189

MISCELLANEOUS NOTE

Findings from Our Mangrove Restoration Activities
over 30 Years
Seiji SUDA
Al Gurm Research Centre, Action for Mangrove Reforestation (ACTMANG)
3-29-15-1101, Honcho, Nakano, Tokyo 164-0012, Japane-mail: actmang@big.jp

Abstract
The Al Gurm Research Centre started to develop mangrove planting techniques in the Middle East in
1981. Since 1994, it has been conducting reforestation activities in Southeast Asian countries under the nameof Action for Mangrove Reforestation (ACTMANG) as a non-governmental organization. So far, mangrove
ecosystems have been restored on a few thousand hectares in Vietnam and Myanmar.
I have learned many things from participating in these mangrove restoration activities in many areas,
including arid coasts, over the past 30 years, and summarize my findings through those activities as follows:
1) There are two classes of factors in the deaths of young trees: physiological factors, such as lower air
temperature and high salinity of seawater; and physical factors, such as adhesion of barnacles or algae,
waves and tidal currents, browsing, fishing activities and oil spills;
2) There are two types of causes of forest degradation: natural factors, such as coastal erosion, typhoons andfloods in arid regions; and human activity factors, such as shrimp pond construction, over-browsing by
camels, causeway construction and dumping of dredged sediment;
3) Mangrove ecosystem services for local people include typhoon disaster reduction, pasturage for livestock,
provision of building materials, firewood, green manure, edible fruit, fishing grounds, and resources forbeekeeping and tourism;
4) Cases of our mangrove reforestation have included establishment of greenbelts serving as natural
breakwaters against typhoons, restoration of abandoned shrimp ponds or paddy fields, reintroduction of
extinct mangrove species, planting artificial habitat and community forestry.
Key words: ecosystem services, forest degradation, mangrove, reforestation, restoration, tree death

1. Introduction
The Al Gurm Research Centre in Tokyo, Japan,
started to develop mangrove planting techniques in
the Middle East in 1981 (Kogo and Tsuruda, 1994). Since
1994 after acquiring knowledge on mangrove planting
techniques, it has implemented reforestation activities inSoutheast Asian countries under the name of Action for
Mangrove Reforestation (ACTMANG) as a non-governmental organization, with participation of communities
and regional mangrove experts. Thus far, mangrove ecosystems have been restored on a few thousand hectares
in Vietnam and Myanmar, and mangrove restoration
activities have also been conducted in Saudi Arabia, theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Pakistan in the
Middle East, and Ecuador in South America (Miyamoto
et al., 2008). These activities have been supported by theJapanese Government, Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) and many private companies interested in
Global Environmental Research
17/2013: 189-197
printed in Japan

mangrove conservation and mangrove restoration. In
addition, technical assistance has been carried out inseveral countries of East Africa and Oceania. Planted
mangrove species have mainly been Avicennia alba, A.
marina, A. officinalis, Bruguiera gymnorhiza, Kandelia
obovata, Lumnitzera racemosa, Rhizophora apiculata, R.
mangle, R. mucronata, R. stylosa, Sonneratia alba, S.
apetala, and S. caseolaris.
I have learned many things through my activities
conducting mangrove restoration in many countries. This
is not a scientific research paper, but I would like to sharemy findings through ACTMANG’s activities over 30
years in this paper, so as to provide readers somethingwhich may be of use in their further mangrove related
activities.

©2013 AIRIES190

S. SUDA

2. Main Purposes of Our Restoration
Activities and Methods of Planting
In the last quarter of the 20th century, mangrove
forests were destroyed for timber products, development,
reclamation, etc., worldwide (Vannucci, 1989; Clough,1993; Lacerda, 1993; Spalding et al., 2010). For thisreason, the purpose of our mangrove reforestation activities has been to recreate mangrove forest ecosystems
without intending to provide them for tree harvesting.
The only exception was in Myanmar, where we restored
mangrove forests for local community forestry wood
production, which I will describe later as a good example
of community participation in mangrove rehabilitation.
We have implemented many mangrove projects indifferent countries, but our idea is very simple. We use
one of only two methods depending on the size and shapeof the seeds/propagules of each species, because thosediffer from species to species. The first method is to plant
the seeds/propagules directly into soil on tidal flats in thecase of mangrove species with bigger stick-shaped seeds,
called propagules, such as Rhizophora spp., etc.; and thesecond, for small seeds such as Sonneratia and Avicennia
spp., is to transplant seedlings grown in nurseries, or wild
seedlings (wildings) collected from forests. Even when
we plant propagules directly, we always raise plants innurseries to provide potted seedlings for complementary
plantings, because some of the planted ones do not growwell and/or die.
When we plant mangroves, we carefully select planting sites. Site selection is one of the most important
issues for successful restoration (Suda et al., 1995). We
use a very simple check list, shown in Table 1. If weselect the wrong sites, we cannot expect good results.

