THE FRONTIER FORESTS
Mangrove forests are one of nature’s frontline sea defences; self-building, self-repairing and solar-powered, they do the job for nothing and provide a home for a myriad of creatures – from sponges to sharks, fish to frigatebirds. Yet worldwide, we’ve already lost 20 per cent of our mangrove ecosystems due to coastal development. According to UNESCO, these frontier forests are disappearing three to five times faster than overall global forest losses, with serious ecological and socio-economic impacts.
As well as protecting low-lying islands and vulnerable coastlines against storm surges, tsunamis, rising sea levels and erosion, their soils are highly effective carbon sinks, sequestering up to five times more
