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New Straits Times, 9 Jan 05 Don't touch the mangroves Zubaidah Abu Bakar For decades, conservationists have argued that mangrove swamps in the country should be left unmolested by development. Often to no avail. Today they found a powerful ally: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He said that the tsunami disaster on Dec 26 would have wreaked more havoc on the coastal communities had it not been for the protective shields provided by the mangroves. "Mangroves should not be touched, they act as a barrier for big waves ... they break the waves," he said. For a start, swamps should not be cleared to make way for development projects along the coasts. Abdullah also directed that mangroves damaged by the tsunami be replanted. "If they have been damaged, then there is a need to replant," he told reporters after a golf tournament at the Kota Permai Golf and Country Resort. Many fishermen in Penang were saved from death and their homes from serious damage on Dec 26 because the mangroves shielded them from the strong waves and acted as a buffer when the tsunami hit Pulau Betong, Balik Pulau, Batu Kawan and Kuala Sungai Pinang. Penang Inshore Fishermen’s Welfare Association (Pifwa) chairman Saidin Hussein believes that if there had been more mangrove swamps in Pulau Betong, fewer people would have died. Mangroves, with their complicated root systems, help to bind the shore together, effectively providing a shield against destructive waves. Simon Cripps, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature’s marine programme, said mangroves and coral reefs acted as shock absorbers. A 1997 study in Vietnam showed that a strip of six-year-old mangrove trees, 1.5 kilometres wide, can reduce a one-metre high wave at the open sea to 0.05 metre at the coast. The reason for the reduction is the drag force on the trees. Mangroves helped save an Indonesian island of Palau Seumpelu, located near the earthquake epicentre. The island, with a population of around 60,000, lost only a hundred villagers whereas similarly populated places on the mainland of Sumatra had casualties by the tens of thousands. links Related articles on Tsunami and the environment |
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