Mangrove Day

The International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem falls on 26 July. UNESCO established it in 2015 to raise awareness of why mangroves matter and to promote their sustainable conservation.

Mangroves act as natural sea walls. UNESCO notes that a 500-metre strip of mangrove can reduce wave heights by 50 to 99 per cent. They also hold carbon: one hectare of mangrove can store 3,754 tons of it.

Yet mangroves are disappearing three to five times faster than forests overall, and global mangrove coverage has halved in the past 40 years. Mangrove loss accounts for up to 10 per cent of emissions from deforestation, even though mangroves cover only 0.7 per cent of land.

Thailand has 2.86 million rai of mangrove forest, of which 1.74 million rai is in good condition, according to Department of Marine and Coastal Resources figures reported in 2022.

To help: join a mangrove planting day run by a local group, stay on boardwalks when you visit, and always take your litter home.

Mangroves show how much a coast can gain from what grows at its edge. At AVALON Artisan Gallery, From Waste to Wonder looks at shells the same way: more than 50,000 tonnes of green mussel shells are discarded in Thailand each year, and we reclaim them as MyraShell and MyraGem.