Angolan authorities have launched a challenge to plant 1 million mangroves by the end of 2021 to help protect local ecosystems, announced Angola’s vice president, Bornito de Sousa.
“We must all get involved to contribute to the success of this initiative that aims to protect Angola, Africa, and the planet,” said de Sousa on his official website on the occasion of the World Mangrove Conservation Day.
He announced that more than 100,000 mangroves were planted last July 31 through a campaign that mobilized citizens and civil society organizations from different regions of the country.
Highlighting the nobility of reforestation and protection of mangrove ecosystems, he said that together, it is possible to succeed in the challenge of planting 1 million of this plant species by next December.
The mangrove is a type of vegetation typical of wetlands called sodic gleys, a coastal ecosystem present in tropical and subtropical areas. Mangroves, rich in biodiversity, emerge from the contact between the terrestrial and maritime environment.
They thus play an important role in the preservation of various plant and animal species.
In February, de Sousa announced that Angola had filed legal documents at UNESCO headquarters in Paris to become a member of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.
This convention aims to combat the degradation or disappearance of wetlands, recognizing their ecological functions as well as their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational value under the designation of Ramsar site.