3. Mangrove Ecosystem Services for Local
PeopleThere are many papers reporting on mangrove ecosystem services for local people (Hong et al., 2004). I
want to mention some of what I have seen, as shown in
Fig. 2. Livestock browsing and typhoon disaster reduction are mentioned in Sections 5.2.2 and 6.1.
3.1 Building and broom materials
Woody poles of R. apiculata and palm leaves of Nypa
fruticans, known as “mangrove palms,” are used asbuilding materials for local houses in southern Vietnam(Fig.1). Recently, however, such houses have switched tomodern construction methods using cement and bricks
instead of decomposable natural materials. We foundwoody poles of R. mucronata in the ceiling of old housesin Qatar. Another interesting example, though not as abuilding material, is the use of mangrove fern leaves ofAcrostichum aureum for making brooms in Vietnam.

Fig. 1 Map of Vietnam.

Table 1 Environmental factors in selecting sites for mangrove
planting.
Environmental factor
Better conditions
Topography
Tidal land all year round
Waveless environment
Ground level
Higher level than mean sea level
Salinity of seawater
Lower salinity
Air temperature in winterWarm

3.2 Firewood and charcoal making
In Vietnam, R. apiculata, A. marina, and S. caseolaris
are used as firewood for cooking by villagers. R.
apiculata was a raw material for charcoal making, thesame as in many other countries in Asia. In Myanmar,
charcoal production is not common in the Ayeyarwady
delta nowadays, but over-felling of mangrove trees forcharcoal has been the main cause of mangrove destruction there in the past.
3.3 Green manure (fertilizer)
Leaves of A. marina are used in sweet potato fields as
green manure (fertilizer) in Dong Rui Village, Tien Yen
District, Quang Ninh Province in northern Vietnam (Fig.
2). These leaves are plowed under to enrich the soil. I
heard that in the past, they were also used as fertilizer inpaddy fields in villages surrounded by mangrove forests.

Findings from Our Mangrove Restoration Activities over 30 Years

3.4 Edible fruits
Fresh fruits of S. caseolaris and boiled seeds of A.
marina are sold in markets in northern Vietnam. Fruits of
S. caseolaris are used in cooking sour soup. In Qatar,
fresh fruits of A. marina used to be eaten. In Vietnam,
local fisherwomen who catch mudskippers chew fruits(propagules) of K. obovata like chewing gum.
In southern Vietnam, the fresh translucent endosperms inside the fruits of N. fruticans were sold as desserts. These were eaten with sugar and other condiments.
In addition, villagers collected the sap from peduncles ofN. fruticans to make local spirits in Ben Tre Province.
3.5 Fishing in planted Sonneratia caseolaris forests
We know that mangrove ecosystems play an important role as nursery and feeding grounds for coastal
marine species, which provide food resources and cash
income for local people. In northern Vietnam women andchildren captured small fish and shrimp gathered aroundthe dense aerial roots (pneumatophores) of S. caseolaris
at low tide (Fig. 2). Before starting capture, a ring-shaped
low embankment was made around a tree. The water191

inside the embankment was removed using small containers. Then, the fish and shrimp were taken from theground inside the embankment. Without mature S.
caseolaris trees, this fishing method cannot be carriedout.
3.6 Beekeeping
Forests of K. obovata in Tien High District of Thai
Binh Province in northern Vietnam and forests of S.
caseolaris in Tien Lang District of Hai Phong City areused for beekeeping.
3.7 Tourism
Over forty thousand hectares of mangrove forests of
Can Gio located in Ho Chi Minh City in southern
Vietnam were destroyed once by herbicides during theSecond Indochina War, which continued until 1975.
Through plantings and natural regeneration after the war,
more than thirty thousand hectors of restored forests in
Can Gio became eligible for registry as a biosphere reserve under UNESCO-Man and Biosphere (MAB) in
1998.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

