Dr. Mark Huxham explores the important role of mangrove forests in mitigating global warming

Cambridge, MA - Mangrove forests provide crucial protection to coastal communities and habitats, as last year's Indian Ocean tsunami vividly demonstrated. Now these coastal forests are being explored for their role in protecting the Earth from climate change.

Dr. Mark Huxham, senior lecturer in environmental biology at Napier University, Edinburgh, recently won the Aviva Climate Change Award for his Earthwatch-supported work in the mangrove forests of Kenya. Huxham will be reporting on his research at the Earthwatch Institute Annual Conference, November 5, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"Mangroves can play an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change," said Huxham, principal investigator of Earthwatch's Mangroves of the Kenyan Coast project. "I hope that we can learn more about whether mangroves might help in the fight to slow climate change as well."

Earthwatch teams have helped Huxham measure carbon fluxes in coastal mangrove forests, part of their effort to restore mangrove ecosystems degraded by years of deforestation. One hectare of mangrove forest can sequester 1.36 metric tons of carbon per year, mitigating the impact of carbon dioxide largely responsible for the current warming trend.

Huxham received approximately $11,000 (£6,000) from Aviva, the world's sixth-largest insurance group, to continue his research in Kenya. Each year the insurance giant provides a generous award to an Earthwatch-supported scientist whose work relates directly to global warming.

"We live in a century of the most profound climate change," said Anthony Sampson, director of corporate social responsibility at Aviva. "It is important to discover as much as we can about what other changes might arise. Aviva is proud to have the opportunity to encourage such important work."

"This excellent project on the restoration of mangrove forests in Kenya will deliver practical solutions in the battle against climate change," said Dr. Roger Mitchell, chief scientist at Earthwatch (Europe). "We hope this means of combating climate change will be taken up in other countries, particularly those where mangroves are disappearing. Global reduction in mangroves is higher than that any other tropical ecosystem, including rainforests."

Earthwatch's Annual Conference brings together scientists from around the world to compare their insights on the role of citizens in science, including the views of the keynote speaker, renowned evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson.

Huxham praised Earthwatch volunteers as vital to his project. "The opportunity to work with dedicated volunteers has allowed us to complete so much more than we expected," he said. Huxham will be reporting on his most recent work in Kenya in a talk titled: "Monkeys from Those Mangroves Ate My Mangos: Planting and Promoting Kenya's Coastal Forests."


Information about Earthwatch Institute
Earthwatch Institute ( www.earthwatch.org ) is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1971 which supports scientific field research worldwide by offering members of the public unique opportunities to work alongside leading field scientists and researchers. The Institute's mission is to promote sustainable conservation of our natural resources and cultural heritage by creating partnerships between scientists, educators, and the general public