When you think of something endangered you immediately think of animals. That is because their habitats are being destroyed, being threatened or are becoming extinct. This means that their population is decreasing and almost coming to an end to their existence. Governments are allowing countries to protect animals that are endangered and prevent hunters from hunting them. For example, Pandas are animals that are near extinct; because people are slowly moving to their habitats which happens to make them lose shelter and food supplies. That’s why the Chinese Governments began to show efforts to protect the giant pandas. As other countries are trying to show the importance of protecting endangered animals, UAE is showing the world the importance of protecting endangered trees. Mangroves are one of the endangered trees that UAE is trying to protect.
Mangroves are any shrub of the genus Rhizophora, which usually grows in tidal shores. They are found on tropical and subtropical areas, including estuaries. Mangroves exist in numerous places in the world. First of all, Africa is the largest concentration of mangroves. Then, South America which contains 15% of the world’s total mangroves. Other countries such as Indonesia, Taiwan, Pakistan, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands have approximately 11,500 km2 of Mangroves tree. Unfortunately, about 35% of Mangrove trees were lost during the last decades. The WMA announced that a fifth of the worlds Mangrove ecosystem was lost since 1980. During the WW2 the U.S army sprayed poison that destroyed 480 square miles of Mangrove trees in Japan. It also turned out that shrimp farming causes a destruction of Mangrove trees. Efforts by international organizations are done to save Mangroves that are threatened by construction, or shrimp farming, such as in Sir Baniyas and the Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi.
Mangroves aren’t just some useless trees. It has been stated that they have many uses such as protecting us against Tsunamis,.