- ADB’s support is making a positive impact in restoring the ecosystem of Pakistan’s coastal areas, enabling communities to fight poverty and climate change.
- A $36 million project by ADB helped restore mangrove forests along the coastline of Pakistan’s Indus Delta, protecting a fragile ecosystem and boosting local communities’ livelihoods.
- The ADB-supported restoration of mangrove forests along the coastline of Pakistan’s Indus Delta helped protect 24,000 acres of land from sea intrusion and improve the livelihoods of coastal communities.
ADB’s support is making a positive impact in restoring the ecosystem of Pakistan’s coastal areas and enabling communities to fight poverty and climate change.
Pakistan’s Indus Delta coastline hosts a rich mangrove ecosystem on which coastal communities depend for their well-being. Uncontrolled and unsustainable harvesting of mangroves in the past, saltwater intrusion, and rising sea levels and other factors threaten the survival of the mangroves.
ADB provided $36 million to the Sindh Coastal Community Development Project to reduce poverty in coastal communities and protect the fragile mangrove ecosystem of the Indus Delta coastline.
The villagers under the project teamed up with the Sindh Forest Department in 2013 to plant some 800,000 mangroves saplings along the creeks in a single day, a move recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. The Forest Department and local communities have since planted many more mangroves.
Transcript
These mangroves have a huge impact on Pakistan’s coastal communities.
They are part of the natural habitat of fish and other aquatic life that local communities depend on.
They act as a natural defense against saltwater intrusion and rising sea levels.
But reduced freshwater supply and overharvesting has depleted the mangrove forests.
This has threatened the livelihood of nearby fishing villages including in Thatta and Badin, two of the poorest districts in Sindh.
To address this, ADB provided $36 million to the Sindh Coastal Community Development Project.
Puppi, resident of Keti Bandar:
“Here we used to have a big village where we are standing which was washed away by the river. To avoid river storms we use different methods, we try to build hurdles to avoid water, but the water is getting closer.”
With ADB’s help, villagers teamed up with the Sindh Forest Department in 2013 to plant some 800,000 mangroves along the creeks in a single day, a move recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Eight years later, locals are seeing the full impact of this investment.
Today, in Keti Bandar’s mangrove-laden creeks, fish and crabs are thriving again, while 24,000 acres of land have been saved from sea intrusion.
The impact is clear in the lives of fishermen like Fateh.
Fateh, resident of Keti Bandar
“We go to the river to catch crabs. I see mud crabs for 1000, 800, 500, or some days 2000 rupees, because of the revival of the mangrove trees, now I earn enough for my family.”
Families’ annual income increased by 12.3%
Madad Ali Shah, District Forest Officer Keti Bandar
“Mangrove forests are very important from an environmental point of view, their root system provides compactness to the soil. During cyclones, they are very helpful for reducing wind pressure, which is very beneficial for the local public.”
ADB will continue to support Pakistan in the fight against poverty and climate change.
