altrendo nature/Getty Images
READ MORE ABOUT:
Mangroves are "trees and shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats in the tropics and subtropics" and are found in "depositional coastal environments where fine sediments, often with high organic content, collect in areas protected from high energy wave action." The United Nations Environment Program has estimated that a quarter of the destruction of mangrove forests stems from shrimp farming.
Over at Mangrove.at, they explain: "Humans destroy coral reefs, seaweed plants soft-earth fauna by using nets, dynamite and poisons. Larva and young animals are killed. The symbiosis between mangrove forests and coral reefs and their inhabitants does not function anymore.
A sunk oil tank can cause severe oil pollution, mangroves totally stop breathing, new roots cannot be formed, young plants die off. Animals and organisms that help maintain biological and chemical balance also die off." When humans destroy mangroves, they leave themselves exposed to the aforementioned "high energy wave action."
Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan, who, according to the BBC, said this after the 2008 Burma cyclone: "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. Human beings are now direct victims of such natural forces."
Related Posts:
Do I Dare to Eat a Shrimp?
