This great news has even more importance than most people think. Mangroves sequester far more carbon than other forests and the carbon is sequestered for a much longer period of time compared to your normal forests. Along with this, the mangrove tree root system provide nurseries for many fish species that go on to populate coral reefs, a beautiful natural wonder. These fish also provide jobs to the local fisherman who require the fish to provide an income.
Sri Lanka have only managed to protect the forests through careful planning and providing alternative jobs to those who require them with the main plan to provide micro-loans to nearly 15,000 women along with training to start businesses and in return, the women will guard t the forests near their homes. They are hoping that other 120 nations that have mangrove forests will feel obliged to try and protect some of their forests as well.
Mangrove forests have been cut down mainly for the shrimp and prawn industry, both with illegal and legal removal. These prawn or shrimp farms account for only half of the worlds supply for the fish and with the demand always increasing it does mean that in come nations mangrove forests are sadly still being cut down.
An interesting study released after the the 2004 tsunami compared a village that had mangrove forest and one that didn't. Both villages were hit by the wave but in the village that had dense mangrove forests and scrubs surrounding it, only 2 people died. The other village had up to 6000 individuals killed by the wave. This huge difference just shows that nature can play a huge role in coast line protection and that often nature is the best defence against itself.
Fingers crossed that Sri Lanka can lead the way and influence other nations to follow suit.
To read more about the overall project from the BBC click here and if you want to understand how the women are important in the project have a read of the guardian piece here
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