The Mangroves of Piedras Blancas National Park

By Alejandra Rojas

In the inner basin of Golfo Dulce, at the northwest border of Piedras Blancas National Park, there is a thriving mangrove forest of approximately 298 hectares. It is the mangrove of Esquinas river (Esquinas means corner, named after its distinctive meanders), the second biggest mangrove forest in Golfo Dulce, following the mangrove of Coto Colorado River. Ecosystem services of mangroves are widely known; they act as fish nurseries, they protect the coast against storms and hurricanes, they are in charge of primary production in the marine and coastal environment and they provide shelter and food to a diversity of animals. Nonetheless, one of the most important benefits nowadays and maybe the most underestimated, is their virtue as carbon sinks.

Mangroves store more carbon per surface unit than another tropical forest, moreover, they store five times more carbon under the water than above the surface, which makes them even more efficient as sinks. This carbon –which is absorbed from the atmosphere in form of carbon dioxide- is stored in different parts of the plant, but mainly in the roots and the soil. In the soil, the carbon can stay for thousands of years, which means that rather than escaping to the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas, it stays stocked.

The marine and coastal sector of Piedras Blancas National Park shows a high vulnerability to climate change. Improving conservation strategies in the mangrove forest of Esquinas river, establishing monitoring of this ecosystem and its ability to capture carbon, and restoring areas along the coast

where these wetland patches were diminished, is a very important strategy, among others, to tackle the effects of climate change in this region.