Yr12 and 13 Geographers and Environmental Scientists were treated to a talk on the importance of Mangroves by Dr Nathan Thomas from Edge Hill University.

He discussed the importance of Mangroves as Carbon Stores, as habitats, source of fisheries stock, and as a coastal defence mechanism in the Tropics. There have been loses of half of the worlds mangroves in the last century.  

Br Thomas has been working on programs using satellite data to map the worlds mangroves for NASA. This then feeds into a mangrove restoration program. In the future he is going to be working with the European Space Agency this year on their biomass satellite.

This talk was useful for the students who watched who need to know about conservation, carbon storage and coastal management as part of their courses.