Copyright 2001 Oneworld South Asia
November 07, 2001
By Kalyani, Oneworld South Asia

A movement is gaining ground in Cambodia to protect the country's once lush but now fast-dwindling mangrove forests.

Researchers have come up with a new way of shielding Cambodia's mangrove ranges--the last of their kind in southeast Asia-- which are under serious threat from logging.

Villagers around the Peam Krasoap Wildlife Sanctuary in the isolated province of Koh Kong have teamed up with researchers from the International Development Research Center (IDRC) to launch schemes aimed at replanting trees and developing small-scale fishing and aquaculture.

Mangrove ranges in the area had been cleared by shrimp farmers and timber merchants as demand grew for new fishing grounds and high-quality charcoal following the end of decades of conflict in the early 1990s.

Of the province's original 10,000 hectares of mangrove forest, only half remain, according to the World Rainforest Movement.

"People who were destroying the mangroves are now helping to protect them," says an IDRC report.

The "rainforests by the sea" are home to fish, crabs, shrimp, hundreds of bird species, lizards, sea turtles, monkeys, and other animals.

Mangrove forests once covered three-fourths of the coastlines of tropical and sub-tropical countries. Today, less than 50 percent remain. Of these, about half are degraded.

Government ministers from across East Asia held talks in Indonesia earlier this year to tackle the issue of forest law enforcement and management. They agreed to set up a regional task force and meet again in 2003 to review progress. Error: Unable to read footer file.