Mobilizing resources

BAKAWAN, the vernacular term for mangrove literally translates as “haunt of nightjars (bakaw).” The tangle of branches that the slow-growing, sturdy tree locked in tight hugs over mudflats, marshes, shoals, and stretches of riparian parts looking over the sea also hold teeming wildlife—most are edible, some a delight to epicures . . . egrets, herons, arboreal snakes, sea serpents, migrating geese or ducks, even an endangered species or two.

The knot of roots that a mature mangrove jabs into a nether bed of mud, detritus and sand fans out every which way deep, ramifying into a network that sucks in and tames tide-borne throwaways, trash, toxins, even oil slicks. Indeed, mangrove stands render seawater fit for marine life.