31/07/2026
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐% ๐๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐
๐
๐๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐๐
Here's an uncomfortable question for every planting event, every "1,000 seedlings in one day" photo op, and every mangrove drive in this country: how many of those seedlings are still alive right now?
Nobody actually tracks that. And that should alarm you. In other cases, the planted mangroves may survive but are planted in the wrong zone, for example, planting Rhizophora (bakhaw) species in seafront areas that were previously dominated by Sonneratia (pagatpat) and Avicennia (bungalon) species.
Globally, Wetlands International's research shows up to 80% of mangrove planting efforts fail. Not "underperform." Fail. Dead seedlings, monocropping, afforestation, wasted funding, and, in many cases, a coastal ecosystem left worse off than before anyone showed up with a shovel and a seedling.
The Philippines is not the exception. It may be the textbook case.
For decades, the default planting choice nationwide has been Rhizophora (bakhaw) species because its large propagules are easy to collect and plant without a nursery. The problem is that bakhaw does not naturally grow along the open seafront. Plant it where the waves hit hardest, and it gets ripped out or snapped before it has a chance to root. This is not a fringe theory; it is why the Philippine government itself just prohibited planting it in the seafront area in January 2024.
On 16 January 2024, the DENR quietly issued Memorandum from the Secretary No. 2024-54, and if you work in coastal conservation and haven't read it, you need to. It doesn't just restrict Rhizophora, also known locally as bakhaw, on the seafront. It draws a hard line around an entire list of ecosystems that should never see a mangrove planting activity:
๐ซ Planting Rhizophora in seagrass beds
๐ซ Planting Rhizophora in mudflats and tidal flats
๐ซ Planting Rhizophora in lower subtidal zones
๐ซ Areas with unstable, rocky, or shifting substrate
๐ซ Areas already damaged by algal bloom or garbage
Read that list again. These are places where mangrove planting has been happening, in seagrass meadows and on tidal flats, for years under the banner of "restoration."
So here's the real question nobody wants to ask out loud: when the Philippines reports that mangrove cover is climbing back up, what are we actually counting? Hectares of surviving, self-sustaining forest, or hectares of seedlings, some of them planted straight into ecosystems that were never supposed to have mangroves on them in the first place?
A rising number on a chart is not the same thing as a forest. We are not saying stop planting mangroves. We're saying, stop planting them like this.
If your organization is planning a mangrove planting activityโCSOs, LGUs, schools/universities, corporations, youth organizations, and foundationsโplease read the guidelines. Match the right species to the right site. Ask where the seedlings came from and where, exactly, they're going. And if no one on your team can answer that with confidence, that planting day should not happen yet.
๐
๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ, ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ข ๐ข๐ญ๐ฃ๐ข (๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฉ๐๐ญ) ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข (๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ง).
The coastline doesn't need another photo op. It needs the science to finally catch up to the good intentions.
Read the DENR Memo on Supplemental Guidelines on Enrichment Planting of mangroves here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FRLhcb9zqhnq3bDLotuuHH2Bk20T5eOB/view?usp=sharing
Read the Best Practice Guidelines for Mangrove Restoration here:
https://www.mangrovealliance.org/best-practice-guidelines-for-mangrove-restoration
Study mangrove zonation and species-site matching by visiting the Zoological Society of London website: https://www.zsl.org/what-we-do/projects/mangroves
