Mangroves Could Die By 2050 With Current Sea-Level Rise, Warn Scientists
Mangroves are known to protect the planet¡¯s coastlines from intense storms
The constant rise in sea level has been a known threat to the existing life on planet Earth.
Adding to this list of potential dangers, a new study highlights that the sea could eat up the existing mangrove stands by 2050 if it continues to rise at this rate.
Reuters
The current rate of rise in sea levels is recorded to be more than 3.5 mm, close to 4 mm. If this rate climbs up to 6 mm per year, scientists believe that the existing as well as new mangroves will stop growing.
Scientists analysed two scenarios in the study, one wherein the carbon emission limits were met as per the 2015 Paris Agreement, and the other with higher carbon emissions, states a Reuters report.
Mangrove warning
(Representative Image: Reuters)
The welcoming news as per the scientists is that if the world is able to keep a check on the carbon emissions in accordance with the 2015 Paris Agreement, this situation would not be observed at least in the 21st century.
This means that the world governments will have to keep global warming to ¡°well below¡± 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times. The goal is to achieve a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
On meeting the limits, ¡°that 6mm was not passed in the 21st century,¡± said Benjamin Horton, chair of the Asian School of the Environment at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. ¡°If you have a low emission future that meets the Paris agreement, then you don¡¯t have this problem.¡±
Protect mangroves
Mangrove forests on the Caratingui river in Cairu, state of Bahia, Brazil (Representative Image: Reuters)
Mangroves are known to protect the planet¡¯s coastlines from intense storms, tsunamis and even the rising seas. Their presence along the coastline also proves to be a nursery for growing fish.
But their most important plus is the fact that they act as a carbon sink for the planet. Horton mentions that if the mangroves are lost, ¡°it would mean that there is even more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, causing even higher temperatures and even higher rates of sea level rise.¡±
While a quarter of the world¡¯s mangroves already lost, their current rate of destruction is still apace at rates of three to five times higher than the other forests.
If the current carbon emission levels continue, the researchers predict that mangroves will grow too slowly to rise above the waves.
The study is published in the journal Science and aims to inform those conserving mangroves around the world of the possibilities. One way to adapt to the worst impact, is to let the mangroves grow further inland. Then again, the possibility of that will be limited to the availability of land.
