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Apr
16
2009
Mangroves reduce the death toll of coastal storms
The swampy strips of mangrove forest that line eastern India’s coasts saved villagers’ lives during a devastating 1999 cyclone. Whereas previous studies of this ecosystem service have been criticized for lacking large samples and controls, this study claims to offer the first “robust” proof that mangroves can reduce the devastation of some natural disasters.
By analyzing the deaths in 409 villages in Orissa, the Indian state just north of the cyclone’s landfall, researchers from Duke University and the University of Dehli showed that there would have been almost two additional deaths per village had there been no mangroves shielding the coastline from the storm surge.
In Orissa’s rural Kendrapada District, where the villages were located, the average width of mangroves has shrunk from 5.1 kilometers in 1944 to 1.2 kilometers today, largely because land was cleared for rice production. The 1999 cyclone killed nearly 10,000 people, many of whom drowned, according to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study.
The researchers’ statistical model implies that the remaining mangroves may have cut the potential death toll by two-thirds, even taking into account other environmental and socioeconomic factors that could also have an effect. Protecting the remaining mangroves in Orissa is, therefore, economically justified, the authors write. – Jessica Leber
Source: Das, S. et al. 2009. Mangroves Save Lives In Storms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI: 10.1073pnas.0810440106
Image © ZeynepOzturk, iStockphoto.com
Filed Under Climate change, Economics and conservation, Habitat, Marine, Restoration, Socio-political issues |
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