MUSCAT -- "Chopping down mangrove forests indiscriminately can cause environmental imbalance which would pave way for problems galore", says a top official at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs. Mangrove forests act as a nursery and refuge for marine fauna, juveniles and larvae to grow before moving to deep water apart from providing shelter for lobsters, crabs and other crustaceans and oysters.
It also offers nutrients while protecting beaches from erosion especially in tropical and sub-tropical regions. "By destroying these shrubs, one is making sure that the balancing act of the nature is jeopardised", Badr al Balushi, Head of Wetland Environment at the ministry told the Observer in an exclusive interview.
The need:
He says the importance of mangroves has long been recognised and the strong barks of it has been utilised by man for various purposes such as medicinal ingredient as they contain vital organic compounds, for building houses, boats, fencing, carving and for certain crafts and for making paper. "It has been proved that some communities living nearby mangrove cultivation use the leaves and fruits as fodder for livestock" Badr said. "In the Sultanate itself, many researches conducted in this regard have found that there were mangrove trees here nearly 3,000 to 4,000 years ago", he added.
The potential dangers to marine and land resources:
"For each country it is of prime importance to maintain environmental factors healthy and attractive for the tourists. When you transplant a tree or plant in your city/village, it helps you retain good C02, hydrocarbon in the air. It is a known fact that mangrove trees are one of the best to retain C02. If you transplant more mangrove plants in a given land, that means you are making environmental air in and around your city fresh and clean", Badr emphasised.
Environmental hazards:
It is of high concern in Oman and we have three potential problems as far as preservation of mangrove trees is concerned. "First of all, we need to make public aware about the benefits of the mangrove trees. It should be an eye-opener for the public who cut down these trees. Next, we need to take care of the animals including camels because they feed on the leaves of these trees. It is a very good cattle feed for them and finally, we are worried about some diseases that come from trees which will affect trees themselves", Badr revealed.
Ministry's initiative to transplant mangrove plants:
In fact, these issues have forced the ministry to transplant more mangrove trees. "We are trying hard to make public aware of the importance of mangrove trees. We are successfully fencing the mangrove cultivation areas". Many tourists are visiting these mangrove trees to take photos of birds, environment, etc and they write about the mangrove projects of Sultanate when they reach their homeland".
The ministry has various ongoing mangrove projects since 2001. It has planted nearly 500,000 mangrove trees in and around Muscat and Al Batinah region, and is heading Al Wusta area in Salalah with a project of transplanting 4,000 mangrove trees there. Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs and Japanese embassy will come forward to plant 2,000 seedlings of mangrove trees in Qurum. local people are invited to the event on December 10 at 8 am.
Now we are going to find new locations:
The cyclonic storm that wreaked havoc in Oman years ago had a toll on mangrove plants as well. Several clusters of these plantations were damaged in Qurum area. "These are the areas where we are going to focus on transplantation of mangrove trees". He says women and students have greater roles in the preservation and replanting of mangrove trees. "We are working out several projects for them and are already a part of our projects", Badr concluded.
By Kabeer Yousuf
© Oman Daily Observer 2009
