ILOILO – Today the provincial government hopes to plant 5,000 mangrove propagules in Barangay Alacaygan, Banate town.
The planting – and subsequent coastal cleanup in the same village – is the provincial government’s way of marking Earth Day.
Earth Day was universally marked on April 22 this year but here, according to Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) chief Atty. Arturo Cangrejo, it was moved to today because planting mangrove propagules needed to be timed with the ebbing of the tide.
“Ang pinaka-favorable nga schedule is this Saturday,” said Cangrejo yesterday.
Today’s mangrove planting is expected to gather some 500 participants (capitol employees, students, stakeholders from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region 6 and other government agencies).
Propagating mangroves is part of the Action for Re-greening and Transformation Program: Climate Change Adaptation – (ART-CCA) of Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr.
ART-CCA started in 2010. Its goal is to plant one million trees and mangroves each year.
Like coral reefs, mangrove forests are extremely productive ecosystems that provide numerous goods and services both to the marine environment and people. They are home to a large variety of fish, crab, shrimp, and mollusk species. These fisheries form an essential source of food for coastal communities.
Meanwhile, the dense root systems of mangrove forests trap sediments flowing down rivers and off the land. This helps stabilizes the coastline and prevents erosion from waves and storms. In areas where mangroves have been cleared, coastal damage from typhoons is much more severe./PN
