The international scientific community recently recognized
three UP professors’ programs to protect mangrove forests. Professors Rene
Rollon and Maricar Samson’s work on mangroves has widely been quoted by several
environmental groups as a basis for the creation of better programs for mangrove
restorations worldwide.
In the June 2008 issue of the Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences journal Ambio, Professors Rollon and Samson pointed out that government
efforts to promote and protect mangrove reforestation in the country were noble
but have not considered the needs of mangroves. The study, which encompasses the
20-year period of the government project, was released after environmentalists
expressed concern over the fast disappearing mangrove forests along the
country’s shorelines. To date, the Philippines has lost about 75 percent of its
mangrove forests over the past century.
The government project, which set out to restore the
country’s lost mangrove forests, began two decades ago, covering some 44,000
hectares. In their studies of more than 70 project sites, the professors found
that the mangrove trees were mostly dead, dying, or dismally stunted. These
results, they said, were because the agencies or organizations that conducted
the reforestation project lacked an understanding of the various needs of the
mangrove trees. They also said that, instead of the project aiding the
restoration of the mangroves, the mismanagement of the project could result in
an ecological threat to other plant and animal species in the area where the
mangroves are situated.
However, according to Rollon and Samson, the impending
disaster with the mangrove forests is not an irreversible blunder. If the
project should continue and government improves its efforts, the participating
agencies and organizations should have sufficient knowledge of the needs of the
mangrove trees and better address them.
On the other hand, mangrove-protection advocate Dr. Jurgenne
Primavera was recently named by TIME magazine as one of its 100 Heroes of the
Environment.
He was among 30 scientists, environmentalists and activists
chosen by TIME magazine as Heroes of the Environment for 2008. Primavera’s work
on tiger prawns and their relation to mangrove forests was commended as a
groundbreaking study into the importance of mangroves in aquaculture. Her work
makes a sound alternative in balancing ecological preservation, livelihood
demands, scientific research, and economic development.
According to Primavera, sustainable aquaculture that does not
endanger aquatic ecology is feasible. To do this, governments need to enact
sound policies that give due consideration to the aqua farms of fishermen and,
at the same time, work to protect the mangrove forests often threatened by large
scale aqua-farming. She said that the ideal ratio should be four mangrove
reserves to one aqua-farm or pond. This ratio ensures the safety, proliferation
and preservation of various species, while sustaining the livelihood of fishing
communities.
Primavera, who is considered an authority in mangroves in the
country, has conducted studies on the coastal trees since the 1970s. She earned
her degree in zoology at UP Diliman.
She later joined other scientists at the formation of the South East Asian
Fisheries Development Center in Iloilo.
