The Philippines, an archipelagic country, is one of the 17 megadiverse countries of the world (Paknia et al., 2015). It also has one of the longest coastlines (about 36,289km) with relatively high mangrove diversity holding at least 50% (Primavera et al., 2004; Garcia et al., 2014) of the world’s approximately 65 mangrove species (Kathiresan and Bingham, 2001). The country is also considered as one of the top 15 most mangrove-rich countries in the world, and ranked 6th in Southeast Asia (Giri et al., 2011). 

Mangrove forests provide a variety of protective and productive benefits such as enriching coastal waters, yield commercial forest products, protect coastlines and support coastal fisheries (Kathiresan and Bingham (2001). Likewiae, Alongi (2014 cited in Castillo et al., 2018) reported that mangrove forests provide various products that include timber and other construction materials, fuelwood, fishery products and ecosystem services such as storm protection, sediment regulation, and habitat that supports high levels of coastal and marine biodiversity. 

However, in spite of the numerous protective services of mangroves and because of their many economic uses, mangrove species and mangrove areas continue to be overexploited and degraded resulting to the rapid decline in mangrove areas. Mangrove vegetation has been cleared and reduced by half (51.8%) in just over 92 years, from around 450,000 hectares in 1918 (Brown and Fischer, 1920) to only 240,824 ha in 2010 (Long et al., 2014). 

In Ilocos Norte, a recent report revealed that in spite of its long shoreline (155.37 km), there are only 66 ha mangrove forests, 23 ha of which are old stands and are located at Sitio Nagabungan, Davila, Pasuquin (Angay et al., 2015). Angay et al. (2015) also reported that new plantations are present in Laoag City and the municipalities of Badoc, Pasuquin, Bacarra and Paoay. 

Thus, there is a need to conserve and sustainably manages these existing mangrove forests in the province and at the same time increase the area of these forest through rehabilitation of degraded area and establish new plantations in suitable locations. However, it had been reported that a significant percentage of planted mangroves had limited success. According to Melana et al. (2000), some people involved in mangrove plantation development believe that all open areas, mudflats and seagrass beds can be turned into mangrove forest plantations so many of these efforts failed. The authors added that a number of factors, e.g., type of substrate, current species present, present or absence of seagrass, tidal height, extent of wave action, etc., must be considered in selecting an area for plantation. In addition, Unfortunately, the baseline data and information on the mangrove ecosystems in the province are still lacking except for limited data generated on the species composition of mangroves in Davila, Pasuquin conducted by Gonzales (2010) who reported that there were eight mangrove species found in the area. Therefore, successful implementation of these management, restoration and conservation activities requires a thorough assessment of the current status of mangrove areas and clear understanding of the biophysical characteristics of these areas including the socio-economic characteristics of the communities around these areas. 

 

 The project  shall have the following anticipated outcomes:

a.       Information on the characteristics of the macroflora and macro- and microfauna in mangrove areas 

b.       Information on the physico-chemical characteristics of the soil and water in mangrove areas 

c.       Suitability map for mangrove species and delineated areas possible for mangrove planting (in coordination with project 3) 

d.       Database on the carbon contents of the soil and macroflora in mangrove forests 

e.       Thematic maps reflecting the soil, water, macroflora and carbon density of mangrove areas in the province (in coordination with project 3) 

f.        Formatted article for possible publication 
g.   Research paper for presentation either in-house or outside scientific fora