Mangrove Alliance for Climate Change
Here we discussed the importance of community-based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) in various settings around the globe. how you conduct social research to understand the needs of the local community when planning to plant a mangrove site. Highlight the important restoration activities that you have applied during your mangrove projects to assist the local community. Also, explain how the establishment of more mangrove forests can contribute to combating global climate change.
Transcript
00:00Thank you so much, Laura, Mickey for joining RISO from England and it is again a wonderful
00:15possibility for us to have you, your expertise, your dexterity and your professional skills
00:20you are willing to share with us, it's such a possibility for us.
00:24So I just want to start, RISO is a platform where we normally and mainly seek expansion
00:32and better possibilities for research, specifically sociological perspectives, but at the same
00:39time different perspectives, different domain and different dimensions we are very much
00:43open to look at.
00:44So that's the reason we are excited to have you since you have a different background
00:47and different context, which is very much connected to global climate change and different
00:52steps of sustainable development, that's what I figured out my understanding.
00:55So I'm just going to pitch into my first question, it says like, just define yourself, give us
01:01your introduction to our audience and a little brief us up on your qualification and your
01:08area of work.
01:09Of course, yeah.
01:10So my name is Dr. Laura Mickey and I'm based in the United Kingdom, but I work for a US-based
01:19non-profit called Mangrove Action Project and well, I guess my background first, I have
01:26a PhD in marine biology, specifically looking at marine ecology and invertebrate biology
01:34in mangrove forests in Indonesia.
01:37So I spent a couple of years researching in Indonesia and also doing research at the university
01:44here at Portsmouth University in the UK and then I did various other research projects
01:52looking at carbon breakdown in mangroves and plastics and microplastics in coastal ecosystems
01:58and mangroves across Southeast Asia and now I'm working with Mangrove Action Project and
02:05so we work to protect and restore mangrove forests all across the world and we do that
02:12mostly through education and capacity building for local groups working on mangrove restoration
02:18projects.
02:19So, thanks a lot briefing us about your work, your qualification, your area of work.
02:25It is again a possibility, an opportunity for us to figure out and venture into, you
02:30know, different contexts and experience.
02:32Now I would like to switch on to my second question.
02:35It is, kindly elaborate on the community-based ecological mangrove restoration, CBMR, in
02:43different settings that you've been sort of launching and sort of working upon.
02:48I guess to start with, for those that don't know, mangrove forests are, they're trees
02:52that live in saltwater.
02:53They're the only trees in the world that can live in saltwater and they live along coastlines
03:01in tropical and subtropical countries around the world.
03:05So they live in what we call the intertidal zone, so the area where the tide comes in
03:11and the tide goes out every day and they live with their roots in that water.
03:18And so it's quite a challenging environment, which means it can also be quite challenging
03:23to restore mangrove forests.
03:26And so we've seen many failures across the world in restoration projects and usually
03:33that's because groups are planting the wrong species in the wrong place or planting mangroves
03:40where they shouldn't be or planting them in areas that are, you know, the issues or the
03:46challenges that cause the mangrove loss haven't been overcome.
03:49And so what we do at Mangrove Action Project, we don't actually run restoration projects
03:55ourselves because we believe they should be run by the local groups, by the local communities.
04:01And so we offer technical advice and we do trainings and workshops on best practices
04:09in mangrove restoration.
04:11So we have our methodology, which is called Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration,
04:16CBEMR.
04:17It's quite a long title, but we really wanted to highlight the community-based aspect of
04:24it, not just communities, but all local groups, all local stakeholders that have an invested
04:31interest in the mangrove forests, but particularly the communities because a lot of communities
04:38rely on the mangrove forests for their local livelihoods or for construction and building
04:44materials.
04:45And so we really wanted to highlight the, you know, the point of involving local communities
04:50and they are the long-term guardians of the mangrove forests and so involving them is
04:57absolutely essential, you know, for the long-term success of restoration projects.
05:03And then the other side of it, the ecological mangrove restoration, because we want to highlight
05:08the need for working with nature to restore the mangrove forests rather than just kind
05:15of go into a mass planting trees.
05:18We want to make sure that we're working with nature, understanding the local issues, understanding
05:23the local species to restore the mangroves so that they can come back, you know, long-term
05:28and healthy.
05:29Great.
05:30Assalamualaikum.
05:31Salaam Sujataera.
05:32Shalom.
05:33Om Swastiastu.
05:34Namo Buddhaya.
05:35Salaam Kobachikan.
05:36Hi, everyone.
05:37It's Laura here from Mangrove Action Project with an intro to the process of CBEMR, Community-Based
05:38Ecological Mangrove Restoration.
05:39Okay.
05:40So before you jump into your mangrove restoration project by planting or building a nursery,
05:59let's tick off these steps and always together with the local community and the local stakeholders.
06:06The first step is to research the biophysical aspects of your proposed site, especially
06:11the hydrology, stresses, local species, and elevations, then move on to some social research
06:19to understand the needs of the local people, the mangrove ownership, as well as the site
06:23history and potential for liveliness.
06:27Study a local natural reference mangrove to give you an idea of what might be possible
06:32at your restoration site.
