progress in its recovery in Sri Lanka

The UN-backed “World Restoration Flagship” project is underway to restore 10,000 hectares by 2030. Coastal forests are vital to protecting the country from natural disasters such as storms and tsunamis; they play a crucial role in resilience to climate change. Conservationists Nimanthi and Semasinghe: “sustainable livelihoods for rural communities.”

Colombo () – Sri Lanka is taking important steps to counteract the low mangrove cover, which currently represents 0.3% of the country’s surface area. This action is crucial, as their absence increases the risks caused by climate change and natural disasters such as storms and tsunamis. For this reason, the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS), the main scientific partner of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), and other partners are carrying out innovative restoration initiatives to address this urgent environmental challenge while improving the resilience of ecosystems. The initiative – recognized as the flagship of Global Restoration – has the technical and financial support of the United Nations and aims to achieve the goal of restoring 10,000 hectares of mangroves by 2030.

Mangroves grow where land and sea meet and are considered the first line of defence for coastlines, reducing erosion caused by storm surges, currents, waves and tides. Their intricate root systems attract fish and other organisms seeking food and shelter. The need for the ecosystem’s mitigating effect was highlighted during the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. Scholars and environmentalists are now calling for more protective measures and sustainable practices to restore and preserve the crucial “blue forests” – as concentrations of mangroves are called for in the Indian teardrop. If timely and effective action is not taken, the consequences for the environment, coastal communities and Sri Lanka’s climate resilience could be critical.

On the other hand, the Anawilundawa Accelerated Natural Mangrove (ANRM) project was an innovative biodiversity restoration initiative launched last year on the occasion of World Seagrass Day (1 March) to rehabilitate mangroves located between Chilaw and Puttalam in the North Western Province in the Anawilundawa Ramsar Wetland Sanctuary, covering an area of ​​1,397 hectares. It is one of Sri Lanka’s six designated wetlands of international importance (Ramsar sites), home to over 150 bird species, 20 mammal species and over 70 butterfly species, including over 50% of the country’s freshwater fish species rendered infertile by shrimp farming.

Ecologists Nimanthi Dissanayake and Mayantha Semasinghe told that “it is a five-year project implemented according to a detailed plan drawn up by Sri Lanka’s Wayamba University, in collaboration with the DWC and the Ministry of Environment. The “blue forests” are crucial to the country’s ecosystem, providing around 2% of the total forest cover. “Because they are exceptional at carbon sequestration, storing up to ten times more carbon dioxide per unit of surface area than tropical rainforests, mangroves are a powerful tool to mitigate global warming and climate change,” they add. Mangroves also provide vital coastal protection, while providing sustainable livelihoods for rural communities. Since the late 1990s, the situation has deteriorated considerably: more than 50% of Sri Lanka’s mangrove habitat has been lost to shrimp aquaculture, severely affecting ecosystems and disrupting livelihoods that rely on mangroves for fishing, firewood, herbal medicine and tourism.

According to senior DWC officials, “As mangroves are rapidly deteriorating due to human-induced degradation, a large-scale initiative to increase mangrove cover across the country by over 50% was nominated in February this year as one of seven UN flagship global restoration initiatives.” The project is part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), a major initiative that follows global commitments to restore one billion hectares.

Finally, according to senior officials at the Ministry of Environment, in 2015, Sri Lanka became the first nation to legally protect all of its mangroves and established the National Expert Committee on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Mangroves, driving several actions to protect and manage mangroves. In 2020, the government also adopted a National Policy for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Mangrove Ecosystems.