CEMAsys.com makes an important contribution to the fight against climate change by planting 150 000 mangrove trees in Myanmar.
CEMAsys.com has partnered with Worldview International Foundation and the Thor Heyerdahl Climate Park in Myanmar. Through this partnership the Cemasys Climate Park will be the site for the planting of 150 000 new mangrove trees in a 600-hectare area.
The tree planting is already underway and will be finished during the Autumn of 2019. These trees will bind approximately 150 000 tCO2 from the atmosphere in the span of the next 20 years.
Most climate experts agree that technological innovation will not by itself be sufficient to reduce global carbon emissions, and that planting trees to bind CO2 will be a critical contribution to the fight against climate change in the years to come.
In an article in The Guardian , the climate activist Greta Thunberg emphasized that we do not have time to ignore these simple solutions.
The benefits
The restoring and re-planting of destroyed mangrove forests has numerous positive impacts on the climate, the environment, and on local socio-economic conditions.
Some of these benefits are listed below:
- Mangrove forests protect coastal areas, including animals, people, and property, from extreme weather events such as cyclones;
- The network of mangrove roots filters polluted water in protection of seagrass and coral reefs;
- Mangrove forests increase seafood production by up to 50 per cent and are a crucial habitat to foster biodiversity for endangered animals and plant species;
- Planting mangrove forests creates local jobs both directly through breeding and planting, but also indirectly by strengthening the livelihoods of local communities;
- Planting new mangrove forests binds CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and thereby contributes to mitigating climate change. One new mangrove tree can bind approximately 1 tCO2 over a 20-year period;
- Mangrove trees mitigate up to 5 times more CO2 than other tree species in the rainforests.
“Using nature’s own mechanisms for binding CO2 through photosynthesis is a cheap and effective way of reducing CO2 in the atmosphere. We are proud to be able to contribute to this project.
In addition to the positive climate effects, the project also supports jobs and wages for the local population, it provides a safety mechanism against floods and tsunamis, and it restores the ecological balance in vulnerable coastal areas.
The world must undergo a difficult and rapid transition in order to meet the targets set in the Paris Agreement. With this project we wish to encourage other companies to compensate for their own carbon emissions with these types of simple methods.” Per Otto Larsen, Founder CEMAsys.com
“A mangrove tree captures up to five times more carbon than other tree species and stores it permanently in the ground. This is the world’s most cost-effective way to capture and store carbon.
Worldview International Foundation has since 2015 planted 7 million trees in a 20,000-acre area. We collaborate with local communities in coastal areas to fulfill the United Nation’s sustainability- and climate goals.
This has opened up the possibility for us to plant trees on an additional 500,000-acre area, corresponding to the capture and storage of 2,5 times the CO2 than annual Norwegian emissions. Our partnership with CEMAsys.com and others makes this possible. It is time for action!” Dr. Arne Fjørtoft, Secretary General of Worldview International Foundation
The project
Thor Heyerdahl Climate Park - Restoring Mangrove Forests
The Thor Heyerdahl Climate Park projects aims to restore and plant mangrove trees in the Ayeyarwady Region of Myanmar where only 16 per cent of the original mangrove forest remains (NASA, 2013).
The destruction of mangrove forests in tropical coastal areas is an ecological disaster for the people who live there, and there is an urgent need for the ecosystems and mangrove forests to be restored and managed in a sustainable way.
As of 2019, the Thor Heyerdahl planting area is 2 100 hectares and will be expanded by an additional 75 000 hectares by 2023. The goal is to plant 300 million trees by 2023, which will biologically capture and store over 150 million tonnes CO2e.
The project works toward the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
