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Free­lance Cor­re­spon­dent

Greater pub­lic aware­ness of the im­por­tance of man­groves and their role in en­vi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion is ur­gent­ly need­ed, says Viean­na Tir­ban­ie, Man­grove Con­ser­va­tion Lead with Ecosys­tem Ap­proach. Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia at yes­ter­day’s Man­grove Fes­ti­val at Fe­lic­i­ty Pres­by­ter­ian School in Ch­agua­nas, Tir­ban­ie un­der­scored the eco­log­i­cal and so­cio-eco­nom­ic val­ue of these coastal forests.

Tir­ban­ie found­ed Ecosys­tem Ap­proach five years ago to fo­cus on man­grove man­age­ment and so­cio-eco­log­i­cal trans­for­ma­tion. This year marked the third an­nu­al Man­grove Fes­ti­val, which brings to­geth­er con­ser­va­tion groups, com­mu­ni­ty stake­hold­ers, and the pub­lic to share knowl­edge and pro­mote stew­ard­ship.