Missing mangroves.

• Author: Weber, Peter
• Position: Need protect mangroves to support the ecosystem

On the island of Negros in the Philippine archipelago, Wilson Vailoces has been planting mangrove trees since the early 1980s. His neighbors made fun of him at first. They said the mangroves looked funny, like little trees perched on stilts in the mud and brine. They didn't see any use in his back-breaking labor to revive the murky mangrove swamps that had once lined their tropical coast.

Vailoces, however, was resolute. In his 50 some years, he had watched people cut down the mangroves and dynamite the coral reefs offshore, and he had seen his fish catch fall. For Vailoces, the connection was clear. His livelihood as a fisher depended on the fish spawned in these coastal ecosystems. To restore his fish catch, he had to do something to restore the coastline. He searched out the only remaining patch of mangroves on his island, gathered the trees' finger-length shoots, and took them home to plant.

His commitment paid off, says Don Hinrichsen, an English researcher and writer who has extensively studied coastal ecosystems throughout the world. When Hinrichsen first visited Negros in 1988, Vailoces had established a few acres of young mangroves, which already were teeming with life. Crabs, shrimp, mussels, and other creatures clung to the mangroves' broom-like roots or scuttled below in the mucky soils. The revitalized coastal wetland was restocking Vailoces' fishing grounds, improving his catch.

His efforts were also winning over his neighbors, who no longer made fun of him but instead began to plant mangroves of their own. Together, the community secured a 25-year contract from the Philippine government for the rights to the trees they planted. When Hinrichsen returned to Negros in 1990, he found that the community had doubled the area of its mangroves.

Restoration projects such as Vailoces', however, are rare, says Hinrichsen. More commonly, people destroy mangroves. These forested wetlands once lined about one-quarter of the world's tropical coasts, thriving in the shelter of coral reefs and barrier islands. Now less than half remain, according to a tally from the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute (see table). Less than 20 percent persists in Vailoces' home country, and only half of the remaining stands have never been logged.

Mangrove Loss in Selected Countries Since Pre-Agricultural Times Country Current Area % Lost (square miles) Indonesia 8,194 45 Nigeria 4,758 50 Malaysia 2,851 32 Cameroon 1,895 40 Sierra Leone 1,326 50...