Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Aug 28, 2025

KAUST drive in mangrove forest conservation to offset carbon emissions

Mangroves are increasingly being recognized as important players in the fight against climate change. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has embarked on an ambitious drive in the mangrove forest conservation and enhancement as a key part of the university ever since its establishment.
The university is spearheading the planting of mangroves in the winter of 2022 in KAUST’s Nature Conservation Area as a project initiated to raise awareness of the negative environmental impact associated with travel-related carbon emissions.

With one "foot" on land and one in the water, these amphibious plants provide food and shelter for many animals, including birds, crabs, lizards, shrimp, mollusks, stingrays, snails and fish."KAUST is home to a thriving mangrove forest spanning more than 110 hectares, including a Nature Conservation Area," said Dr. Mohamed Omar, Environmental Protection Manager in the KAUST Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) department.

"Compared to other terrestrial forests, the extensive network of mangrove roots provides an ample opportunity for carbon to sink." On his part, KAUST Professor Dr. Carlos Duarte said: "Mangrove forests rank among the most intense carbon sinks in the biosphere, locking much more carbon into their soils than tropical forests. However, when disturbed, the carbon in the soils may be emitted as CO2, so there is an opportunity for climate benefits in both avoiding mangrove losses and restoring lost mangroves."

Mangroves are referred to as blue carbon sinks because of their association with coastal areas; "blue" for water, in contrast to "green" carbon that is linked with land-based trees. Although mangrove forest conservation and enhancement have been a key part of KAUST since its early days, the planting of mangroves in the winter of 2022 in KAUST’s Nature Conservation Area was a project initiated to raise awareness of the negative environmental impact associated with travel-related carbon emissions.

As part of KAUST's 2022 Winter Enrichment Program (WEP), Event Chair and KAUST Professor Dr. Peiying Hong discussed with the HSE Department about ways of collaborating to make the event more sustainable. "Every year, WEP aims to enrich our students' learning experience by inviting globally renowned speakers to share their perspectives in person at KAUST.

This incurs a large carbon dioxide footprint," Hong said, adding: The WEP theme for 2022 was resilience, and a main focal message of the program was to explore ways to mitigate various tipping points, such as climate change and exhibit resilience. Hence, we wanted to stay true to our theme." Indeed, the HSE team estimated that this year's WEP speakers covered about 200,000 kilometers in long-distance travel. Having calculated their carbon emissions, the WEP team, in collaboration with HSE and Facilities Management (horticulture), decided to plant more than 200 mangrove plants to not only offset their emissions overtime but also raise awareness about their carbon capture abilities.

In the years since KAUST has become a custodian of mangroves, some important discoveries have been made. Duarte said, "We discovered that Red Sea mangroves, which rank toward the low end in terms of organic carbon sequestration in their soils and biomass, activate an additional mechanism — an alkalinity emission from the dissolution of the carbonate in the bedrock they grow on, which we estimate amplifies their carbon removal capacity by 23 times."

KAUST's mangrove conservation efforts have also revealed how quickly and effectively mangrove colonies can expand when preserved properly. "Our mangrove forest has grown around 45 percent between 2005 and 2020," Omar said, adding, “this remarkable growth is a combination of natural colonization, replantation efforts, and environmental policy intervention." Mangrove planting and restoration projects represent a cost-effective way of boosting carbon capture capacity, especially if planned and executed properly, as has been the case at KAUST so far. Hong said, "The planting of mangroves in this instance is more beneficial than planting land-based trees, which require freshwater irrigation.

Mangroves do not need irrigation water since they are planted directly in the coastal areas of the sea." Already part of the natural landscape of many communities around the world, mangroves serve as a non-invasive carbon mitigation measure, a nature-based solution that has an important role to play in the future. "Mangroves are definitely one of the ways to achieve our carbon mitigation goals, not simply because they sequester carbon, but also because they offer huge benefits for coastal protection and many other advantages, including fishery enhancement,” Duarte said.

Over the past decade, the level of awareness on blue carbon, and specifically the role of mangroves, has grown. This education must continue, both at policymaker and public levels to boost engagement and uptake of mangrove projects;" he added.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
×