Students unite to save mangroves

CONSERVATION

By ZARA KANU
MANGROVE protection awareness is now a priority given the increase in climate change issues along coastlines.
Coastal communities need to be more aware given the evidence of climate change in rising sea levels, coastal degradation, near extinction to marine life and other marine related disasters.
Under the Eda Davara Sanctuary, headed by project manager Alena Gebai, a group of graduate marine biologists are taking the lead in promoting awareness and educating the coastal communities about conserving mangrove habitats.
The team through research and awareness are working tirelessly to ensure mangroves species are preserved along the coastlines to avoid future environmental destruction.
It is the fruiting season or just about starting from June to August and seedling collection should be conducted during peak of the fruiting season, after the April-May flowering.
Mangrove seedling is the second step for the mangrove reproduction process after fruit or weed from each individual mangrove and it is around this time nursery or replanting of seedlings is crucial to sustaining its life.
The Kohua beach along the Barakau coastline of Hiri East in Central, has reserved a 500-metre-wide mangrove growth which is used for conservation and research for university students conducting research and for awareness programmes to schools, organisations and the public.
Sanctuary project manager and marine biologist Alena Gebai said: “It is important to preserve mangroves along the coastlines because it is a protection of coastal areas.
“Planting mangroves can reduce shoreline erosion and can protect coastal communities against coastal flooding, high winds and waves, and tsunamis and furthermore it sees to the restoration of a mangrove ecosystem.
“Mangrove forests nurture our estuaries and fuel our nature-based economies. Mangrove forests also provides habitat and refuge to a wide array of wildlife such as birds, fish, invertebrates, mammals and plants.
“The trunks of mangroves absorb the impact of waves, making them an excellent front line defence that helps to protect higher ground. Restoring and protecting mangroves and valuing their role as a nature based-solution improve resilience of coastal communities and national economies,” she said.

It was interesting to learn that there are different species of mangroves bordering the coastline, along the shoreline are shorter in nature, towards the middle of the swamp have aerial roots and the groves closer to land can grow into tall trees.
The rooting system differs with the different species depending on where the mangroves are situated or zoned.
More than 1,500 plants and animal species depend on mangroves to survive, even birds and other animals that use the shallow water surfaces to build their nurseries.
So just imagine if you were part of the species that depend entirely on the mangrove forests, then yes your life depends on it and therefore it is important to note that a small act of awareness can go a long way in saving natural habitats, the coastline and even the world.
These are small steps in conservation, but what awareness is conducting is crucial to human survival because we also depend on food from these eco-systems that thrive from the mangroves.
In 2023, the Kohua Beach was established as a sanctuary with the aim to establish a marine research Centre in the project site.
The purpose of the project is to provide a platform for university students who have interests in research to implement their projects within the sanctuary serve as a learning hub for students to interact with different Marine ecosystems and the organisms found within them.
As part of increasing awareness, Eda Davara announced the EcoExplorers programme for school kids from grades 3-12, earlier this year. It is designed to provide an educational hub for school students to interact with different marine eco-systems where they can learn and expand their knowledge of the functions, biodiversity and organisms found within them.
Before school commenced this academic year, the EcoExplorers had a day trip to Kohua beach in Barakau Village. This was the beginning of holiday programme that would follow during the year.
The programme involved scientific exploration into the seagrass meadows for grades 3-8 and the mangrove forest for grades 9-12 with the Eda

Planting mangroves can reduce shoreline erosion and can protect coastal communities against coastal flooding, high winds and waves, and tsunamis and furthermore it sees to the restoration of a mangrove ecosystem.

Davara research team and followed by some fun time in between.
From time to time, the local villagers provide small markets of local fresh coconuts and food for visitors passing through and access to amenities when requested.

As an ongoing programme to the mangrove conservation, the site is used regularly for research work by students studying marine biology, major paper or thesis analysis on marine related research findings and school science projects.
Last week Saturday (June 15), a seedling collection programme was organised by the team at the site and registration was open on social media for the public to participate to promote environmental awareness and ownership in contributing to coastline protection.
Registered participants paid a fee that would cover for the transportation costs and the seedling bags for planting.
Part of the activity involved collecting and planting mangrove seedlings into nursery bags as part of the Kohua Mangrove Nursery project, which is a community engagement initiative by Eda Davara.
About 30 volunteers and EcoExplorers were available and spent the day along the mangrove forest, interacting with other volunteers and gaining education from researchers on mangroves and its importance and why the seedling collection was crucial to the preservation of mangroves.
Over 200 seedlings were collected and brought over to the nursery at the end of the forest where instructions where given on how to plant a seedling into a plastic bag.
It was important to note on how to plant the seedlings because the nursery left unattended is covered by water when the tide comes back in and therefore holding the wet soil and pressing it into a ground ball shape at the base at the roots holds the plant together.
Once the plants grow to a certain stage, then are replanted along the coastline or along areas where mangroves trees have died.
Gebai said: “This is important as we are promoting environmental awareness and teaching people to take ownership of conserving the mangrove habitat as their contribution to coastline protection.
“The trunks of mangroves absorb the impact of waves, making them an excellent front line of defense that helps to protect higher ground.
“Restoring and protecting mangroves and valuing their role as a nature based-solution improve resilience for the coastal communities. So this awareness programme we are driving is vital to everyone living along the coastlines,” she concluded.