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Mangroves’ days are numbered: ecologist

HCM CITY — Tropical mangrove forests, a large proportion of which were once found in Viet Nam, are under threat from extinction, a top biologist warned experts in HCM City.

Aprilani Soegiarto, who is the President of the International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, or ISME blamed the mangrove decline on coastal communities for exploiting marine resources, and industries for dumping toxic waste in the sea.

Viet Nam’s case is unique as the Can Gio mangrove forest was massively reduced during the American war. Although the Government has been taking steps to restore it, the forest currently covers little more than 40,000ha.

Guests at a three day conference which was due to concluded on Friday would visit Can Gio during their stay.

The world contains 23 million ha of such forests, most of which are situated in Brazil, Indonesia and Ghana.

Soegiarto was quick to point out that governments and non-governmental organisations all over the world are calling for drastic measures to be taken to protect the forests, as their existence is considered crucial to the global environment.

The ISME hopes that the world will pull together to save the forests. Over the next few years it will focus its efforts initially on forests in Asia and the Pacific.

It will grow the trees on a number of islands, and organise workshops on how to cultivate them.

The ISME is an NGO founded in 1999 and contains 800 members from over 90 countries.

He made his remarks at the conference held by the ISME Executive Board and the Global Mangrove Database and Information Systems. — VNS