(PHOTO COURTESY)
TACLOBAN CITY – In the brackish borderlands where land and sea meet, the mangrove forest along the Cancabato Bay in Tacloban City silently spread its roots to become nature’s greatest defender against rising tides and surging storms.
As threats of climate change loom larger than ever, advocates such as the Tacloban-based private group Pintakasi for Landscape Restoration Incorporated are coming together with a simple but powerful goal: to expand the city’s mangrove forests and secure the marine biodiversity along Cancabato Bay – a bay that holds environmental and historical significance to the city.
Pintakasi president Josephine Agustin said they are eyeing community support in expanding more the mangrove forest hugging the bay area which was started after Supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013 which flattened fishing villages surrounding it.
“Expanding and maintaining the mangrove forest is an act of resilience showing that people can fight back the challenge or mitigate the effects of rising seas and intensifying storms, through science and a strong community support,” Agustin said.
According to the City Agriculturist Office, the Cancabato Bay is a suitable breeding ground for marine resources owing to its slow undercurrent allowing the fish to maximize breeding before they go out into the open sea.
During typhoons, mangroves absorb wave energy, sparing communities from devastating floods. Mangrove forests are rich ecosystems, home to fish, crabs, shrimp, and countless bird species. They serve as nurseries for marine life and act as enormous carbon sinks, capturing four to five times more carbon than tropical forests on land.
For fishing communities, mangroves mean livelihood. Around1,800 fisherfolks who rely their livelihood along the Cancabato Bay.
Community-led reforestation projects such as the Paraiso Mangrove Eco-Learning Park are combining scientific knowledge with local wisdom.
Community members of this project, mostly fisherfolks along the area see the reforestation as not just mangrove planting, but it is about nurturing, understanding tides, seasons, and species to ensure that their rehabilitated mangrove forest will truly thrive.
Pintakasi for Landscape Restoration Inc. has partnered with the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), and City Agriculture Office to conserve the Paraiso Mangrove and Eco-learning Park.
These partnerships provide technical support, funding, and training to local communities to empower coastal residents to become stewards of the mangrove forests they depend on.
(AHLETTE C. REYES, PIA-8)