(i)

Fig. 2 Mangroves ecosystem services: (a) Local house using poles of R. apiculata and leaves of N. fruticans. (b) Firewood of R.
apiculata. (c) Boiled fruits of A. marina which were sold in a market. (d) Fresh fruits (propagules) of K. obovata being eaten or
chewed by villagers. (e) Camels browsing on the forest of A. marina. (f) Leaves of A. marina which were collected as fodder.
(g) A sweet potato field which was provided leaves of A. marina as green manure. (h) Beekeeping near S. caseolaris forests.
(i) Fish capture using planted S. caseolaris forests.

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S. SUDA

Tourist facilities such as walking trails, an observation tower, boat trips, bird watching and a museum areoperated at two sites in the mangrove forest for both
domestic and foreign tourists. Another environmental
education facility is operated by the Management Board
for Can Gio Protected Forests. Seminar houses, like thecottages established originally by our organization, areused as a part of the facility. In addition, this mangrove
forest is known as the “green lungs” of this city.

4. Causes of Death in Young Trees
Since mangrove forests provide many services for
local people, we have been restoring them. We have met
a lot of failures, however, in mangrove restoration
activities. I assume that the main causes of death inyoung trees can be divided into two classes: physiological and physical factors.
4.1 Physiological factors contributing to deaths
4.1.1 Lower air temperatures in winter at highlatitudes for mangrove distribution
Mangroves are generally distributed in tropical andsubtropical regions (Spalding et al., 2010), therefore they
do not prefer cool environments. More than two hundred
thousand young R. stylosa trees, which is a regional
native species, dropped their leaves during abnormallycold air temperatures in early 2008 in Tien Yen District,
Quang Ninh Province in northern Vietnam. More thanhalf of them started to grow again by the following summer, but the rest of them died. Under similar cold conditions, there was no severe damage to young K. obovata
trees because K. obovata is more tolerant than R. stylosa
of cold air temperatures. Thus, I learned that the northern
limit of K. obovata is Kiire, Kagoshima, and that of R.
stylosa is Okinawa Island, Okinawa, Japan. Kiire is further north than Okinawa Island (Spalding et al., 2010).
Another issue related with cold tolerance is that in

January, the monthly average low air temperature is 13°C
in Hai Phong, which is a neighborhood city in Quang
Ninh Province, and the lowest air temperature is 6°C<http://www.weatherbase.com/>. Figure 3 shows thatmature trees of S. caseolaris and R. stylosa drop theirleaves in such cold air temperatures. Many of them develop new leaves during the coming spring, but others die.
Under such marginal conditions for them, I am very
interested in their cold tolerance, because they still manage to keep their communities.
4.1.2 High salinity of seawater in arid regions
Most mangroves grow better at sites with lower
salinity concentration than those with average seawatersalinity concentration (approx. 3.5%). Nevertheless, A.
marina can grow in higher salinity environments. For
instance, plantings of A. marina have been successful on
the coasts from the east to the northwest of the Qatar
Peninsula, where the salinity of coastal seawater ranges
from 4% to 5% (Suda et al., 1990, 1994 and 1995). By
contrast, they were not successful on the southwest coastof the peninsula, where the coastal seawater salinity wasabove 6%, as measured by salinity refractometer. Because there are no rivers in Qatar, brackish waters do notexist. By evaporation at low tide, the salinity concentration of not only the water on the ground surface but also
water in soil near the soil surface rises sometimes above
6%. Survival rates of planted seedlings fall sharply undersuch high salinity concentrations. In my experience,
however, if high salinity concentrations can be diluted byinundation with seawater before prolonged exposure,seedlings may occasionally survive in 8% soil surface
salinity concentration.
A. marina can survive even under higher salinity
concentrations, but for most mangroves, high salinity
concentrations are not good for their survival and growth,
especially in the case of S. caseolaris, which is generally
distributed along riverbanks where salinity concentrations are low.
4.2 Physical factors contributing to deaths
Through unhappy experiences, I learned that there are
two sorts of physical factors contributing to deaths ofyoung mangroves. One is natural factors such as adhesion of barnacles or algae, and waves and tidal currents.
The other is human activities such as livestock pasturing,fishing activities and oil spills. Note that except for livestock browsing, damage from these factors happens in
the lower intertidal zone facing the seaside or riverside,
where daily inundation occurs.

