Saving the Mangroves Front

Marwaan Macan-Markar – IPS – Monday, 18 June 2012 (originally published 15 Jun)

Lucena Duman readies for her tour-guide role on Ang Pulo island. Image: Marwaan Macan-Markar/IPS.

ANG PULO, Philippines, Jun 15 2012 (IPS) – On a humid islet covered with mangroves, Lucena Duman and her neighbours have found a route out of poverty. They work as conservationists and tour guides in this isolated corner of the Philippines.

After feeding her goats, which were once her only source of income, the 46-year-old Duman dons a wide-brimmed sun hat, slips into a yellow guides T-shirt and heads out on her bamboo raft. She is going from her village of small-scale fishers and farmers to Ang Pulo island in the South China Sea.

Her work on the 7.5 hectare islet has brought a new appreciation of mangroves. “All I knew of mangroves before was that they were a source of firewood and food – snails,” she admitted during a break from guiding visitors to plant mangrove seedlings. “But after being trained, we realise it is a richer place for us if we protect mangroves” . . .

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