A local campaign is calling on the Protected Areas Commission to place all of Guyana’s remaining mangroves under legal protection immediately.
In a press release on Saturday, in observance of the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, the campaign, named, A Fair Deal For Guyana – A Fair Deal For The Planet, reminded that mangroves are a critical element in nation’s sea-defences. It added that when these mangroves are cut down, thinned, or damaged by garbage and fire, coastal communities immediately suffer from rising sea-levels and farmers lose vital farmlands and crops that are essential to the nation’s food security.
A Fair Deal for Guyana – A Fair Deal for Guyana is a campaign to make the government and oil companies obey the law and to protect the environment for present and future generations. The group is concerned about the impact of the proposed oil production on Guyana’s pristine environment and believes that the current oil deal is bad for Guyana and bad for the planet.
According to one of the campaign members, Deopaul Somwaru, a scientist who is majoring in marine biology, Guyana’s coastal belt, some of which is below sea-level, currently depends on inadequate sea-defences. “How much time we have left on the coast, depends to some extent on how well we protect and restore Guyana’s vital mangrove forests.”
The release informed, “As the earth undergoes catastrophic global warming from greenhouse emissions, mangroves are critical to humanity’s survival. Mangroves serve as carbon sinks, absorbing enormous amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and trapping them in flooded soils for millennia. Mangroves are among the most carbon-rich tropical forests and can store twice as much carbon per-area than other forests. Yet these carbon sink benefits for Guyana are being wiped out by fossil fuel emissions from Guyana’s oil production.”
And another campaign member, international lawyer, Melinda Janki, had this to say, “It is madness to contribute to rising sea-levels, to ocean acidification and to the death of mangroves. Yet that is precisely what Guyana is doing by allowing ExxonMobil to produce oil and flare billions of cubic feet of natural gas. The lives of the Guyanese people and the ecosystems that they depend on, are more important than ExxonMobil’s attempts to survive in a dying industry.”
In a lengthy discourse, the group sought to educate on the nature and importance of this natural sea defence.
Importance of Mangroves
*Mangroves form their own unique ecosystems which allow fish and birds to thrive, this in turn would benefit the fishing communities, because more mangrove forests means that fishes are able to reproduce and mature at a much faster rate. Mangroves are a vital nursery for the fish and crustaceans that Guyana’s fishing industry depends on.
*Mangroves are also very important buffers for waves, since they reduce the energy with which the waves hit our coast, thus reducing coastal erosion. This prevents flooding and overtopping of water during high tides. This is because the mangrove roots help to bind the soil together which prevents the waves from washing it away and also act as barriers against the waves. This proves to be very beneficial along the low coastal plain since this area constitutes 90% of the country’s population as well the majority of its agricultural output.
*The term mangrove refers to over 70 different species of tree, three of which are found on coasts of Guyana; Red, Black and White mangroves. Mangrove forests are known to be one of the most diverse ecosystems on the Earth, housing and feeding a wide range of plants and animals, and play an important role in the fight against climate change and coastal erosion. They store more carbon than terrestrial forests, significantly reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
*Mangroves are often considered unique plants because of their abilities to withstand and thrive in tough environmental factors such as water poor in oxygen content, salt water, fresh water and brackish water (a mixture of salt and fresh water). To survive these harsh conditions, mangroves have a variety of unique adaptations: some species have the ability to release salt crystals through salt glands in their leaves, black mangroves have pencil like roots called pneumatophores which stick out of the ground enabling the plant to breathe when submerged, and some practice viviparity (their seeds germinate while attached to the plant before falling to the ground).
* Mangroves also provide optimum housing areas for apiaries (bee hives).
Cycle of Mangroves
Due to the dynamic nature of Guyana’s coasts, there is a continuous cycle of land attrition (breakdown) and accretion (build up) of our coastlines. As a result, mangrove populations experience fluctuating periods of tremendous growth and death. This is one of the biggest and main natural threats to mangrove ecoregions. In addition to this threat however, anthropogenic factors (human activities) and climate change all leave mangrove ecosystems vulnerable. This has prompted worldwide restoration efforts, with Guyana being no exception. There are many species of mangroves found in Guyana, However local restoration efforts, 3 major species stand out – black, red and white mangroves. Of these three, the black mangrove is the most commonly used due to its high salt tolerance and efficiency at holding the soil together. Their large branched roots help to hold the soil firmly in place and provide protection against heavy waves. The campaign also warned of threats to the mangrove population in Guyana. It highlighted human activities such as the dumping of garbage, cutting down of mangroves for their bark (which is used in the curing of leather or fishing poles), or forest clearing to create land space which along with climate change, threatens the existence of this natural sea defence. Windsor Forest on the West Coast of Demerara was cited as an example of an area that has witnessed the complete destruction of a once thriving mangrove population. In the absence of mangroves, millions of dollars has to be invested in building sea defences.
Unfortunately so far, efforts to protect and extend mangrove coverage in Guyana have so far failed to deliver the expected results. Based on this fact, the campaign posits that is with urgency that an immediate halt be placed on activities that are damaging Guyana’s mangroves and to save what remains, the release added.
For more information on mangroves contact:
Deopaul Somwaru – +592 6943295 | Email: Deopaul.somwaru@gmail.com
Zoya Samaroo- Email: Zoya.olivia.samaroo@gmail.com