Fig. 3 Due to cold waves in winter, S. caseolaris mangrove stands
in the centre photo and R. stylosa in the lower photo
dropped many leaves in northern Vietnam. By contrast, K.
obovata trees in the centre photo were covered with green
leaves.

4.2.1 Barnacle adhesion in the lower intertidal zone
Once barnacles attach to small trunks of planted
seedlings, sometimes these seedlings die, but it is very
difficult to remove them. Barnacles, however, do notexist in areas with fresh or very low salinity water. In
northern Vietnam, many barnacles appear on planted
trees during the dry season from December to March or
April. During the dry season, the salinity of brackish

Findings from Our Mangrove Restoration Activities over 30 Years

water rises owing to a shortage of freshwater supply fromrivers. The seawater salinity of a tidal creek near one
group of planted mangroves was around 3% at low tide in
the dry season, and it was around 2% in the rainy season.
The difference between 2% and 3% is only 1%, but this
1% is critical to the growth and survival of each mangrove species, and also to barnacle occurrence.
If you do not carefully the check salinity concentration of the water, many barnacles may grow on the stems
and leaves of young trees planted in lower elevation sites
near the sea. These trees become bent down by theweight of the attached barnacles, and the number of theirleaves is less (Fig. 4). Most of the affected young trees
die within a year of their planting. Such sites are unsuitable for mangrove planting. We must check the watersalinity carefully before planting.
4.2.2 Algae adhesion in lagoons
Another physical difficulty is algae problems. A large
amount of drifting green algae may cover young trees
which have been planted in lower elevation sites in aclosed bay or lagoon. In one such case in Vietnam theyfell down under the weight (Fig. 5). Such damage is also
found in aquaculture ponds for capturing fish. Supporting
the young trees with bamboo struts might reduce suchdamage, but it is costly. Therefore, before starting planting activities, we must check environmental factors suchas salinity concentrations, algae and barnacle occurrence,
inundation, air temperature, etc.
4.2.3 Waves and tidal currents in the lower intertidal
zone
When we surveyed prospective mangrove planting
sites, most of the time the weather was good. We usually
did not worry about rough waves and strong winds, but
we must carefully consider weather conditions of windydays. On young trees planted at lower elevation sites in
the intertidal zone, the number of leaves was less due tothe action of waves and tidal currents. Under such stressfrom waves and tidal currents, young trees with a few
leaves would die. Typhoons/cyclones are much more
serious for young trees. Hundreds of young trees were
killed by a typhoon in Tien Lang District, Hai Phong City
in northern Vietnam. I did not expect a typhoon to attack
that area.

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Fig. 4 During the dry season, barnacles grew rapidly on stems andleaves of mangrove trees which had been planted on lower
land in the intertidal zone in northern Vietnam. Germinatedyoung trees of K. obovata grew well until December. After
December, they died because of being covered withbarnacles in the lower land in winter.

Fig. 5 Planting mangroves in lower land in the intertidal zone isrisky. R. mucronata germinated on the front of natural
stands of mangroves in central Vietnam (the centre photo).
Within one year from their germination, they disappeared.
Possible factors in their disappearance could be waves andtidal currents, floods, covering by algae (like the left
photo), or fishing activities (like the right photo).

