Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: Environment, Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar, Burma, Mangrove, Rhizophora species, Shrimp Farming, Fish Farming

I've written about the importance of mangrove forests before, and about the environmental disasters and human tragedies that result when they are wantonly destroyed. Unfortunately, as we are witnessing now, the widespread destruction of Burma's mangroves has magnified yet another human disaster in the wake of cyclone Nargis, a tragedy that might have claimed more than 100,000 lives, according to some news services' estimates.

"Encroachment into mangrove forests, which used to serve as a buffer between the rising tide, between big waves and storms and residential areas; all those lands have been destroyed," said Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general for the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Even though Cyclone Nargis was a strong storm, with winds clocked at 190km/h (120mph), it was the storm's surge that caused the most damage and death.

"The wave was up to 12 feet (3.5 meters) high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," said Burma's minister for relief and resettlement, Maung Maung Swe. "They did not have anywhere to flee."

Mangroves are a group of salt-tolerant evergreens that grow in tropical and subtropical areas where ever marine and fresh water meet; coastlines, deltas and rivers. Mangroves form a dense forest with an extensive root system that buffers residential areas and farms against the effects of storms, tsunamis, freak ocean waves and rising tides. However, mangroves are under pressure from humans who eagerly rip them out and replace them with shrimp and fish farms, as seen throughout southeast Asia and other coastal regions of the world.

Unfortunately, Burma's mangroves suffered as a result of being overexploited. A recent United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study reported that 3.6 million hectares (35%) of all mangrove forests were destroyed since 1980. The study also pointed out that Asia had suffered the greatest loss, with the destruction of more than 1.9 million hectares.

"There are very limited areas that you would describe as pristine or densely covered mangrove in the Irrawaddy area," said Mette Wilkie, a senior forestry officer for the FAO, referring to the region of Burma where Cyclone Nagris first made landfall.

These mangroves were replaced with fish and shrimp farms, and were also destroyed to meet the demands of tourism and of large populations of people living along coastlines.

"The impact is so severe because of the increase of the population," observed Pitsuwan.

As I found in early 2005 when I was writing about the tsunami that killed roughly 200,000 people (more than half of them in Indonesia alone);

The protective qualities of mangroves were .. observed in 1999 when a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal claimed more than 10,000 lives and washed away several coastal villages in the state of Orissa on India's eastern coast. This was one of the worst cyclones in history with winds of 160 miles per hour. However, amidst all the damages, it was noted that villages in and around neighboring Bhitarkanika were spared much of the cyclone's fury: Bhitarkanika is the second largest mangrove forest in India. [ref].

This cyclone was a terrible event, but the needless loss of mangroves worsened the cost in human lives lost and widespread damage to property and much-needed agricultural areas. We not only need to help the thousands of survivors in their time of need, but we also must help replant the mangroves in Burma and elsewhere to prevent tragedies that will inevitably occur in the future.

Sources

BBCNews (quotes)

Mangroves and Tsunamis: The Shrimp Connection -- Lots of background!