06:34Through your analysis, you should be building up an understanding of the problems and changes
06:39needed on your site.
06:40If not, you might need more data.
06:44It's now time to map out your plans and discuss the objectives of your actions, then moving
06:49on to implementing your restoration activities, which might include digging channels or other
06:55work to improve hydrology.
06:57Make sure to keep monitoring the site and adapt your plan as you find out what is and
07:02isn't working.
07:03And remember to keep working with local communities throughout the project and all the local stakeholders.
07:09We're happy to help if you have any questions, so please get in touch.
07:12Good luck with your project and check out the links below for more information.
07:17Samba jumpa!
07:26Learning that your project focuses community-based intervention, that's what I figured out,
07:32and it is important because in sociology also we do seek a lot of community-based intervention
07:38in our research, in our social projects.
07:41So it is really awesome to once again, you know, repeating that your projects have community-based
07:49interventions and possibilities.
07:51So that's what I figured out.
07:52Now, I would like to move on to my third question.
07:55It says, explain how do you conduct social research?
07:59One question from our perspective also, explain how do you conduct social research to understand
08:05the needs of the local community when planning to plant a mangrove site?
08:11Really good question.
08:14So when it comes to a restoration project, we often conduct two types of research.
08:19So the first type is the environmental or what we might call biophysical research, and
08:25that's really looking at understanding the forest itself or the degraded area where the
08:31trees have been lost and looking at the soil type, the salinity, you know, the tides and
08:36things like that.
08:37But then, and that's really understanding kind of the science of it, but then there's
08:42also the social side of it, which is absolutely vital, like you said, for the restoration
08:47projects.
08:48And so that's working with the local community, the local forestry officers, all of the local
08:54groups, especially as mangrove scientists, you know, we really understand the science
09:00of the trees, but actually understanding the local context and the local forest, that's
09:05absolutely down to that local ecological knowledge.
09:08So the local communities, the local groups.
09:12And so we often conduct either interviews or kind of household level meetings or we
09:19conduct whole community level or government meetings to understand the actual kind of
09:26local knowledge, the site history, we might say.
09:29And so asking questions like, what did the mangrove forest used to look like?
09:35When was it lost?
09:36What were the reasons for loss?
09:38Maybe who owns the land?
09:40And then also really understanding the needs of the local community.
09:43And we often, you know, we often see that it affects the poorest in society the most.
09:48So the communities that really rely on the forests, either for building materials or for
09:54livelihoods or for food security.
09:57And so their needs absolutely have to be met if they need to chop down the trees to build
10:02houses because they don't have any sort of access to alternatives, then those have to be
10:08addressed for the project to be successful.
10:10If we want the forest to be restored, then we have to focus also on the needs of the
10:16community and, you know, really kind of finding those alternatives so that the community
10:22can have a livelihood and have an income whilst also seeing the forest thrive.
10:28Welcome to learn that biophysical part of your research and how do you conduct these two
10:33types of research?
10:35Again, what I figure out as for works and interaction is like the focus is the very site,
10:42the very community where the research project is being conducted.
10:46So I would like to now move on to my fourth question, says like share the important
10:50restoration activities, share the important restoration activities that you have applied
10:56during mangrove projects to assist the local community.
11:00And I think it's really important to kind of think about the local context of the site.
11:05So there is no kind of one size fits all solution to mangrove restoration.
11:10It really depends on the local issues and the local challenges.
11:15And so we really have to and working with the local community and the local groups, we
11:20really have to understand why the mangroves were lost.
11:24Because if that site has now become an aquaculture pond or it's been built into a
11:29coastal development, then it probably isn't likely to be able to be returned or restored
11:34into a mangrove forest.
11:36And so understanding those local issues is really important.
11:41And then kind of looking at the challenges and how we overcome those issues.
11:45But I would say a few of the kind of activities that we usually do is working with the
11:53local groups to understand which tree species used to be there and trying to restore as
11:59many of those species as possible.
12:01Rather than just mass planting one single species, because then when it comes to
12:07resilience to climate change or pests or diseases, you know, if there's an outbreak of
12:13a pest or disease, that whole forest is likely to be lost.
12:16Whereas if we try to restore as many of the local species as possible, then it has a lot
12:21more resilience.
12:23And then also there's the habitat available for lots of different terrestrial and marine
12:29animal species as well, which is what a lot of the local groups rely on, you know, for
12:34their food sources.
12:35And so and also a challenge that we often come across with mangrove forests is because
12:42they really rely on the tide coming in and going out every single day.
12:46They really need that water to drain from the soil so that the oxygen can get down into
12:51the roots. And so we've seen a lot of areas where the soil or the water gets trapped in
12:58an area because rivers have been blocked by, you know, if there's flooding and debris
13:04comes down a river or soil gets washed down the river and then it can get trapped in the
13:09river or trapped in some channels.
13:11And then if that water gets trapped in the mangroves, then it's going to suffocate the
13:15trees and they're not going to be able to survive.
13:18And so one of the issues we often have to overcome is removing debris or, you know,
13:24re-digging channels so that the tidal flow can be restored.
13:29So we call that like hydrology, so water flow.
