A turning point for the world's mangroves
Mangrove forests are among the hardest working ecosystems on Earth. Their tangled roots are nurseries for baby fish, natural seawalls against storms, and carbon stores that lock carbon away several times faster than forests on land. After decades of loss to clearing and development, the tide is quite literally turning: around the world, coastal communities, scientists and conservation groups are replanting and 'rewetting' old mangrove country so the forests can regrow.
The smartest projects have learned to work with the trees rather than for them: restore the natural flow of the tides, and mangroves largely replant themselves: seeds drop from the parent trees, float off on the current, and take root exactly where conditions suit. For Australia, home to some of the richest mangrove coastlines on Earth, every hectare returned means more fish on the reef, calmer water at the beach, and carbon tucked quietly into the mud for centuries.