‘Mangroves : Our shores need more of those’​, says Meghna Raghoobar

I look forward to be able to personally plant a minimum of 30,000 mangroves in Mauritius by the end of my thirties. By kick-starting this, I really hope that in the next decade (at least) 30 Hectares of mangroves is planted in Mauritius by NGOs, Government and Corporates. It looks ambitious but, there is an urgent need to plant mangroves as part of our Climate Action for Small Islands Developing States for two main reasons :

a) To protect our sand and beaches from sea-level rise.

b) Given the amount of coral bleaching happening at this point in time, our marine species are hugely at threat. They need to feed themselves. More mangroves can be a short-term alternative for the current eco-system until the whole marine eco-system is fixed by coral restoration in the long-term (hopefully!).

I personally think that Small Islands Developing States (such as my home country Mauritius) will be less at risk if mangroves is being planted in each island states until 2024 (before the UN SIDS Conference).

My proposal for the way forward for SIDS are :

a) Get all students from Primary to Tertiary level engage in monthly mangrove planting event as part of the school curriculum (experiential learning is a MUST in this decade).

b) Get each local company engage their staffs in a monthly mangrove planting initiative

c) The government sector SHOULD organise a massive mangrove planting for the public once every 3-months.

If the government, the private sector and the local NGOs join hands together to make this a reality, no doubt we are getting there and we will definitely have something concrete that can be showcased in the UN SIDS Conference 2024, and hopefully as part of our concrete action towards 2030 SDGs .