13:33So that they're kind of the main two issues that we often work with communities to do
13:38is to restore the water flow to an area and also making sure that as many of the local
13:45tree species are being restored as possible.
13:49Actually, I guess another issue that I've just thought of as well.
13:54So working recently in Kenya and also Bangladesh and India, we see a lot of animal
14:01grazing. So cows or goats that are just free roaming, they will eat all of the kind of
14:08seedlings and all of the trees that are growing.
14:11And so and sometimes that's the only reason the trees aren't coming back is because, you
14:17know, the local goats are eating everything.
14:19And so finding alternative food sources for the goats can also really help restore the
14:26mangrove forest and actually allow it to come back without that grazing from, you know,
14:31destroying all of the seeds.
14:33That's great. I'm hoping to learn your understanding and professional dexterity
14:38explanation on this one question.
14:41Now, I would like to move on to my next question, which is just to wrap up.
14:45The question says, explain how the establishment of mangrove forests can contribute to
14:53combating global climate change.
14:55They're actually incredibly important for mitigating climate change.
15:00And so because a lot of the root system of the mangrove trees is actually above ground.
15:06And so there's a lot of quite, you know, dense overlapping roots above the ground.
15:13And so those roots really help to anchor the soil, anchor the sand and the coastline in
15:19place and stop erosion from happening, which is obviously incredibly important for lots
15:24of coastal communities and cities.
15:28And they're also really important for buffering and like absorbing the energy from
15:34waves, from cyclones, from hurricanes, even from tsunamis.
15:39And so and again, that's because of a lot of the the root system is above ground.
15:43When water hits the trees, it really kind of reduces the energy of those waves and also the
15:50wind and the energy from storms.
15:52And so they've been shown to cause, like create a lot of protection for coastal
15:59communities, for settlements and for cities that kind of existing behind the mangrove
16:03forest. Then really in terms of climate change, even though the mangrove forest only
16:11grow on coastlines, they're incredible at uptaking carbon.
16:15And so we've heard a lot about carbon offsets and carbon in recent years.
16:20And mangroves can actually take up four to five times more carbon and store it four to
16:26five times better than tropical rainforests.
16:29So they're really important for taking up carbon.
16:33And then I guess my final point would be because of those kind of overlapping intricate
16:38root systems, mangroves are really important habitat for both terrestrial and marine
16:44species, but importantly, a lot of commercially important fish species.
16:50And so a lot of fish will spend their juvenile kind of life stage, grow up in the
16:55mangrove forests. And that's because all of those overlapping root systems create lots
17:00of kind of hiding places from predators and also produces a lot of food for lots of
17:06fish. And so a lot of fish will grow up or live in mangrove forests before they go out
17:12onto coral reefs or the open ocean.
17:15So they're incredibly important places for food security and for livelihoods for
17:21millions of people around the world.
17:25Is there anything, since we have a little more time, you want to talk, is there any
17:29area, because we've gone through with our five questions, is there anything you want to talk more?
17:35Yeah, I guess for me, you know, and I think, you know, you're interested as well in
17:40really highlighting the need for that, the work with the local communities, and we
17:45see so often groups just want to go and plant trees because they want to say that they've
17:51planted a hundred thousand, you know, mangrove trees.
17:54But actually, you know, for us, really making sure that the restoration is done right so
18:00that the projects can last into the long term is so important.
18:05And so making sure that those projects are firmly based with local communities who are
18:11going to be the ones that either rely on those mangrove forests or can be the long term
18:15guardians of those forests.
18:17And so making sure that you bring together that science and the environmental knowledge
18:21and the social knowledge is the only way for, you know, to see that long term success.
18:28And so that's something that we are always trying to highlight, is the need for the
18:33projects to be community based and to involve the local forestry officers and the local
18:38government rather than just going in and mass planting trees, but really working alongside
18:45the local people and alongside nature to make sure that the project is done in the right way.
18:51That's great.
18:52So thanks a lot once again, Laura, Micky, for joining and answering these five important
18:58questions from a climatological perspective, from your professional dexterity, such as
19:04like mangrove and all because we're covering this topic and so platform for the very first
19:08time, that's the reason we are also very much excited and it's quite visible there is
19:13manifestation that we are talking to a right person who has professional skills and
19:18dexterity and knowledge since your expertise talk about mangrove and all they directly
19:24have connection with the climatological balance also and a lot of important like community
19:29research and how local community can be, can have involvement and what can be their
19:35importance. We've learnt about that, such a wonderful session for our audience as well.
19:40And for us to learn and to have you on this platform.
19:43Once again, I just want to tell you, RISO is a platform which is primarily and mainly
19:50there existing for the expansion of academic and research.
19:54Specifically, we just try to, you know, sort of apply sociological perspective, but at
19:59the same time, we are also open to peep into and sort of mention different, you know, academic
20:05perspectives, how we can make this world a better possibility for us and for the upcoming
20:11humanity, which is going to happen after us.
20:14So thanks a lot, Laura, Nikki for joining RISO.
20:18So much for having me. It's been great to be on here and to kind of share my thoughts
20:23and thank you for putting together such a great platform.