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Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
Since 1978, one million hectares of mangroves have been cut down in Myanmar. In the Ayerwaddy Delta in the south, mangrove forests have been significantly depleted - often cut down to make way for shrimp and rice farming, as well as charcoal production and collecting palm oil. Worldwide, 35 percent of the world's mangroves are now lost.
[...] Mangroves play a vital role in the fight against climate change and extreme weather events such as cyclones. They help mitigate carbon emissions, as well as protect vulnerable coastal communities from extreme weather, while strengthening seafood stocks up to 50 percent. While Meung and many locals have tried taking matters into their own hands, planting over 400,000 seedlings by hand to try and repopulate the mangrove population, the activity has taken three years and there is a lot more yet to be done before another cyclone hits.
takyon: A team from BioCarbon Engineering is helping to plant new mangrove trees using drones:
Bremley Lyngdoh, founder and CEO of Worldview Impact and a board member of Worldview International, said a single pilot can use the drones, courtesy of BioCarbon Engineering, to plant about 100,000 seeds per day. The drones can fire one seedpod into the soil every minute and fly for approximately half an hour at a time.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 07 2018, @11:03PM (2 children)
Mangrove seedlings are softshelled pre-sprouted plants directly off the trees. While they can survive dropping a few feet into the water and maybe floating to a nearby shoreline, they are not hardshelled seeds built to withstand the abuses of airdrops or projectile fire.
Having said that, drones that were programmed to visually analyze the coast looking for clear areas that met the criteria, then lowering themselves to drop the mangrove seedlings from only a few feet up might work acceptably. And automated planting of seeds to help improve on human productivity is certainly an option, assume of course the locals can afford it, or someone like you is willing to help crowdfund the equipment and training for them. If not then hand planting of the seeds is as good as they will get, and 400k seedlings is a laudable quantity.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday May 07 2018, @11:25PM
Just because you are probably right, doesn't give you the right to try and squash my dreams of saving the planet from the gunnery station of an AC-130 !
And, really, if they were convinced that there was a tactical advantage to it, the US military would funnel enough resources to seed just about any plant from the barrel of a gun. We're talking about the people who make GPS-guided gliders you literally shoot from a cannon, after all.
(Score: 2) by qzm on Tuesday May 08 2018, @09:09AM
Oh ffs.
No.
Mangrove seeds regularly survive months and years of abuse by the elements before sprouting.
They are not delicate snowflakes.
With their mass, falling in to soft mud, it must likely just gives them a better chance of rooting without the tides washing them away.
Firing down a barrel may be a step too far.
But this really is bs. It's been done. Airdrops work and would be much much cheaper.
This is just another 'gee whiz what can I do with my expensive drone toy'