PROGRESO (Mexico) — A rotten egg smell rising from the mangrove swamps in southeast Mexico is a sign that something is happening. This means that the coastal habitat critical for reducing hurricane impacts has been restored and is now capturing carbon dioxide, which is the main ingredient in global warming.
At a United Nations conference held in Scotland this month to discuss ways to end the climate crisis, world leaders are looking for solutions. However, the front line in the fight to save the planet’s mangroves lies thousands of miles away in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
These shores were lined with mangroves decades ago. Today, there are just a few green areas of trees along the coast, interspersed by urbanized areas, reddish segments that have been killed by saltwater and dead branches sticking out of the water.
A handful of fishermen and women villager have made it a part of their daily lives to build on the remaining mangroves. They are supported by donations to environmental groups and academics. Government funds also help to train villager organizers.
Jorge Alfredo Herrera was the researcher at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the Mexican Polytechnic Institute of Yucatan. He first visited the swamp for seasonal restoration work more than a decade back.
Digging them was hard work that paid $4 per day. The job was offered to men from Chelem (a Progreso fishing village) but they declined it. A group of women accepted the position, believing that they could do a lot for very little money.
After a rainy season, the women were able to complete the second phase of restoration, which was planting mangroves in a nearby swamp. They laughed and recalled the encounter with a crocodile that nearly forced them to flee.
They then placed mangrove seedlings 20 inches in diameter into mounds made of mud and held together with mesh. This created tiny islands measuring about one yard (meter).
Keila Vazquez (41 years old), leader of the group of women who are now paid $15 per day and take pride at contributing to the planet’s health. They are like our children.”
GLOBAL THREAT TO MANGROVES
Scientists and community groups around the world are increasingly recognising the importance of protecting and restoring mangrove forests in order to store carbon and protect coastlines from climate-driven extreme weather such as more severe hurricanes and storm surges. Others are also underway in Indonesia, Colombia, and other countries, which contain the largest mangrove habitats.
“Mangroves are an important ecosystem to combat climate change,” stated Octavio Aborto, a marine biologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, California.
Although the area where tropical trees can grow is less than 1%, he stated that mangroves, on a per-hectare basis are the ecosystem that sequesters most carbon. Mangroves can store five times as much carbon in sediment as a tropical rain forest.
Mangroves around the world are under threat.
According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, between 1980 and 2005, 20% to 35% were lost.
The rate of destruction declined from 2000 to 2016, as environmental groups and governments highlighted the problem. However, destruction continued, with about 2% of the remaining mangrove forests disappearing, according to NASA satellite imagery.
As in many other countries, development is the greatest threat to mangroves in Mexico. Near Cancun, most of the historic mangroves were destroyed by highways and hotels that began in the 1980s.
Mangroves along the country’s southern Pacific coast have also been cleared in order to allow for shrimp farming. However, oil exploration and drilling in shallower waters off the Gulf of Mexico could pose a threat to mangroves, according Aburto.
Mexico only began protecting some of its mangroves after the 1980s’ excessive tourism development. Mexico was the first country to create a climate action plan and was among the first to sign voluntary commitments under Paris Climate Accord in 1998. However, Mexico’s commitment to the environment started to slip in 2015, according to Julia Carabias, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
According to Carabias, Mexico has reduced its resources for conservation of the environment by 60% in the last six years.
This, along with increased government support for fossil fuel energy, ongoing infrastructure, and tourist projects in this region, are alarming.
Local researchers claim that 10 hectares of mangroves in southeast Mexico are lost or degraded for every 2.5 hectares (or hectare) of mangroves restored by the country’s monitoring system.
EFFORTS TO SAVE SWAMPS
Mexico’s resolute inaction to restore and protect mangroves mirrors other countries. In 2007, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Agency reported that 40% of Indonesia’s mangroves were being cut for aquaculture and coastal development projects.
However, there have been some restoration efforts.
The Indonesian government set a 2020 goal to plant mangroves on 600,000. (1.5 million acres) of the coastline that was already in decline by 2024. The restoration effort includes education and community outreach.
There have been setbacks. It is difficult to obtain precise mapping and data about mangroves, which makes it difficult for agencies know where to focus their efforts. Strong tides and waves have swept mangroves that were newly planted out to sea. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed community outreach and education.
Even though they may be slow to arrive, Mexico has many successes.
Manuel Gonzalez, a 57 year-old fisherman, is proud to show off the mangroves he has reconstructed in Dzilam de Bravo (about 60 miles (97 km) east of Progreso). He avoids the mangrove roots interlaced in the mud as he walks through it. Some trees can already reach 30 feet (9 m) in height.
This area was devastated by Hurricane Isidoro in 2002. However, after a decade of hard work 120 hectares (297 acres), were restored. According to the fisherman, storms aren’t as severe now. The fish, migratory birds and even jaguars are all back.
Mangroves are now at risk from stumps that have been scattered among the trees.
Gonzalez stated, “In ten years, you will have a very beautiful mangrove for someone to come and take it.” “That’s something I find very hurtful.”
Since 2005, mangrove cutting has been illegal. Gonzalez claims authorities closed down the projects and fined them, only to reopen later.
Although the Yucatan government acknowledged that there were complaints about illegal logging, the harvest has not grown.
Although more money is needed to restore and protect the environment, some communities would rather make conservation a profitable business.
Jose Ines Loria is the head of operations at San Crisanto. This old salt harvesting community, with 500 members, lies between Progreso (and Dzilam). He believes that the best way to make the mangrove a part of the community’s “business model” is by using new financial tools like blue carbon credits.
These instruments are already being used in Colombia and other countries. They allow polluting companies to offset their emissions by paying others for the storage or sequestration of greenhouse gases.
Mexico’s credit system is still unclear and some Mexicans fear that it could lead to fraud and other scams. Loria supports them. “Conservation doesn’t necessarily mean improving the quality life in a community. It doesn’t work.”