove, Macrobenthos and Management Meeting was held in Cartagena COLOMBIA.

Accompanying Meeting of the IUCN MSG

23 July 2023

IUCN Mangrove Specialist Group (MSG) —- pre-MMM6 Meetup

Chairman: Prof. Joe Lee, Griffith University

2019 MMM5 Singapore

The 5th International Mangrove, Macrobenthos and Management Meeting was held in Singapore.

1-5 July 2019

Convenor: Prof. Dan Friess, National University of Singapore

Accompanying Meeting of the MSG

30 June 2019

IUCN Mangrove Specialist Group (MSG) —- pre-MMM5 Meetup

Director: Prof. Joe Lee, Chinese University of Hong Kong

2016 MMM4 USA, St. Augustine, Florida, USA

The fourth MMM was held in St. Augustine, Florida, USA, 18-22 July 2016.

Convenor: Dr Candy Feller

Host Institution: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

MMM4: 4th Mangrove Macrobenthos Meeting (MMM4) was hosted in the USA along the Atlantic Coast of Florida, July 18-22, 2016. Our venue was Flagler College, in historic downtown St. Augustine, the “Ancient City”, which was founded in 1565… actually the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the continental US. 

Check out a summary of MMM4 here

2012 MMM3 Sri Lanka

The third MMM in Sri Lanka included a conference and workshop, with the conference held in Galle on the southern coast, and the workshop at Pambala-Kakkapalliya, 2-13 July 2012. The meeting theme was 'mangrove ecology, functioning and management'.  MMM is to be organised by mangrove scientists world-wide, every 6 years, i.e. at an interval that allows scientific innovation.  The organisers did not look for a large attendance as they preferred single sessions of presentations covering various topics, with plenty of time for discussion for each.

Meeting hosted by Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), the University of Ruhuna (UoR) and the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in asociation with the  Small Fishers Federation of Lanka in Pambala-Kakkapalliya. 

Convenor: Prof. Dr. Farid Dahdouh-Guebas

Conference Special Issue Publications:  Biogeosciences 10-11 (2013-2014) and Acta Oecologica 63 (2014)

Find out more here: http://www.vub.ac.be/APNA/greendyke/MMM3/

2006 MMM2 Gold Coast, Australia

The second MMM included a conference and workshop, with the conference held in Coolangatta on the southern Gold Coast, and the workshop in the Daintree area of north Queensland, Australia, from 25 June to 6 July 2006. 

The chief aims of MMM2 were to :

• bring together active specialists in mangrove ecosystems research;

• raise and address current and topical issues related to relationships between animals and plants in mangrove and tidal wetland ecosystems;

• build and strengthen further linkages and collaboration between specialists in mangrove fauna;

• increase the profile of our field of research and other aspects of mangrove ecosystems; and to

• keep formalities to a minimum by keeping the meeting small and hands-on.

One product of the workshop was a Letter to Science, 'A World without Mangroves' (Science, Vol. 317. no. 5834, pp. 41 – 42). Also, the book 'Australia's Mangroves' by NC Duke was launched.

Meeting hosted & supported by Griffith University Gold Coast, The University of Queensland, James Cook University, Queensland Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries, and The Ian Potter Foundation.

Convenors: Prof. Joe Lee, Dr Sabine Dittmann and Dr Norm Duke

Conference Special Issue Publications: Science (2007) 317: 41-42,  Journal of Sea Research 59(1-2) (2007) and Aquatic Botany 89(2) (2008)

2000 MMM Mombasa, Kenya

The very first MMM was held in Mombasa on the 7-11 September 2000. The meeting was organised to address the knowledge gap of macrofauna and macrobenthic species in mangrove ecosystems worldwide. 

Meeting hosted by Museum of Zoology of the University of Florence and the Macrobenthos of Eastern African Mangroves (MEAM) Group. 

Convenors: Prof. Marco Vannini & Dr Stefano Cannici

Conference Special Issue Publication:  Wetlands Ecology and Management 10 (2002)