A Sunday morning, under a clear blue sky and very high temperature, PZ and I were invited by the Malaysian Red Crescent Society to Kuala Selangor (approx 1 hour from KL) to plant over thousand young mangrove tree saplings.
How to plant a sapling?
PZ as the MRCS National Youth Ambassador and Selangor Branch Adviser was surrounded by forty young volunteer students who did a fantastic job and showed high commitment in sustainable development.
We were very well trained by Mr Nagarajan Rengasamy, the Senior Centre Officer of Taman Alam (Kuala Selangor Nature Park).
PZ @ work
Frog frying @ work
Volunteers @ work: A green army!
Why is it so important to protect the mangroves? I have to say that I asked myself the same question when the alarm clock woke us up at 7 am (on a Sunday!)
Mangroves are very important in Malaysia because they serve as a natural barrier against a tsunami and stabilize the coastline. They are home to several unique fauna and flora and they provide feeding for fishes as well as migratory shorebirds.
A typical Malaysian mangrove, behind the trees is the sea.
What destroys the mangroves? Mostly for environmental matters, the answer is Man. In Selangor, it is the prawn farms. They are everywhere along the shore. Farmers destroy the mangrove forests (sometimes illegally) to expand their exploitations.
The prawn farms just behind the mangrove.
The only way to fight back and help fight against global warming is to replant mangrove trees.
Imagine: 1 hectare of mangroves absorbs 1.5 ton of carbon dioxide per year. 1 hectare = 4000 trees. So by planting 1000 trees this morning we have offset 375kg carbon dioxide/ year.
Yeaaah! Congrats everyone and thanks to the amazing young volunteers of Selangor. We will all have a good sleep tonight!
Frog.
Looks like you guys worked really really hard for Selangor’s coastline. Well done PZ & F!
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thanks Fern!! it was hard work but very fulfilling. Although I admit I’m rather sore!
well done with the replanting – i have done some in borneo and it is exhausting.
Where did you get the data for your estimation of the C-offset?
Hi Will and congrats for the hard work in Borneo! The data was given to us by the organiser.
Bonjour Frogandprincess,
A propos de mangrove, je vous encourage pour le programme “Planting 1000 mangrove trees”. Nous avons aussi de grande préoccupation à ce sujet.
Certaines associations Sénégalaises de défense de la biodiversité lutte contre leur disparition au Sénégal.
Je vous invite à consulter ce BloC(G) http://www.afrique-innovante.com/tourisme/valoriser-les-parcs-nationaux-du-senegal
Votre initiative est à féliciter.
Cordialement,
Daniel G Goumalo SECK.