Kennedy Warne, founding editor of New Zealand Geographic magazine, has traveled the globe to experience the splendor of the mangroves. With his new book published by Island Press Let Them Eat Shrimp: The Tragic Disappearance of the Rainforests of the Sea, he illustrates what is at stake if they are lost and how we can protect them.
Once covering three-quarters of the world’s sheltered tropical coastlines, mangroves provide food and timber for local people; habitat for fisheries and wildlife; and protection against storms and rising seas. As carbon sinks, they also play a key role in fighting climate change. But almost half of these forests have been bulldozed to make way for shrimp aquaculture, vacation resorts, urban expansion, and other development. On Novemeber 29, 2011, Warne was interviewed on the Diane Rehm Show about his work, which you can listen to here.
The introduction to the Show states, "John Steinbeck once said 'no one likes the mangroves.' But New Zealand marine biologist Kennedy Warne argues they are simply misunderstood. There are seventy species of mangroves, ranging from trees to shrubs to ferns. What defines them is their unique ability to thrive in heat, mud and salt that would kill an ordinary plant. Mangrove forests support a wealth of animal and plant species. They provide food, medicine, work and homes for millions of coastal people. But development and shrimp aquaculture are threatening their existence. Warne explains the importance of these rainforests of the sea and how we can help protect them."
