Approximately 20 percent of the total mangrove forests in the world are in the Southeast Asian archipelago, and the country’s efforts to protect its mangroves are vital to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

So to mark our first anniversary, we have decided to follow in the footsteps of our friend Cristiano and do our part to protect mangroves around the region.

How we’re doing it

We’ve been working with Tree-Nation this year to support ongoing mangrove reforestation efforts in Indonesia through Eden Projects on Biak Island in Papua.

Beginning in 2018, Eden Projects has been working alongside communities experiencing extreme poverty in Eastern Indonesia to plant and restore mangroves locally.

Biak Island was badly affected by the 1996 Irian Jaya earthquake and subsequent tsunami, a disaster that caused untold damage to the area as well as devastating its coastal mangrove buffers and forests.

Eden Projects has planted over 350,000 mangroves since the project started, and zujuGP are delighted to plant 100 Rhizophora mucronata trees this year in aid of this effort.

The importance of mangrove forests

Often found along coastlines in the tropics, mangrove forests might cover only a fraction of the planet’s surface but they are quite possibly one of the more important plant ecosystems on Earth.

Besides protecting nearby areas from the effects of natural disasters like tsunamis and extreme weather events, mangroves are also very effective carbon sinks – capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing vast amounts of carbon to limit climate change.

However, mangrove forests around the world have been steadily depleted over the years due to numerous factors.

These days, there are many efforts to help to protect and restore these fragile ecosystems, and ours is but a small contribution to help fight climate change.