Destruction of mangroves hit

Mangroves serve as breeding grounds for numerous marine species that thrive above and below the waterline. They also help fight global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and protect coastal areas from violent storm surges and floods by becoming natural barriers.
Mangroves serve as breeding grounds for numerous marine species that thrive above and below the waterline. They also help fight global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and protect coastal areas from violent storm surges and floods by becoming natural barriers.

ROXAS City – Human activities are destructive to mangroves in Barangay Lonoy, Sapian, Capiz, according to the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO).

Its nursery attendants counted a total of 3,510 mangroves destroyed.

“For many years, human activity has caused huge biodiversity loss in land and marine ecosystems in the province, endangering many plant and animal species and putting many lives at risk,” PENRO lamented in a statement.

Mangroves serve as breeding grounds for numerous marine species that thrive above and below the waterline. They also help fight global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and protect coastal areas from violent storm surges and floods by becoming natural barriers.

The destruction of the mangroves is a “sign of (people’s) unawareness” of their importance, not to mention the laws that protect them, PENRO said.

Cutting of mangroves is a violation of Presidential Decree 705, as amended by Republic Act 7161, or the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines.

“Now more than ever, we must all come together to end the destruction and exploitation of the only thing that sustains us – our environment,” PENRO stressed.

It thanked concerned citizens who support its mangrove rehabilitation program, however, “we cannot be lulled into a false sense of security thinking that other people uphold their self-interests than the common good.”/PN 

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