4.2.4 Livestock browsing (grazing) near villages
Browsing is a very serious problem in Vietnam. At
two mangrove planting sites near villages in northern andcentral Vietnam, more than three hundred thousand
young K. obovata and R. stylosa trees were heavily
damaged by water buffalo and cattle browsing there(Fig.6). Controlling browsing is difficult, because no one
looks after cattle carefully in that area. Since we cannot
educate the cattle, we must educate the villagers first.
4.2.5 Fishing activities
We saw many small fishing boats pulling out fishingnets along river banks during high tide. None of theFig. 6 Cattle ate leaves of R. stylosa in our mangrove plantingsite in central Vietnam (the centre photo). All leaves in thelower part of the biggest A. marina tree were eaten bycamels in Qatar (the upper photo).

194

S. SUDAfishermen cared about the planted mangroves under thewater along the river banks, because they wanted to catch
fish for their living.
Many of young planted S. caseolaris were not only
pulled out and killed but also damaged due to operationof fishing nets during high tide in Vietnam. A triangle-shaped push net operated by a fishing boat (Fig. 5)
and small nets pushed by fishermen themselves also
caused damage to young planted S. caseolaris. We must,
therefore, discuss our planting activities with the fishermen beforehand so that they know how important mangroves are, how to look after them, how mangrove forests
sustain fishery resources and so on.
4.2.6 Oil spills
Since 1981, we have conducted successful mangrove
planting in Khafji, Saudi Arabia. During the Gulf War in
1990, crude oil leaked from oil tanks in Kuwait. Planted
mangroves were covered with the oil. According to apersonal report from Koichi Tsuruda, although operations of seawater spraying on damaged trees were carriedout by volunteers, all planted trees of R. stylosa*, an
introduced mangrove species from Pakistan, died fromthe oil, but around 30% of the planted trees of A. marina,
which is the only native mangrove species in the region,
survived. Once crude oil covers animals and plants, they
all die. Immediate action to remove the oil is required.
*: when we introduced R. stylosa from Pakistan, I believed thosewere R. stylosa, but most mangrove scientists said there were
no R. stylosa in Pakistan, only R. mucronata. Since all theplanted ones disappeared due to damage from the oil, we could
not identify them after that. For this reason, I used R. stylosa inthis paper.

5. Causes of Forest Degradation
I have seen degradation and decrease of planted forests and natural forests caused by natural factors such as
erosion, typhoons and floods; and human factors such as
causeway construction, shrimp pond development, andover-browsing. In addition, over-felling for charcoal
making, the tsunami disaster in Myanmar, and landfills
for coastal development in Saudi Arabia have been reported as causes of degradation. Some examples of forest
degradation are described below.
5.1 Natural factors affecting degradation
5.1.1 Coastal erosion in southern Vietnam
Several mangrove forest lands were eroded in the
Mekong Delta of Ben Tre province in southern Vietnam.
Similar damage was reported from Soc Trang Province inthe delta. I assume that it was caused by a reduced supplyof sediment from the Mekong River, because of construction of upstream dams.
From my observation, I feel that mangrove forests arewell able to prevent short-term erosion caused by storms,
but they would not be effective at preventing continual
erosion caused by waves and water currents.

5.1.2 Typhoons in northern Vietnam
I mentioned a typhoon above in 4.2, but the typhoonin 2005 was very serious. Several isolated mature S.
caseolaris trees located on the seaside fell down in Tien
Lang District of Hai Phong City in northern Vietnam.
Many leaves in the forest’s trees were blown away andthick branches were broken by strong winds from thetyphoon, but fortunately most of them recovered from thedamage.
5.1.3 Floods in arid regions
Flooding is very common in Vietnam, and we still
remember the serious flooding in Bangkok in 2011. I had
no idea, however, that there would also be serious flooding along arid coasts.
Standing dead A. marina trees were found at threesites in natural mangrove forests along the Red Sea coastsof Sudan and Saudi Arabia (Fig. 7). A. marina would die
from a lack of oxygen, because of rapid sediment deposition covering their pneumatophores (aerial roots) andnormal roots during floods. Under flooding, benthic
creatures such as crabs, which probably play an important role in soil bioturbation, providing sufficient
oxygen into soil, might disappear. It would make the soil
environment more reductive. Even along arid coasts, wemust consider flooding when selecting sites for mangrove planting.
5.2 Human activity factors affecting degradation
5.2.1 Shrimp pond construction in Vietnam
The main reason for recent destruction of mangrove
forests in Vietnam has been shrimp pond construction.
For instance, a part of our planted forests of S. caseolaris
has been enclosed by embankments of a huge shrimp
farm in Tien Lang District, Hai Phong City. Moreover,many parts of sites planted with K. obovata by localorganizations have been converted into intensive shrimp
ponds, where there are electric lights and paddle-wheel
machines for increasing the density of dissolved oxygen
inside the ponds, as recommended by the local govern-

Fig. 7 Dead A. marina mangroves due to floods on the Red Sea
coast of Saudi Arabia. Their root systems were damaged
by being covered with sediment during the floods. Thiswas found in Sudan also.

