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| January 2005 |
Feature |
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Loss of mangrove forests contribute to impact of TsunamisMangrove Action Project urgently calls for re-establishment of a Mangrove
Buffer Zone or "Greenbelt" along affected or threatened coastal
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Healthy mangrove forests could have resulted in less destruction caused by the recent tsunami disaster. |
The severity of the current tsunami disaster is beyond comprehension. The
tremendous force of the 9.0 earthquake that occurred off the coast of Sumatra
caused extremely powerful tsunamis. This fact is soberly understood.
Nevertheless, the immense loss in human life and property boggles the mind, and
the ongoing reports from the multiple scenes of the disaster are nightmarish.
What is more disturbing is the fact that the severity of this disaster
could have been greatly lessened and much loss in
human life and suffering could have been averted had healthy mangrove forests,
coral reefs, sea grass beds and peatlands been conserved in a healthy state
along these same now devastated coastlines.
Instead these vital protective buffers that nature provides against wind and wave had been foolishly degraded or removed for unsustainable developments such as industrial shrimp aquaculture, tourism and urban expansion into these fragile and now quite vulnerable coastal regions.
Since 1992, Mangrove Action Project has been opposing unsustainable developments that threaten mangrove forests around the world. Today, over half the world's mangrove forests have been lost. Less than 16 million ha remain on coastlines that once were predominantly lined with thick stands of resilient mangroves. As well, offshore waters were once surrounded by protective and productive coral reefs and sea grass beds.
These natural buffers protected the landward side, sheltering coastal
communities and wildlife from the brunt of storms and waves. There is ample
scientific evidence, for instance, that clearly shows that a 15 meter tsunami
wave's destructive force is greatly dissipated as it passes through intact,
healthy coastal zones containing coral, sea grass and mangroves. These
"coastal greenbelts of protection" play a vital role in also reducing
sedimentation and shoreline erosion. Other important contributions include
enhanced wild fisheries and marine life, medicines, fruit, honey, lumber, fuel
wood, tannins and aesthetic beauty.
As MAP's Co-Founder and Goldman Environmental Awardee, Mr. Pisit Charnsnah of
Yadfon Asssociation in Trang, Thailand states, "The mangrove is the
supermarket for the coastal poor." Unfortunately that free market has been
rapidly replaced with another form of man-made enterprise whereby the goods
produced are earmarked for export, and the local communities suffer the
consequences of reduced wild fisheries and increased threats from natural
disasters.
Multilateral agencies and local governments have for too long
enthusiastically supported shrimp farming and other export earning projects
without paying attention to local social and ecological security.
According to a report from India, "When the tsunami struck India's southern
state of Tamil Nadu on 26 December, areas in Pichavaram and Muthupet with dense
mangroves suffered fewer human casualties and less damage to
property compared to areas without mangroves .'
Many other such reports have verified this same fact that fewer losses of life
and property occurred in mangrove zones, which were more intact. In many places
where the devastation was greatest, mangroves were gone.
"We have observed that mangroves often served as a barrier to the fury of water," says M. S. Swaminathan, so-called father of India's 'green revolution', and head of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in Chennai, India.
In October 1999, mangrove forests reduced the impact of a 'super- cyclone' that struck Orissa on India's east coast, killing at least 10,000 people and making 7.5 million homeless. Those human settlements located behind healthy mangrove stands suffered little, if any, losses.
Jeff McNeely, chief scientist of the Switzerland-based World Conservation Union (IUCN), told the Agence France Press news agency that over the past several decades, many mangroves have been cleared for shrimp ponds by entrepreneurs who knew little and cared less as to why the forests should have been saved.
It is a sad fact that national governments have been unable to adequately regulate their industries that have sprouted up along much of the coastlines replacing nature's buffer zones with unprotected developments. The recent tsunamis event has tested this fragile development model and proven it to be quite unsound.
MAP, working in coalition with its partner NGOs and scientific advisors is
calling on all aid agencies and governments to back a plan to re-establish
protective mangrove greenbelts along those otherwise denuded coastlines which
will, if left unprotected, face future such disasters. As sea level rises, and
as hurricane and tsunamis threats mount, extensive mangrove restoration and
conservation programs must be supported and undertaken.
However, these should be carefully designed so as to be long-term and
effectively implemented, as in the recent past, many millions of dollars in
loans and grants have been wasted in poorly designed and engineered endeavors to
re-create or restore needed mangrove zones. Mangrove Action Project is looking
for responsible partners to undertake this needed, long-term solution to an
otherwise impending next natural calamity!
As Pisit Charnsnah of Yadfon had prophetically stated nearly a decade ago, "Mangroves protect the people who protect the mangroves!" - [Mangrove Action Project]
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