So the first time I noticed the mangroves was in the
90s. I used to fish a lot. We used to go deep sea fishing and I used to see
a distant green line on the horizon every time we pass by to
go out into the open ocean. So we started venturing close, we
discovered that this tiny thin line was 45-50 feet tall. And the
scale of this assortments was absolutely magical. The first
time I saw this forest that would sink in water.
Look at that trunk. Yeah. So it takes a while for others, other plants to start
growing around it again. But the immediate reaction is this empty
of the area. Otherwise, otherwise, if you look there.
Now this is this is the natural growth of a mangrove, very
dense, lots of little shoots coming up that are growing up.
This is not natural. In a mangrove forest.
Pakistan is home to one of the most successful
mangrove restoration projects in the world. Globally, there is a
renewed focus on safeguarding mangroves because they not only
protect coastlines, they also suck more carbon out of the
atmosphere per acre than any other tree. But here in Karachi,
it's a different story. As rampant development, illegal logging,
chemical dumping and raw sewage threaten the fragile ecosystem
that lines the coast of this mega city. Tariq Alexander
Qaiser is on a mission to protect these urban mangroves.
Until recently, we had seven species. Previously, we had
more, but we had seven species of mangroves three went extinct.
95% of the mangrove that we have that is left with us is that our
Avicennia Marina. It's just this incredible tree, where it will
not only absorb the carbon and sequester carbon in the soil in
itself and its roots it will tolerate and absorb and lock
into the soil. The metals from the tanneries, the Chromiums,
the leads of all the dyeing chemicals that are coming out of
our textile factories. It can deal with the organic toxins
that were pouring out because Karachi does not treat its
sewage. And it's a incredible tonnage of waste is dumped into
the ocean every day. And this tree is able to take it and
absorb it.
In recent years, Qaiser started using the
power of social media to spread awareness.
So I would send the videos out on WhatsApp to about
1,800 or 1,900 people with the request that piece forwarded,
and it got moved around a lot. So it went to a lot of the
officials who were in charge of forestry, who are in charge
provincial government and to people who in the federal
government, people who were in a position to do something about
it. And to my greatest surprise, they did. There was at times
within the hour response and instructions given to try and
stop the cutters to send the security and the forestry
department people out to the point places. Responses of the
forest will be protected.
What are the mangroves? Mangroves are the plants that
grow in the junction of sea and the river water like in a
brackish water.
An architect by trade, Qaiser helped design this
mangrove ecosystem exhibit at the newly open MagnifiScience Centre
in Karachi.
We're the first contemporary interactive science
center in Pakistan. Mangroves are not just important to city
it's important to coastline and they protect the coastline of
course from tsunamis etc. But they are also the nursery where
your crabs and prawns and fish, you know they spawn in the
roots of those mangoes and they of course provide the fish that
we need for our fishing industry and to feed ourselves as well.
So it's it's imperative that the children that come here realize
the importance of what our environment is and what it is
that they need to protect. They should be they should feel a
certain affinity to it.
As sea levels rise due to global warming, mangroves
play an even more important role in protecting coastal cities
like Karachi. The United Nations estimates that the benefits of
these trees which also provide food through their fisheries and
function as tourist attractions are worth more than $450 billion
a year to the world economy.
In our country where the problems are so immense and
so real poverty of inequity, and and on and on and on. The
cutting of a tree is sad to say, but might be of not such a great
consequence but it is. But it is because it's a lifeline, the
lifeblood of our lives out here of the quality of lives. We've
got a small window to save these forests, and there's absolutely
a chance a good chance to keep this for future generations. But
it's a limited amount of time that we have before the forest
crosses at critical threshold and they all die. So, the water has
to be cleaned, the city has to be responsible. The cutting
needs to be sustainable. But if it's not done in balance, we
lose the forest. If it's done in balance, we will sustain both
people and industries. We all depend on each other. And at the
end of the day, we are all food for each other.