Thai mangrove forestation 'stable' after years of decline

By The Nation

 

Photo credit: PxHere

 

A Thai mangrove forest has been stabilised for several years, Thon Thamrongnawasawat, well-known ecologist, posted on his Facebook page to celebrate the National Mangrove Forest Day on Sunday (May 10).

 

The mangrove forest had covered 2 million rai (320,000 hectares) 40 years ago, he said.

 

Deforestation and shrimp farming have contributed to the decline of the mangrove coverage area to 1.5 million rai today, he lamented.

 

However, the good news is that the mangrove tree area has been stabilised for past several years, he said.

 

Overall, deforestation of mangrove in Thailand was about 40,000 to 50,000 rai on average, the same rate as reclamation of those deforested areas.

 

The largest mangrove forests are in Phang-nga, Ranong. On the Siam Gulf, large mangrove forests are in Chanthaburi, Trat and Surat Thani, and Bangkok also has about 4,000 rai of mangrove trees, he said.

 

People catch 90 types of aqua animals from a mangrove forest and the value of fish, crab, shrimps being harvested by people per one rai of mangrove tree is estimated to be worth about Bt5,000 a year, he said.

 

He said food from mangrove forest is more important amid the outbreak of Covid-19 as people’s income has declined.

 

Mangrove trees can also absorb carbon dioxide two to three times more than ordinary trees.

 

When countries implement carbon credit, countries which have large areas of mangrove forests will greatly benefit from the upcoming agreement, he added.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30387623

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-05-11

 

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3 hours ago, webfact said:

Mangrove trees can also absorb carbon dioxide two to three times more than ordinary trees.

And the reason for that is......?

16 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

And the reason for that is......?

I help mangrove restore project before. They important place for nature.

 

Tropical wetland forests such as peatlands, mangroves are among efficient carbon stores. According to a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, coastal mangrove forests contain 1,023mg carbon per hectare on average. By protecting existing mangrove forests and allowing them to spread from their original habitats, we can mitigate the effects of climate change by relying on these hardy plants to suck more carbon out of the atmosphere.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Deforestation and shrimp farming have contributed to the decline of the mangrove coverage area to 1.5 million rai today, he lamented.

There is a solution for that.

1 hour ago, Yinn said:

we can mitigate the effects of climate change

And what would they be?

Whereas the 4 million litres of agent orange dropped over Viet Nam destroyed over 20% of the country's mangroves and still have not fully recovered from the devastation.

Most Thai charcoal is mangrove!