Mangroves and coastal protection: A potential triple-win for Bangladesh

 World Bank Blog, Jul. 16, 2020

In May 2020, as India and Bangladesh grappled with COVID-19, Cyclone Amphan hit, killing more than 80 people. Amid the pandemic, the super cyclone battered the region, leaving in its path thousands of uprooted trees and lives, constant power cuts, and millions of dollars in revenue loss.

As the world’s most vulnerable country to tropical cyclones, Bangladesh has seen its share of catastrophic storms. In the past decade or so, Cyclones Sidr (2007), Aila (2009), Roanu (2016), Fani (2019), and Bulbul (2019) triggered devastating storm surges, which are major threats to lives and property in low-lying coastal areas and can spell disaster in densely populated areas during high tide.

Increasingly, mangrove forest protection is seen as a solution to protect coasts. When cyclones strike, mangrove forests act as buffers against storm surges by obstructing the flow of water with their roots, husks, and leaves. 

While evidence shows that mangroves help protect millions of people and save billions of dollars in property damage from flooding globally, there was scarce data—until our research came out—to measure the protective capacity of this unique ecosystem in Bangladesh.

Read full article from the blog: https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/mangroves-and-coastal-protection-potential-triple-win-bangladesh

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