An exhibition on mangroves at the “Natureum” museum on the lower Elbe River.

In cooperation with DEEPWAVE the “Natureum” museum has been presenting since February 2009 an exhibition on the world of mangroves and their inhabitants, eg: the fast moving mud-skippers, the climbing fish, or the archer fish which catch their prey by ejecting an accurate gob of water. The film of the project MANGREEN, textboards, and presentations give us all we need to know about mangrove life.

Where the forests meet the ocean – mangroves are the bullwarks of the tropical coasts. A new exhibition was opened at the “Natureum” on Sunday the 22nd of February.

Coastal areas worldwide will be primarily affected if the speed of climate change is not slowed. It is important to preserve nature’s bullwarks as a shield against flooding.

We must accept that India dose’nt have dikes.

Unlike the situation in our lattitudes, there are no great tidal differences along the coasts of S.India. However following the catastrophic tsunami of December 2004, many Indians would have been glad to have had N.European technical assistance and experience. In the Tamil Nadu region of S.India more than 40.000 people died as a result of the monster waves caused by the Sumatra earthquake. However, it is not just the seaquake which created massive floods. As recently as November 2008, the heavy storm Nisha swept over the southern Bay of Bengal and flooded large areas of the low-lying coastal plains.

Such extreme storms are predicted to increase according to the scientific climate scenario of the UN climate advisory board. Up untill a few decades ago, such natural happenings were regarded as god-given fates. Unfortunately mankind has also contributed to the present lack of defence against these primeval forces.

Just how much has changed can be judged by the fact that in 2007  the estuaries and coasts of southern India boasted more than

10.000 hectare of intact mangrove forest. These salt-resistant bushes and trees are a natural protection against extreme storms.

Embedded as they are in firm silt, comparable to our mud-flats, these plants with their stilt-like roots have adapted to the extreme conditions of the borders between land and sea. This mesh of roots also reduces the strength of the waves. With an increasing over-population, clearance of boggy areas and forests, plus the extension of settlements into the coastal zones, the protective mangrove forest has declined to less than 10% of it’s original size. Since 1990 more than half of the estimated 30 million hectares worldwide have disappeared.

The only constructions similar to dikes in India are the omnipresent sea walls of the shrimp farms, which, encouraged through the “Blue revolution” produce shrimps for world-wide export. A chess-board pattern of shrimp ponds, offering little protection against strong floods, has replaced the previously intact estuary forests. But that’s not all, increasing salinity damages wells in the hinterland, thereby affecting the wind-protective palms,- plus the fact that land dispossession and chemical burdens are up-rooting a whole coastal area.

The storm-floods have led to certain new appraisals. Following the catastrophic tsunami, experts were suprized at the small amount of damage incurred by the mangrove forests. Whether in Thailand, Sri-Lanka, or in India - sattelite pictures show less damaged hinterland where intact coastal forest zones were in place. It is only through these extended coastal forests that the effects of the coming sea-level increase can be reduced.

The mangrove re-forestation programme, such as the project MANGREEN in India, which is the partner of the current mangrove exhibition at the “Natureum”, strengthens awareness in matters of coastal protection in schools and in the minds of the villagers. It is only with such joint efforts on a local basis, that the degradation of the coasts can be checked.

A further positive effect is that the mangroves act as a nursery for most sea-fish, thereby providing fishing families with a sustainable income. Whilst we, here in Europe, must increase the height of our dikes, it is important for the many poorer tropical regions to replace the lost bulwarks of the mangroves as quickly as possible. A natural protection, in the form of growing mangrove forests is available against the results of climate change, and our help is needed in re-balancing nature and it’s own protection.