Findings from Our Mangrove Restoration Activities over 30 Years

ment. My understanding is that intensive shrimp farming
does not always make a profit. The new shrimp farm
facilities mentioned above were heavily damaged by thetyphoon in 2005. I assumed that private investors probably lost a great amount of money due to the typhoon. It
said that northern Vietnam which is hit by typhoons
frequently, is not suitable for intensive shrimp culture.
They have a lot of things to learn from nature.
5.2.2 Over-browsing by camels in arid regions
In many countries with arid coastal regions, such as
Arabian Gulf states, except Kuwait, Egypt, Sudan, Iranand Pakistan, natural forests of A. marina are used as
pasturing lands for dromedary camels. In such forests,
leaves, twigs, fruits and aerial roots are eaten up to aheight of about three meters by camels (Fig. 6). At thesame time, surface root systems including aerial roots aredamaged by the camels’ heavy feet.
In the Indus delta of Pakistan and Qatar, several A.
marina forests lost almost all their leaves due to camelbrowsing. Furthermore, damage from browsing retards
natural regeneration by seeds. Over-browsing should becontrolled for sustainable use of mangrove forests in arid
regions. Nevertheless, it is a difficult issue in arid regions,because no one takes responsibility for camels’ overbrowsing.
5.2.3 Causeway construction
One of the causes of mangrove destruction is road
construction passing through mangrove forests. A reclaimed road crossing a natural forest was constructedillegally in Qatar. Because of the construction, a pond
appeared as a result of a tidal stream being dammed up by
the road as the causeway passed through the mangrove
forest. Subsequently, A. marina trees in the pond diedbecause their pneumatophores were submerged for a longtime. In a pond, water currents provide insufficient oxygen for respiration to their roots. In order to recover sucha habitat, the road was cut as shown in Fig. 8 to keep

Fig. 8 A causeway crossing a natural A. marina forest was
illegally constructed in Qatar. The road stopped a tidal
stream, like a dam. Then, many trees inside the pond died
due to submergence. Therefore, the road was destroyed in
1989 (the centre photo). In another case in Saudi Arabia,
such a road stopped tidal inundation like an embankment.
Then, many trees on the land side (the right side of thelower photo) of the road died from dryness.

195

enough tidal inundation to provide sufficient oxygen andnutrition. If a causeway is constructed, a bridge whichallows tidal inundation should be planned at one point forminimizing the impact of causeway construction. My
understanding is there are two causes of degradation inmangrove stands as a result of causeway construction:
one is death under such pond environments and the otheris death under dry environments due to cessation of tidal
inundation (lower photo in Fig. 8). Such extensive
degradation has been reported not only in Qatar but also
in many other countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Saudi
Arabia, etc.
5.2.4 Dumping of dredged sediment in Pakistan
Excavation for port development is also a serious
reason for mangrove destruction. In order to deepen ashallow ship route to Port Qasim in Karachi, Pakistan,dredged liquid sediment gathered from a creek bottom
was transported into natural mangrove forests through apipe. Because the dredged sediment spread and covered
the pneumatophores of A. marina, A. marina mangrove
stands died in a circular-shape. Factors in their deaths
were similar to those in 5.1.3. Google Earth is a very
good free tool for detecting such phenomena. I myself
found four bare lands damaged by dumping of dredged
sediment on Google Earth satellite images. The largest
one was about five hundred meters in diameter, as
calculated from the image. When I found it, I assumed
that reforestation in such bare lands would be difficult
without digging trenches for restoring daily tidal inundation, because the ground level had already beenraised by the sediment. Since my colleagues developed
methods of planting mangroves in trenches in the 1990s
in Pakistan, we may restore mangroves even in suchareas.

