This 2020 theme for the International Day of Forests on 21 March is Forests and Biodiversity. It's an often-quoted fact that forests are home to 80 per cent of terrestrial biodiversity, but did you know that one type of tree also supports marine biodiversity—the mangrove tree?Awareness is growing among governments and coastal communities in tropical countries of the incredible value of mangroves to nature and humans.Mangrove trees store more carbon in their rich soils than most other trees, which makes them valuable assets in the fight against global heating. They also buffer storm surges, provide breeding grounds for fish and a host of other marine animals, and serve as effective filtration systems that prevent the influx of saline water which renders soil unfit for agriculture.Biodiversity is an important ecosystem benefit that mangrove forests provide. Community and biodiversity-based ecotourism in mangroves can help generate incentives for conservation and sustainable management. Tourists have a wide range of options to experience the wonderful biodiversity of mangrove forests, including through boat tours, kayaking, snorkeling, bird watching and nighttime crab fishing. In Madagascar, mangroves are home to lemurs which are among the most threatened group of mammals on Earth. These “swamp lemurs” were documented for the first time just a few years ago.“Mangrove forests are highly productive ecosystems and their conservation should be the first priority, but where mangroves have disappeared restoration has also proved possible,” says United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) coastal and marine ecosystems expert Gabriel Grimsditch.In 2019, the United Nations issued a massive global call to action to mobilize the political and financial support necessary to restore the world’s deforested and degraded ecosystems. The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration will run from 2021 to 2030 and emphasize scaling-up of restoration work to address the severe degradation of landscapes and forests, including mangroves, our marine blue forests.
The wonder trees that nurture marine biodiversity
