Climate Matters. M is for Mangroves

This post is for M in the A-Z Blogging Challenge 2012. Link in the sidebar.


Mangroves are often seen to be an expendable part of the marine environment. They don't have the majesty of towering Mountain Ash or the dramatic bark of Ghost Gums or Snow Gums. Westernport Bay in southern Victoria is home to the southernmost stands of our Earth's mangroves - the area is listed under the International Ramsar Convention for protection of migratory birds.

These mangroves are squat, insignificant, slightly muddy smelling and seem to have small crabs perpetually running around the air roots. If you happen to carelessly step off the nearby packed earth, you'll sink to your knees in none too pleasant mud which is difficult to remove. There is a strange musical sound as air pockets pop in the greyish mud.

Mangroves at Tooradin on Westernport Bay. Victoria

So, why bother agitating for them to be saved when developers move in to reclaim land or sea for refineries, housing, harbours or fish farming?

Mangroves are a salt tolerant plant and are concentrated along many coastal areas. They store a huge amount of carbon, up to 4 times more than tropical rain-forests, so when they’re cleared, carbon, which is a green house gas, is released into the atmosphere. Their complex root systems which anchor the plants into the underwater sediment and slow down the incoming tidal waters, allow organic and inorganic materials to settle and decay extremely slowly, making them in effect, a high carbon storage tank.

We need mangroves to store carbon, not to release it. 


Many animals and other creatures are dependant on mangroves to survive and are threatened with extensive clearing. Crabs, birds, insects and fish may be reliant on each other for survival, and many have adapted to the salty environment and inter-tidal changes. Mangroves provide safe breeding grounds for fish and their leaves break down providing nutrients for a variety of other creatures.

Mangroves at Tooradin on Westernport Bay. Victoria

Increasingly in Indonesia and Thailand, mangroves are being cleared for aquaculture. Many varieties of imported prawn (shrimp) are farmed in ponds and tanks, which can be fed from already stressed and overfished wild populations. Unfortunately, environmental regulations may not be stringent, so there is the potential for untreated run off and pollution being released into the already degraded local areas.

Rising sea levels, extreme weather events and storm surges impact more dramatically when the mangrove buffer has been cleared, destabilising the sand and mud. Sound planning guidelines need to be implemented to safeguard communities along these important coastlines.

By protecting mangroves, we not only capture carbon, prevent erosion, and safeguard communities, but encourage fish breeding and maintain the habitat of endangered and migratory birds, local reptiles and mammals which are threatened with extinction if the current rate of mangrove loss continues.

Last year I wrote about Mind, Mates, Movement and Manipulation for M for my theme of workplace bullying. Here.
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