THE North Durban Honorary Officers marked World Mangrove Day over the weekend to highlight the importance of the Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve.

The annual celebration held on July 26 is a way to raise global awareness about the importance of mangrove ecosystems and promote their sustainable management and conservation.

The day was established by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2015 as a way to highlight that mangroves, around the world, are disappearing three to five times faster than overall global forest losses.

Also read: Family amazed by tiny crabs at mangroves beach

At the reserve, visitors were given guided tours, talks, and met with some of the honorary officers who volunteer their time to focus primarily on conservation, education, and active stewardship at the reserve.

Visitors were also given a chance to take part in a crab census promoting citizen science.

Honorary officer and the biodiversity and research coordinator, Trevor Govender, highlighted the day’s events.

“World Mangrove Day raises global awareness of the importance of mangroves and the urgent need for their sustainable conservation. At the reserve on Saturday we had researchers, educators, learners and communities come together for a day of education, citizen science and shared responsibility.

“We had the keynote address given by Coastal and Marine Scientist Gan Moodley, and MUT professor Askash Anandraj also spoke on the day about careers in nature conservation. The programme we had was a way to deepen the understanding of mangrove ecology while encouraging stewardship of one of Durban’s valuable ecosystems,” he said.

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