When the tide is out, Errol Renaud can see seagrass meadows on the ocean floor from his coastal home on the Seychelles island of Mahe. He's among many local people who have held up a hotel development that would have reclaimed the area. "There's a lot of seagrass meadows here, and there's a lot of fishermen across this area who put their fish traps there. So they depend on this area," Mr Renaud says. There are already two land reclamations near his home that have disturbed seagrasses that act as a barrier to rising ocean levels and extreme conditions. "This reclamation done before, during the monsoon it means a lot more sand is coming onto one side, and we are seeing much higher waves. "With climate change, we are losing a lot of it in this area," he says, of the region he has lived in for more than two decades, and where he is seeing his land increasingly saturated by rising water levels. Coastal wetlands - like seagrasses, mangroves, marshes and swamps - have multiple environmental benefits. As well as defending against rising waters and harsh weather caused by climate change, and promoting biodiversity, they are seen as one of the most effective solutions in fighting against global warming. A study published in the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal says seagrasses capture carbon at a rate 35 times quicker than rainforests. If undisturbed, they can hold carbon for thousands of years, far longer than terrestrial plants. They thereby play the role of a natural carbon sink. They account for 10% of the ocean's total burial of carbon, despite covering less than 0.2% of the ocean floor, a report in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience said. But the total amount of seagrass is declining, creating the risk of this marine plant going extinct soon, according to researchers in the US. At last month's COP27 climate conference in Egypt, activists and... |