Tsunami-hit nations look to save mangroves

Tsunami-hit nations look to save mangroves

David Fogarty, Reuters/Singapore

The Indian Ocean tsunami highlighted the life-saving benefits of
mangroves and reefs, officials and environmentalists say, leading
some Asia nations to look at replanting lost or damaged mangrove
forests.

More than 162,000 died in the Dec. 26 quake and tsunami
disaster in which waves up to 10 meters crashed into coastlines
along many Indian Ocean nations.

In some areas, such as the Maldives, coral reefs took the full
force of the waves, limiting the damage on land. In other places,
mangrove forests helped save lives and limit damage to buildings
by acting as a giant dampener, environmentalists say.

"Mangroves in Ranong and Phang Nga saved hundreds of people,"
said Maitree Duangsawasdi, head of the Department of Marine and
Coastal Resources, referring to two of Thailand's six affected
provinces in which thousands of people died.

"We need to rebuild those that were damaged and plant more of
them and other trees like pines and coconuts along the
coastline," he said, adding that his department would finish a
rehabilitation plan for mangroves and coral reefs next week.

Malaysia has said it wanted mangrove forests protected from
development because they acted as a natural barrier against
tsunamis, while Indonesia this week announced a massive mangrove
reforestation project.

"The mangroves are extremely important in forming an effective
barrier against any type of wave," said John Pernetta, project
director for the United Nations Environment Program's Global
Environment Facility in the South China Sea.

"It takes the energy out of the wave, so while the forest
itself will be trashed, it will protect the infrastructure behind
it."

Mangroves also seen as crucial protection against storm
surges, walls of water pushed inland by typhoons as they approach
the coast. In 1999, thousands of people died in the eastern
Indian state of Orissa when a powerful typhoon generated tidal
waves up to 8 meters high.

Indian environmentalists say the destruction of large areas of
mangroves contributed to the high death toll and damage.

In Indonesia, where more than 110,000 people are known to have
died in last month's tsunami, the government is looking at
turning some residential areas in Aceh province into mangrove
forests to counter the effects of future tsunamis.

Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban told Reuters on Friday
Indonesia had lost about 650,000 hectares of mangroves over the
past several decades -- or about 30 percent of its total. The
government wanted to revive coastal and riverine forests ripped
out to build commercial fish farms.

"The tsunami in Aceh made us see the need to speed up this
(replanting) process. In Aceh, especially the west and north
coast, 30,000 hectares need reforestation," he said.

In Sri Lanka, where more than 30,000 people died, A.H.M.
Fowzie, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, said his
ministry would look at drawing up laws that would ban further
destruction of mangroves and beach dunes and also to introduce
laws compelling developers to replant and build artificial reefs.

"It is definitely clear that some mangroves were damaged, but
it is also clear that they also helped prevent further damage in
areas where they still exists," he said. At a meeting of small
island nations in Mauritius this week, Claude Martin, WWF
director-general, said tsunami-affected nations needed to look at
protecting and rehabilitating coastlines as part of
reconstruction efforts.

He also said typhoons, which occur often in Asia, are expected
to become more powerful because of global warming.

Pernetta said about 80 percent of mangrove forests on
Thailand's eastern seaboard have been destroyed in the last few
decades, most of it as a result of small-scale shrimp-farming.

The situation on the west coast, hit by the tsunami, was much
better, with only about 20 percent destruction.

But Vietnam, which has cleared a lot of mangroves along its
South China Sea coast, which is frequently hit by storms, was
trying to reverse this process by planting mangroves, he said.

Environmentalists in India, where more than 15,000 people
died, say areas that suffered maximum damage from the tsunami had
no natural barriers.

"Areas that had mangroves suffered the least destruction. In
the Andaman and Nicobar islands, for instance, there are many
places where mangroves and coral reefs are still intact. If they
weren't, it could have been much worse," said Debi Goenka, an
environmentalist with the Bombay Environmental Action Group.

"Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, suffered so much because it
had no mangroves or coral reefs and most of the construction is
on beaches or close to high tide areas."