MAP News Issue #595 – April 6, 2024

PHILIPPINES – Along the flood-prone coasts of the Philippines, one of the defining dilemmas of the climate crisis – how to balance environmental needs with economic development – is dominating a debate around the restoration of mangrove forests. Conservationists want the government to ensure disused aquaculture ponds – used to farm fish and shellfish – revert to their natural state as mangrove forests, allowing them to form a natural barrier against erosion, floods and storm surges. But they fear a new law to boost the struggling salt industry – the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act – could see these fishponds converted to salt farms instead, creating less favourable conditions for restoration. Mangroves are crucial in the fight against climate change because they are more effective than most other forests at absorbing and storing planet-heating carbon. As well as acting as a natural barrier to coastal erosion and storms, they also support a range of wildlife and provide nutrients to the wider ecosystem, boosting fish stocks. That’s why conservationists have long called on the Philippine government and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), which oversees the process, to speed up the reversion of fishponds to mangroves.

BRAZIL – The Amazon is a diverse biome, with several distinct ecosystems. Among them, mangroves are little known but no less important for the environment: it is in northern Brazil where the largest continuous stretch of mangroves in the world is found. In addition to being more extensive, Amazonian mangroves are the best preserved. Less than 1% of all mangrove areas in the region, which is about 7,800 km2, have suffered devastation in recent years. Mangroves extend from Amapá to Maranhão, passing through the coast of Pará. And much of this conservation is due to the presence of traditional communities. Mangroves provide food and income for quilombolas, riverside dwellers, fishermen, and indigenous peoples. Additionally, they are an important site for carbon dioxide capture, which helps combat global warming. Traditional communities are at the forefront of mangrove protection since they depend on them for their livelihoods — a set of 14 adult crabs is sold for R$10, according to Roseti de Araújo, president of the Remnant Quilombola Association of America.The ecosystem in the Amazon, pressured by predatory fishing, is essential for the subsistence of the population of the northern coast of Brazil

GUAYANA – A group of young indigenous girls and boys are being trained to champion conservation efforts in the Barima Mora Passage. They are being trained to use drone technology to protect mangroves and raise awareness about their importance within their local communities On March 20, British High Commissioner Jane Miller, Programme Manager Kassia De Santos and Political, Press and Public Affairs Officer Tianna Graham visited region one to observe the training provided as part of the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) Blue Social Challenge Fund. During the visit, the high commissioner presented a DJI Mavic 3 Pro drone to Project Director of the Guyana Marine Conservation Society Annette Arjoon. Through the three-month pilot programme, seven youths from Aruka, Smith Creek, Morawhanna, and Imbotero were trained and received certification in drone operation for monitoring mangroves and the coastal ecosystem. Their work will support the Barima Mora Passage blue economy and enhance climate resilience. By monitoring and capturing aerial footage of areas impacted by illegal clearing and natural as well as man-made fires. The climate champions will help to monitor the mangrove ecosystems and report threats so action can be taken to prevent further degradation.

PHILIPPINES – The Geospatial Database Office (GDO) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has found little progress in selected National Greening Program (NGP) mangrove rehabilitation sites when they compared historical satellite images to 2022 photos. Reforestation efforts in mangrove sites in Calauag, Quezon province, for example, started in 2013. But seven years later, satellite images show empty patches where mangroves should have already grown. It’s the same scenario in other NGP sites in Pampanga, Eastern Samar, and Pangasinan. Agatha Bedi, an ecologist in the GDO specializing in coastal ecosystems, used satellite images, DENR’s maps of NGP sites, and the mangrove map from the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, for this initiative. “There’s a lot of available information out there, but no one’s collecting and analyzing,” said Bedi in a mix of Filipino and English during an office visit.In the same year, the DENR partnered with the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) and produced the National Mangrove Map 2023 using remotely sensed images taken from the European Space Agency’s imaging mission Sentinel-2 and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s ALOS PALSAR2.

GLOBAL – Scientists find that mangrove seedlings inoculated with diesel-degrading bacteria are more tolerant to diesel contamination. Diesel is an important driver of economic growth but also has negative impacts on estuarine ecosystems that are hard to ignore. In this regard, the potential of mangrove ecosystems for phytoremediation of diesel-contaminated soil remains unknown. Scientists have now found that Bacillus safensis-SH10, Sphingomonas sp.-LK11, Rhodococcus corynebacterioides-NZ1, and Bacillus subtilis-EP1 can significantly improve mangrove seedling tolerance to diesel contamination, opening the door for managing pollutants in estuarine ecosystems with bacterial-enhanced phytoremediation. Long-chain n-alkanes in diesel are damaging to plant growth. Scientists have found that augmenting mangrove seedlings with a bacterial inoculum can improve their tolerance to diesel contamination and overall growth. Fostering beneficial relationships can pay dividends in the long run. In plant-microbe associations, relationships that impact ecosystems in the context of mitigating hydrocarbon pollutants are receiving plenty of attention. Diesel has a prominent role in propping up most economies. However, diesel contamination from spills poses a significant threat to many estuarine ecosystems. As a result of these spills, estuarine ecosystems face threats to soil aeration, infiltration, and permeability. These spills also take a heavy toll on mangroves and the ecosystem services they provide a habitat to live in and a sanctuary to breed for a diverse group of marine organisms.

GLOBAL – The recovery phase of mangrove seedlings in coastal wetland ecosystems can be negatively affected by exposure to external pollutants. This study aimed to investigate the impact of microplastics (MPs) influx, specifically polystyrene (PS) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), on the growth of Aegiceras corniculatum seedlings and their accumulation of heavy metals (HMs). PS and PMMA significantly increased HMs accumulation (up to 21.0–548%), particularly in the roots of seedlings, compared to the control treatment (CK). Additionally, elevated activities of malondialdehyde and catalase enzymes were observed in the leaves of seedlings, while peroxidase enzyme activity decreased. Topological analysis of the root sediment microbiota coexistence network revealed that the modularization data increased from 0.69 (CK treatment) to 1.07 (PS treatment) and 5.11 (PMMA treatment) under the combined stress of MPs and HMs. This suggests that the introduction of MPs intensifies microbial modularization. The primary cause of increased HMs accumulation in plants is the MPs input, which influences the secretion of organic acids by plants and facilitates the shift of HMs in sediment to bioavailable states. Furthermore, changes in microbial clustering may also contribute to the elevated HMs accumulation in plants.

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