Angouru community is a beautiful village in South Malaita, Solomon Islands. Life goes as it always has for many generations, although little changes can be seen. Some electricity is provided by solar panels, however cooking is still done by firewood stoves as the smoky kitchens indicate.

Lydia George talks from her kitchen while cooking mangrove pods with coconut milk, a local delicacy: “Mangrove is one of our most important foods. And we utilize it also for building houses. From the mangrove forest we get many other benefits like the mud crab that lives in there and the forest protects our village from storms when the waves get too high,” she says.

Mangroves underpin the livelihoods of coastal communities by providing timber, firewood, and food such as fish, shellfish, and the edible mangrove fruits themselves.

Mangroves are unique ecosystems, thriving in salty environments where few other plants can survive. In the Solomon Islands they cover 60,000 hectares, representing 3 percent of the nation’s land area and 40 percent of the world’s mangrove species. These ecosystems also serve as nurseries for marine life, natural barriers against coastal erosion and critical carbon sinks. Each hectare of mangroves can store up to 1,000 tonnes of carbon. 

Mangroves filter pollutants and their intricate root systems prevent seawater from seeping into freshwater ecosystems. However, these vital functions are under threat from climate change, rising sea levels, coastal erosion and pressure from increasing populations. 

Mangrove forests are disappearing at an alarming rate due to pollution, land clearance and natural disasters. Solomon Islands, home to 12 percent of the world’s mangrove forests, plays a crucial role in the global fight against mangrove loss. These ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots supporting over 1,500 species, and serve as natural defenses against storms.