6. Past, Ongoing Activities and Challenges for
ACTMANG’s Mangrove Reforestation
Mangrove reforestation activities implemented by
ACTMANG in collaboration with local governments,
domestic non-governmental organizations, internationalorganizations and Japanese governmental or privateorganizations are as follows:
1) Establishment of greenbelts, like natural breakwaters
against typhoons in northern Vietnam
The main goal of mangrove reforestation in northern
Vietnam is typhoon disaster reduction. In Tien Lang
District, for eight years from 1995, windbreak greenbelt
forests of S. caseolaris were established in front of a dikefor more than 5 km in length and 500 m in width. I believe that the greenbelt probably saved lives and properties of coastal villagers hit by typhoons.
We have conducted restoration activities using not
only S. caseolaris but also K. obovata. Some K. obovata
planted sites require thinning because they become too
dense to grow properly. In a couple of those forests,
thinning operations have been done, but local forest
officers worry about increased illegal tree cutting as part196

S. SUDAof thinning operations. They hesitate to allow further
thinning operations.
2) Restoration of mangroves in abandoned shrimp pondsin northern Vietnam
Due to construction of extensive shrimp ponds in theearly 1990s, natural mangroves on lower land inside theponds died in the pond environment. Thereby, thevillagers lost a large forest area for collecting various
kinds of benthos which generate food and cash income.
Many of the ponds were abandoned under lower productivity because of shrimp diseases and higher runningcosts for repairing broken embankments after storms.
From 2007 to 2012, K. obovata, R. stylosa and B.
gymnorhiza were planted in three hundred hectors ofabandoned shrimp ponds in Tien Yen District, Quang
Ninh Province in northern Vietnam. When we conductedmangrove restoration activities in abandoned ponds, themost expensive part was engineering work to dig channels for proper daily inundation. Thanks to storms, mostof the embankments of the ponds had been broken.
Therefore, we spent less money to restore mangroves
where that had occurred.
3) Restoration of abandoned paddy fields in Myanmar
In the Ayeyarwady delta in Myanmar, large areas ofmangrove forests were converted into paddy fields tocultivate more rice. In most of them, however, ricecultivation did not go well, because of poor site selection
for paddy fields. These wrong sites were abandoned andthen became grasslands where nothing important grew.
The Forestry Department planned to restore mangroves there, but they did not have enough staff to conduct a restoration project, because the abandoned sites
were too large for them to plant mangroves by themselves. The department introduced the idea of community
forestry to have local people restore mangroves. Since
most of those sites were covered with grasses, they had toeradicate those first. Then, reforestation could be done ina lot of abandoned paddy fields.
4) Reintroduction of an extinct mangrove species into
the Indus delta
In the middle of the 1980s when we visited mangrove
forests in the Indus delta in Pakistan, we could not findany R. mucronata trees. When the UNDP/UNESCO
mangrove project in Asia and the Pacific started, wecollected propagules from natural mangrove forests in
Miai Hor and successfully planted them in 1986 (Kogoet al., 1987). Fourteen years after planting, they werealready producing their own propagules naturally, andnatural regeneration occurred (Fig. 9).
5) Planting in an artificial habitat on a small island
We were requested by an oil company to establish
mangrove forests on a small offshore desert island called
Mubarras Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE. When we were asked,
we hesitated to implement the project, because germination and survival rates of planted mangroves would be
extremely low there due to high salinity concentrations,less daily inundation and strong waves onshore. To
overcome such harsh conditions, we proposed a unique
idea to excavate small trenches inland and then plant aFig. 9 Everyone believed that R. mucronata had disappeared
from the Indus Delta in Pakistan, but it still remained in anatural forest in Miani Hor located in the northwesternpart of the delta. Its propagules were collected, andintroduced to the delta near Karachi in 1986. They werealready fruiting fourteen years from their planting.

