Publisher : Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2008
Thematic : Mangroves
Language : English
Note
"The effort toward restoring lost mangroves in the
Philippines has been commendably immense, specifically
during the past two decades. In light of such, it is
important to evaluate outcomes and, where appropriate,
apply the lessons learned to the current strategies in
mangrove forest management. This article synthesizes
the results from several research projects assessing the
performance of planted mangroves across the country.
Overall, there is a widespread tendency to plant mangroves
in areas that are not the natural habitat of
mangroves, converting mudflats, sandflats, and seagrass
meadows into often monospecific Rhizophora mangrove
forests. In these nonmangrove areas, the Rhizophora
seedlings experienced high mortality. Of the few that
survived (often through persistent and redundant replanting),
the young Rhizophora individuals planted in these
nonmangrove and often low intertidal zones had dismally
stunted growth relative to the corresponding growth
performance of individuals thriving at the high intertidal
position and natural mangrove sites. From this evidence,
this article argues that a more rational focus of the
restoration effort should be the replanting of mangroves
in the brackish-water aquaculture pond environments, the
original habitat of mangroves. For such, a number of
management options can be explored, the implementation
of which will ultimately depend on the political will of
local and national governments."
Go to source
Keywords :
Encoded by : Mae Belen Llanza