Awareness to protect mangrove stocks
The Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Local Government, Housing and Environment, Joshua Wycliffe, says there is a need to conserve and protect mangrove stocks.
He said the ministry is conducting awareness campaigns to ensure mangrove stocks are replenished and increased.
Mr Wycliffe spoke at the second anniversary of the Global Mangrove Alliance partnership in Fiji and the celebration of World Mangroves Day at My Suva Picnic Park on Thursday.
The programme was a way of raising awareness on proper ways of replanting mangroves, which serve as a transition between marine and terrestrial environments. It was followed by planting mangrove seedlings.
Mr Wycliffe said mangroves provided critical protection from the impacts of climate change, including absorbing wave energy and storm surges, adapting to rising sea levels and stabilising shorelines from erosion.
“There are lot of micro-organisms which grow around the mangroves, also mangroves are traditionally used for construction, herbal medicines, firewood and for gathering of crabs and fish,” he said. “There are two things we would like to do. That is protect what we already have and secondly to improve and ensure mangroves thrive around our costal lines. “A mangrove tree takes a good six to eight years before it grows. Once it grows then full benefits are realised.”
Fiji’s mangrove area is approximately 42,600 hectares of mangrove forest with largest swathes found in Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.
The Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) is a global partnership between by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Conservation International (CI), The National Conservancy (TNC) and Wetlands International.
The aim of the partnership is to reverse the alarming and ongoing loss of critical important habitats and push for commitments for international to local scales to halt and reverse mangrove loss globally.