Vietnam's mangroves trees
threatened by rising tide of deforestation
Clearances
could contribute to coastal erosion and prove a missed opportunity to prevent
climate change
Alisa
Tang
Tuesday 24
April 2012 08.59 EDT
This is a picture of what used to be a mangrove forest in
Vietnam.
Mangrove forests in Vietnam and the
world are disappearing fast. In the past
50 years over 50 percent of the worlds mangrove trees have disappeared. Much of the forests are being destroyed
because of the huge increase of populations.
Mangroves grow along the ocean coasts of over 118 countries in with over
a quarter in South East Asia alone.
Scientists think that the rate of mangroves being destroyed now
continues in 100 years mangroves could become extinct. This is not very good because mangroves when
in large groups form barriers that stop erosion, protect people from storms and
provide homes for fish and other animals.
They even are better repositories for carbon than rainforests, with
mangroves containing 1000 tonnes of carbon per hectare and tropical rainforests
with 300 tonnes per hectare. Even though
with all the benefits from mangroves many people are still clearing them. Without mangrove trees, some places have paid
dearly for not having them. The huge
tsunami in India that killed 180,000 people wouldn’t have been so devastating
if so many mangroves weren’t destroyed.
A world without mangrove trees could have some consequences in the
future.
I really hope people in other
countries will start protecting mangrove forests from further destruction. After reading this article it really showed
me how important mangrove tress are to the world especially South East Asia. I went to Jamaica before and saw mangrove
trees. They are cool because you can see
the roots and I hope I could see them again. These trees actually help protect people and
can store more carbon dioxide than other trees.
You would think people would try and save them. What if another tsunami of that size hit with
even less mangroves to help stop it? The
death toll could be even higher. The
world needs to start thinking of the consequences of their actions in the long
run. Not just for mangroves but for
other things like fossil fuels running out and population growth.
Questions
1.
If mangroves became extinct how big of an impact
would they have on the environment?
2.
How can we start trying to save mangroves from
being destroyed entirely?
3.
What are mangrove trees used for by the communities
near them? (shelters, tools, weapons, etc.)
I never heard that anything was more vital to the environment than the tropical rainforests. But, when I read that mangrove trees absorb much more carbon dioxide I was completely shocked. Deforestation of these mangrove forests will have major impacts on the environment if it continues, including increased global warming. Since they grow on the coast, many will be cut down because their habitat is on land that most humans want. However, this scenario reminded me of the destruction of wetlands that we learned in class for many reasons. One, they keep the environment stable by holding the ground together, preventing erosion and flooding. Because wetlands were destroyed in Louisiana, Hurricane Katrina was much worse than it should have been. This is just like the loss of mangroves and the tsunami in India that killed 180,000 people. Also, people are still destroying wetland and mangrove forests even though they are vital to the environment. Sooner or later, we are going to face many dangers if we do not stop deforestation.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: Many impacts can occur from the mangrove deforestation. One is that since they absorb carbon dioxide, almost 3 times as much as rainforests, global warming will increase. Therefore, the global warming consequences will come quicker and be more severe. Also, I read in a research article that with global warming, ocean levels will rise by tens of feet, causing major flooding and storms. This is a lose lose situation since the mangroves also prevent flooding and erosion. So, much coast land will be lost, resulting in many ruined habitats, for both animals and humans. Also, many animals probably rely on the mangroves as a food source and/or habitat, and without it they will have to rely on another resource, or die. By destroying mangrove forests we are raising global warming, increasing flooding, and killing many other innocent species.
Opinion/Reflection
ReplyDeleteBefore reading this article, I was not aware of mangrove trees, let alone their importance. If at all possible, these trees should be kept because saving one type of tree can help save thousands of lives. The importance of this tree is not that it can just protect people from erosion but, also, have a bigger impact with CO2. Without these mangrove trees, a lot more disasters will occur. When I asked my dad if he noticed these trees when he was fighting in Vietnam, he said he used to see them all over the coast. Now, probably, there are not nearly as many.
Questions
1) What are the alternative costs if the mangrove trees are allowed to disappear?
2) Is there another tree that can give similar, if not greater, attributes to the environment?
3) Would the consequences of a loss of mangrove trees in Viet Nam have any significant impact beyond the immediate region?
I used to always think that rain forests were the most vital forest for absorbing carbon and preventing floods. After reading this though, I was shocked to find out that mangroves can absorb more than three times as much carbon dioxide as rain forests. There is probably an explanation as to why India cut down the mangroves though. With a large population and not much technological advancements, Indians probably can't afford better sources of energy. We talked about in class how in India they do not have enough resources to build cleaner wells. I doubt they could afford the expensive alternative energies we talk about in class, such as solar, hydroelectricity and wind. Mangroves probably supply a large amount of energy to India. They have a large energy consumption with so many people that they probably have no choice but to use the abundant amount of mangroves. Indians should stop chopping down these trees, as they help absorb excess carbon dioxide and help stop storms. If I were the government of India(and Vietnam) I would look towards the alternative energies we learned about in class, as the people get get electricity, save money in the long run and keep the mangroves with their benefits.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to Question 3
The mangroves are most likely used for homes and energy. The trees are very thick according to the article, and would be good resources to build strong, sturdy homes with. Energy is also what the mangroves are probably used for. With an abundant amount of the mangroves in the area, it would make sense for the communities to use the mangroves for energy by burning them and wood pellets.
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteI have done a project on the tropical rainforest before and found out trees were important for various reasons especially for oxygen and medicine. After reading about mangroves being for more purposes such as forming barriers to stop erosion, protecting people from storms and providing homes for fish and other animals this gave me a surprise. From my previous project of the rainforest I did not know that mangroves were this important to how an environment and organisms survives. For mangroves to keep being destroyed because of increasing population seems really bad for the population that keeps growing. I see this as more probability of a country getting natural disasters more often because of the few amounts of mangroves. Here in America I have never seen mangrove trees because of weather conditions here but I have seen some trees act like barriers from rain. If a tree here can protect me from rain than mangrove trees must be really amazing to have. I think cutting down mangrove trees are worse for the environment than anything else because of the oxygen it gives out and the carbon dioxide that it takes in. We should really try to protect mangroves from being destroyed by human hands. If you look at India’s tsunami that killed 180,000 people because barriers were not around it shows that we should be more careful with plants in the environment like the mangrove.
Question 1:
If mangroves were to become extinct I believe that the environment it is in would start to collapse or start making a big change. One of the big things out front that would happen is the barrier protection from storms and other natural disasters would be no more. This would make the people of the environment more vulnerable to disasters and dying like the 180,000 people in India did. Another thing is many of the organisms like other plants, animals and fish would be disrupted of their homes because of the mangrove becoming extinct. Some of the animals living or living off of in the mangrove tree would have to find a different food source or home. For a worldwide impact it would have is global warming increasing. It is because these mangroves take in lots of carbon dioxide which is a gas that increases global warming. Without the mangroves global warming could rapidly take fire and we could see polar ice caps melting. This could then increase water on Earth and create flooding to many places because of the water.