couple of mangrove species on the banks of the excavated trenches to maintain daily inundation. In 1984, thetrenches were excavated, and we planted seedlings of A.
marina brought from the mainland of Abu Dhabi andpropagules of R. mucronata from Pakistan. I hear thatmost of those are growing well even now.
6) Key factors in community forestry in Myanmar
In 1999, we started a mangrove community forestry project in the Pyindaye Forest Reserve in the
Ayeyarwady delta. Under the idea of community forestry,
local communities play an important role in forest use
and management of surrounding forests and their resources (Kogo et al., 2012).
Before starting a community forestry project, we may
discuss it with the Forestry Department. Since mostmangrove forest areas are managed by the Forestry
Department, the department may give their permission to
local communities to use and manage forests and resources for a term of 30 years. This is an incentive forparticipation in community forestry. Once the local
community gets permission, they have the responsibility
to manage and use the forests and resources by themselves properly. This idea encourages local communities
to conduct community forestry. Thus far, ten mangrove
species have been planted in over 1,800 ha successfully,
because all of those were conducted by users’ groups
consisting of villagers who were trained by the Forest
Department of Myanmar,
7) Challenges
Many Asian and the Middle Eastern countries havebeen extending mangrove restoration activities. Nevertheless, in Sudan, full-scale mangrove planting has notbeen carried out, and even nursery techniques for A.
marina, which is the only dominant mangrove species,
were still under development. There is a unique ebb andflow around Port Sudan in the middle of the Red Sea
coast: the monthly mean sea level range is about 30 cm,
high in winter and low in summer (Mohamed M. Osman,1984). Daily tidal ranges are also very narrow―less thanFindings from Our Mangrove Restoration Activities over 30 Years

30 cm (personal observation). Thereby, the elevation ofinundated areas in summer is always 30cm lower thanthat in winter. Since A. marina has adapted to such
unique tidal conditions, we may need more research todevelop planting techniques. In Sudan, it was believedthat R. mucronata was extinct, but very small stands of it
were re-discovered in 2011 by the Faculty of Marine
Sciences and Fisheries of the Red Sea University. They
want to conserve those stands and extend their distribution. For this, planting techniques for R. mucronata
should be developed immediately.
We need more challenges, not only for Sudan but also
other countries, to save our mangrove ecosystems for
future generations.

Acknowledgements
I would like to express thanks to Arabian Oil
Company and Abu Dhabi Oil Company and their staff,
who provided us with two experimental sites for mangrove afforestation in Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the
1980s. Our supporting organizations in Pakistan were
the Forest Department of Sindh, IUCN Pakistan and
UNESCO/UNDP. In our technical corporation programin Qatar in the 1990s, our supporting organizations were
the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture of
Qatar, the Embassy of Japan in Doha, JICA, and theForestry Agency of Japan. Since the 1990s, ACTMANG’scounterparts have been the Mangrove Ecosystem Research Division (MERD) of the Centre for Natural
Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES) in
Vietnam, and the Forest Resource Environment Development and Conservation Association (FREDA) in
Myanmar. Lately, the Research Institute for Humanity
and Nature in Kyoto, the Red Sea University in Port
Sudan, and the Saudi Wild Life Authority in Riyadh,
have given me opportunities for exciting field surveys
along the Red Sea coasts under the project, “A Study of
Human Subsistence Ecosystems in Arab Societies.”
Finally special thanks to our colleagues, Mr. M. Kogo
and Mr. C. Miyamoto, who are the founders of our organizations, and to Mr. T. Tsukamoto, Mr. K. Tsuruda, Mr. T.
Asano and Mr. T. Tsuji.

197

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Seiji SUDA
Seiji SUDA is a representative of Action for
Mangrove Reforestation (ACTMANG). In his
university days, he enjoyed spelunking as amember of the Exploration Club at the Tokyo
University of Agriculture. After graduation, hebegan to study the cultivation of mangroves in
Saudi Arabia from 1983 as a researcher at the Al Gurm Research Centre(AGRC). For seven years from 1988, he was dispatched to the governmentof Qatar as a JICA expert on mangrove afforestation. Since then, his main
activity area has been Vietnam as a researcher for ACTMANG. He has
benefited highly from his association with Dr. M. Kogo, one of the authors
featured in this journal, who founded ACTMANG, AGRC and the
Exploration Club.

(Received 31 January 2013, Accepted 9 May 2013)