Sustainability is a key tenet of the WEP 2022 theme Resilience and a significant element in increasing WEP’s sustainability is the mangrove planting at the KAUST Nature Conservation Area to offset travel-associated carbon emissions.
KAUST is home to a vibrant and thriving mangrove forest that spans over 110 hectares under the management of the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Department. The mangrove plant found at KAUST has the scientific name of “Avicennia marina”, also commonly known as grey or white mangrove.
Mangroves are referred to as “blue carbon sinks”. They remove CO2 from the atmosphere at a rate 30 times more than boreal, tropical and temperate forests, “sinking” captured CO2, microalgae and other dead organic matter into layers of rich sediment, where carbon is stored, undisturbed for centuries and even millennia. In this way, mangroves help decrease the effects of global warming.
The HSE Department, in collaboration with the WEP team and Facilities Management team (Horticulture and Pest Control) calculated the amount of mangrove planting required to mitigate the travel carbon using a methodology employed by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a specialized and funding agency of the United Nations.
HSE has put together a dedicated mangrove website that documents what we know about our mangroves. Additional mangrove resources such as teaching aid materials, books and mangrove news are also available on this website.
For more information, visit the WEP website.
