Saturday, June 7, 2014

Mangroves help shield coastal areas from storm surge

Butch D. Enerio in the Business Mirror (Philippines): Close to a thousand civil servants from different national and local offices, employees from private companies and students trooped to the shore of Taytay, El Salvador City in Misamis Oriental, on Thursday for their unified gesture to celebrate the World Environment Day (WED). They planted mangroves.

This year’s celebration, which is anchored on the theme, “Small Islands and Climate Change,” with the slogan—“Raise Your Voice, Not the Sea Level”—aims to promote worldwide awareness and action for the environment.

“It intends not only for people to realize their shared responsibility in taking care of mother earth, but for them to become agents for positive environmental change,” said Ruth M. Tawantawan, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional director for Northern Mindanao.

The Wednesday celebration was spearheaded by the DENR and the Philippine Information Agency in Northern Mindanao.

...The DENR said mangroves protect coastal communities from future typhoons and storm surges and other extreme weather events that may occur because it serves as buffer-shielding the coastal areas—as it also provides nursery grounds for fish, prawns and crabs that support fisheries production. Originally, the Philippines has 500,000 hectares of mangrove forest, but due to coastal development, land conversion and reclamation, only less than 100,000 hectares are visible in the country today....

Bamboo bridge and Mangroves at Bakhawan Eco-park and Research Centre,  shot by Paolobon140 , Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons 3.0 license

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