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NAREI unveils mangrove monitoring app

Sep 21, 2023 News

Kaieteur News – The National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) and its partner, SERVIR-Amazonia, last week unveiled a software programme which will strengthen the country’s ability to monitor mangrove forests along the coastland.

The application was unveiled at a simple ceremony at NAREI’s headquarters at Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara. According to NAREI, the geospatial tool can assist the agency and civil society to protect the country’s natural coastal barriers using remote sensing technology.

SERVIR-Amazonia noted on its website that the application provides a platform for automating the analysis of radar and optical imagery going back several years and setting a year-2020 baseline for future analysis. “This service makes mangrove-related land-use change transparent and the resulting analysis publicly available for use by government and civil society,” the entity said.

The app, which was developed by SERVIR-Amazonia, a joint program of NASA and the United States Agency of International Development (USAID), measures the height and density of mangrove forests by using NASA satellites that bounce radar signals off the planet’s surface.

NASA’s Global Climate Change website noted in a report that when lasers hit mangroves’ leaves and branches, the radar signals return to the sending devices backscattered. “When the radar signals bounce back more smoothly, it can warn local experts that a section of forest might be sick, or even deforested entirely,” the report said.

On July 26, the day set aside for International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, Minister of Agriculture, several stakeholders and members of the diplomatic community undertook a mangrove tour along the seawall from Turkeyen to Ogle, ECD.

At the event, which was geared at bringing awareness to the importance of mangroves as a key aspect of the country’s eco-system, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, highlighted its role as a natural sea defence barrier.

In July this year, the Government of Guyana and the European Union (EU) inked an agreement which will establish a comprehensive programme to protect and manage the invaluable mangroves locally, the Department of Public Information reported.

Within the past two years, large swathes of land along the Coastland in Regions Three and Four were cut down to make way for infrastructural works for the oil and gas industry.

Last July, NAREI announced that ExxonMobil’s partner Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited was given permission by the government to cut down 240 square meters or 2583 square foot of mangroves and cordgrass at Ogle, ECD to lay a fibre optic cable.

NAREI said it was monitoring the project including the replanting of the important specie along the disrupted shoreline.

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