The 7th Transdisciplinary (TD) Brown Bag Series

Date & Time： Mar.12 (Tue.), 2019 12:15～13:00
Venue： Tonan-tei, 2nd floor of the Inamori Foundation Building
Language： English

Anyone welcome! Please feel free to join us.

Speaker：
Moises Neil Seriño(CSEAS Guest Scholar / Visayas State University)
‘Can mangroves protect coastal communities? The case of super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines’

MC: MIENO, Fumiharu (CSEAS)

Keywords: ecosystem services, natural defenses, mangrove forests, life-saving effect

Abstract:
Anecdotal evidences suggesting that mangroves provided protection against typhoon-related disasters in coastal communities are abundant in the literature. Empirical evidence on this protective function, however, is very limited. Hence, we empirically investigated the protection service provided by mangroves after the super typhoon Haiyan devastated central Philippines on November 2013. We used data from 384 coastal villages controlling for historical mangrove cover and other confounding village level and typhoon characteristics in examining the influence of remaining mangrove cover on human deaths and housing damages. Results show that coastal villages with substantial mangrove cover suffered less damages compared to coastal villages with reduced mangrove cover. This life- and property-saving effects of mangroves is robust across several specifications suggesting that the remaining mangroves played a significant protective role when super typhoon Haiyan hit central Philippines. Mangroves act as natural defense against damaging effects of typhoons. Policy makers should take into consideration the conservation and promotion of mangroves as a long-term strategy in providing protection to coastal communities and better adaptability to typhoon-related disasters.