The document discusses mangroves in Puerto Rico, how they were impacted by Hurricane Maria, their importance, and ways to help conserve them. Specifically, it notes that mangroves play a key role in absorbing storm impacts, store carbon, and support marine life. However, many were devastated by Maria and global mangrove forests are declining rapidly due to development and other human activities. The document proposes adopting individual mangroves with a youth project to help those in need of critical care to improve coastal resilience against future disasters.

1. Puerto Rico’s Mangroves
Surviving Hurricane Maria
Protecting From Future Ones
How Can We Help?
Kutasha Bryan-Silva
14th Youth Leadership Summit for Sustainable
Development
Stone Soup Leadership Institute
June 23-29, 2018
Roger Williams University • Bristol, Rhode Island

2. Mangroves in Puerto Rico
• Two of the Mangroves in Vieques have
bioluminescence phenomena in Puerto Mosquito
and Bahia Tapon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwfG9s1A8pI

3. Mangroves &
Hurricane Maria
• Before Maria (BM): A combination of lush,
beautiful, strong and weak and uncared for.
• After Maria (AM): Devastated, uprooted,
leaving shoreline extra vulnerable for future
climatic disasters.
• Note: The impact of Hurricane Maria was so strong
that time is now referenced by locals as BM or AM.

4. What is a Mangrove?
• Tropical Forests live along the muddy ocean, river shores and
subtropics.
• Mangroves are the world’s most endangered ecosystem and
worldwide are disappearing faster than rainforests.
• Mangrove swamps are extremely important to our own well-being
and to the health of the planet.

5. “I’m a Survivor”
• Mangroves thrive with saltwater.
• While saltwater kills most plants, mangroves extract
freshwater from seawater.
• Mangroves store filtered fresh water in their thick,
succulent leaves.
• They have multi-tasking aerial roots: these broaden the
base of the tree and stabilize the shallow root system in
the soft, dense, loose soil.

6. What Lives in a Mangrove?
• Mangroves have an intricate root system which supports fish,
birds and organisms seeking food and provides shelter from
predators.
• They are essential hatcheries for marine organisms .
• The red mangrove, black mangrove, white mangrove and
button mangrove. All live on the coasts of Puerto Rico.
• Salt flats in mangroves support other salt-tolerant plants.

7. How Do Mangroves Help Us?
• Mangroves complicated root systems absorb the impact of waves, which
increases water quality, reduces erosion and prevents hurricane damage.
• Mangrove forests absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere. They
make up less than 2% of marine environments but account for 10-15 % of
carbon burial. One acre of mangrove forest can store about 1,450 pounds
of carbon per year.
• Mangroves buffer coastal barriers against storms, hurricanes and
tsunamis. Mangroves naturally absorb influxes of water on a daily basis
and cope with the extra flooding during a storm.

8. We Pay The Price for Our Actions!

9. Mangroves and the Green Economy
• Mangroves are a vital part of eco-tourism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUUftwPASpA
• Mangroves provide us with an ample supply of food,
medicines, fiber and wood.
• Mangrove wood is used to build stilt houses, furniture,
fences, bridges, fishing poles/traps, canoes, rafts, and boats.

10. Alarming!
How Mangroves Are in Danger?
• Mangroves are disappearing at an alarming rate around the
world.
• The forests in Vieques, PR have shown massive decline in the
past 50 years and will continue to do so, unless immediate
remedial actions are taken.
• From 2001 to 2012, the world lost roughly 35 to 97 square
miles of mangrove forest per year.
• Coastal development, shrimping/aquaculture, rice and palm
oil farming, and industrial activity are rapidly replacing these
salt-tolerant trees and the ecosystems they support.

11. Global Best Practices:
Mangrove Conservation
• The Mangrove Alliance aims to increase global mangrove forests by 20% by 2030.
It is spearheaded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the International Union for
the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• Smartphone app for East African mangroves allows anyone to collect data on
mangrove health.
• Indonesia, Liberia, and Pakistan created mangrove forests and conserve forests
subjected to deforestation.
• Mangroves for the Future(MFF)
• Bonn Challenge
• How can we help?

12. How Can We Help?
Adopt a Mangrove
A Project with Youth
& Vieques Fish & Wildlife
•Mangroves that appear to be in good condition do not need
assistance.
•Mangroves with slight handicaps could be quickly or easily
solved through Youth Intervention.
•Mangroves which are urgently in need of critical care and
rapid improvement could thrive on adoption helping to keep
the coastal lines strong and resilient for any future disasters.