Mangrove plantation. The purpose is to reduce the risk of coastal erosion, as a protection measure for the shorelines. Photo source: © Oxfam Australia
Excerpts;
As global climate change continues to threaten coastal communities in the tropics, governments have increasingly focused on the promotion and conservation of mangrove forests for their protective qualities.
Mangroves — trees and shrubs that grow in tropical estuaries — are among the world’s most productive ecosystems and, compared to other forest systems, have an impressive capacity to sequester and store carbon at high rates. They also serve as an important physical buffer, protecting coastal areas from storm surges and acting as “bioshields.” Despite these clear benefits, since 1980 the world has lost approximately 20 percent of its mangrove forests. With this in mind, there is a growing need to understand the factors, both biophysical and societal, that contribute to sustainable mangrove management.
To date, discussions around mangrove forest conservation and rehabilitation have been highly technical, and focused primarily on ecological conditions under which mangroves can be planted and promoted. Lacking from this conversation is a more robust analysis about the ways land governance, resource rights arrangements, and land use planning — the social aspects of the conservation challenge — affect mangrove conservation and rehabilitation…
Read Full Article, USAID (12-16-2016)
Tanzania: Mangrove Project Bears Fruit, All’Africa (07-17-2016)
Thanks to a mangrove planting project, villagers have managed to protect their areas, where seawater had been regularly spilling over the farms destroying their crops, and conserve the environment by involving members of the public in planting mangroves…
Sri Lanka to become the first nation in the world to protect all its mangroves; Guardian UK (05-12-2015)
More than half the world’s mangroves have been lost over the last century but all of those surviving in Sri Lanka, one of their most important havens, are now to be protected in an unprecedented operation…
Coastal Kenyan villages bringing their mangrove forest back to life, Guardian UK (02-24-2016)
A community on Kenya’s east coast is fighting climate change with its own mangrove restoration, conservation and carbon-trading project…
Mangrove protection key to survival for Senegalese community, Daily Mail UK (11-06-2016)
Gambia: Mangrove Regeneration and Coastal Erosion; All’Africa (12-02-2014)
Making Local People Stewards of the Earth; IPS News (09-23-2013)
Let mangroves recover to protect coasts; BBC News (09-17-2016)
Allowing mangrove forests to recover naturally result in more resilient habitats that benefit both wildlife and people, say conservationists…
Destruction of Mangroves Costs up to US$42 billion in Economic Damages Annually – UNEP Report (10-14-2014)
The world is losing its mangroves at a faster rate than global deforestation, the United Nations revealed, in a new report “Importance of Mangroves: A Call to Action,” adding that the destruction of the coastal habitats was costing billions in economic damages and impacting millions of lives…
Mangroves Help Protect Against Sea Level Rise, Science Daily (07-27-2015)
Mangrove forests could play a crucial role in protecting coastal areas from sea level rise caused by climate change, according to new research involving the University of Southampton…
Preserving Mangroves Provides Protection and Food Security, IPS News (11-16-2015)
