Mangrove Restoration for Coastal Protection

Mangroves of the tropical coasts are one of the most productive ecosystems on earth. It helps to stabilize environment and sinks a large volume of carbon. But unfortunately, 35% of mangrove forests have been reduced since 1980s from the world because of excessive human interference and every year 2.1% mangroves are decreasing (Ref: FAO 2003). So, everyday mangroves of the world have been decreasing. Same is the scenario of Bangladesh. Sundarbans is the single largest mangrove forest of the world. It is a UNESCO declared the Natural World Heritage and RAMSAR wetland site. Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh is the lifeline and safe guard of almost 3.5 millions of vulnerable coastal people.  

Once there were plenty of mangroves in the Sundarbans periphery. It was a buffer zone which used to protect the coastal life and livelihoods. But that buffer zone is no longer existed because of diverse human activities like random cutting of mangroves for agricultural land extension, shrimp cultivation, household making, collecting fuel wood and furniture as well as free grazing of livestock etc and climate change impact. Besides, coastal people are also disturbing the mangrove regeneration process by destroying the seeds while catching shrimp fry as well as collecting seeds for cooking fuel. All these together pose a critical threat to the Sundarbans mangrove flagship ecosystem.

Bangladesh Environment and Development Society (BEDS) is a community based nonprofit non government and development organization. BEDS has its special concern for mangrove restoration and protection for stabilizing the environment beside providing livelihood and protection from natural disasters. BEDS has been restoring mangroves in the Sundarbans coastal region since 2013 together with local community. So far BEDS has planted over 0.2 million of mangroves engaging local community. Now BEDS is trying to raise fund from GlobalGiving platform to restore 0.1 million mangroves in the Sundarbans periphery. Target grant of the proposed project is 100,000 $ and so far, 1,160 $ is raised from 87 donations.  

The mangrove plantation season is coming soon (June to October). We have been negotiating with local community about mangrove plantation. But due to COVID-19 pandemic, we have to limit our physical interaction with local community although we are connected with them through cell phone and social media. We have discussed about developing a mangrove nursery beside the plantation site in private land. The villagers have agreed with us and started working to establish the nursery. They are collecting mangrove seeds from the nearby river. They assured us that they are ready to provide their lands for mangrove plantation.

We want to thank all our donors for being with us. We hope that you will be with us with your donation to plant 100,000 mangrove saplings in the Sundarbans coastal region.

Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh is the lifeline and safe guard of almost 3.5 millions of vulnerable coastal people. It is a UNESCO declared the Natural World Heritage and RAMSAR wetland site.

Lands we target to plant mangroves are degraded mangrove forest area. Once there were plenty of mangroves in the periphery of Sundarbans. Those mangroves created a buffer zone which was beneficial for coastal protection as well as for habitat of the wild animals and birds. But this buffer zone is no longer existed due to random cutting of mangroves for agricultural land extension, shrimp cultivation, household making, collecting fuel wood and furniture as well as free grazing of livestock etc. Apart from this, coastal people are also disturbing the mangrove regeneration process by destroying the seeds while catching shrimp fry as well as collecting seeds for cooking fuel. Freshwater flow from the upstream is also decreasing due to manmade and natural causes. All these together pose a critical threat to the Sundarbans mangrove flagship ecosystem.

Apart from this riverbank erosion is a very common incident in the Sundarbans coastal region. So, to protect the coastal belt and to create a mangrove buffer zone BEDS aims at planting 100,000 mangrove saplings all over the Sundarbans coastal region of Bangladesh. Target grant of the proposed project is 99,910$ and so far, 1,071$ is raised from 79 donations. We shared this information among the target villagers.

As the mangrove plantation season is coming soon (June to October), we have discussed about the possible plantation activity and site preparation. People were very excited to hear about the mangrove plantation activity. They also mentioned that the preparatory activities should be completed before June. The people urged for embankment protection.

We would like to thank all the donors for being with us and request you to help us continuously for embodiment of our dream to plant 100,000 mangrove saplings in the Sundarbans coastal region.