CRIMA organized a book talk on 'Mangrove Management Handbook' written by Dioscoro M Melana, Joseph Atchue III, Calixto E Yao, Randy Edwards, Emma E Melana, and Homer I Gonzales. The guest speaker was Dr Wasiq Ikram, Head, School of Botany at Minhaj University Lahore. First, he introduced the book that it comprises of seven chapters with useful information on how to protect and manage mangroves as a natural and productive resource. It is intended to help people who wish to become stewards of mangrove forest resources. The students, plant scientists, marine students, plant scientists, marine researchers and economists are the primary audience but others can also benefit from the information presented in this volume. The book introduces mangroves ecosystem which are dominated by mangrove trees as the primary producers interacting with associated aquatic fauna, social and physical factors of the coastal environment. The mangrove flora consists of 47 true mangroves and associated species belongs to 26 families. True mangroves grow in the mangrove environment; however, associated species may grow on other habitat types such as the beach forest and low land areas.

Chapter 1:
'The importance of mangrove', highlights the primary ecological and economic benefits and functions of the mangrove ecosystem. The speaker briefly elaborated that mangroves provide nursery grounds for aquatic animals in coastal waters, it produce leaf litter and detrital matter, which are valuable sources of food for animals in estuaries and coastal waters. He further added that mangroves protect the environment by protecting coastal areas and communities from storm surges, waves, tidal currents and typhoons. Mangroves also produce organic biomass (carbon) and reduce organic pollution in coastal areas. Also, he explained the importance of mangroves as recreational grounds for bird watching and observation of other wildlife.

Chapter 2
'Mangrove Nursery Establishment and Management', covers the topics such as the site selection, design, operation and management of nurseries for Philippine mangrove spe c i e s. Nurs e ry technologies ensure the availability of planting materials and the production of high quality seedlings.

Chapter 3:
'Mangrove Plantation Establishment and Management' provides information on developing and managing mangrove plantations and the remaining natural forest stand to maximize the benefit to the coastal ecosystem. This chapter also discusses mangrove plantation objectives, plantation site identification/ selection, choice of species to plant, and planning and design of the plantation. The relevancy of nonregulatory techniques in mangrove plantation planning is also discussed.

Chapter 4: 'Community Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA)' covers the production sharing agreement between community and the government to develop, utilize, manage and, conserve a specific portion of the forestland, consistent with the principles of sustainable development pursuant to a Community Resource Management Framework (CRMF). It is a document that defines the terms and procedures for accessing, using and protecting natural resources within the CBFMA area. Local Government Unit and other private entities.

Chapter 5:
'Fishpond restoration', comprehensively discusses another mangrove management alternative: modifying abandoned or illegal fishponds in CBFMA areas to harvest firewood, poles, shells, fish, crabs and to provide food and shelter to crabs, shrimp, shells and fish in coastal waters. Aquasilviculture, which is the conversion of a fishpond area into a site where mangroves can grow and fish can thrive, is suggested as a fishpond restoration strategy. 

Chapter 6:
The 'Resource Mapping of Mangroves' was discussed and authors discussed that it can support the four management alternatives suggested in previous chapters. They also found that in most cases, it might be a good idea to resource-map your mangrove area, especially if anyone is doing a CBFMA.

Chapter 7:
'Summary of Management Options and when to use them' summarizes all management options and concludes that it involve a number of stages ranging from site selection and preparation, out planting, care and maintenance, monitoring and evaluation. In all of these stages, appropriate technologies have to be applied to ensure success in mangroves nursery establishment. He added that community participation and empowerment are best obtained through their inclusion to the Community-Based Forest Management Program of the government which issues a tenure instrument to organized communities composed of tenured migrants. The plantation should be conducted in areas where natural regeneration is deemed difficult to propagate; where the area is open tidal flat and is practically lacking of mother trees and having no regeneration potential. In all of these situations, mangroves tree establishment and growth have to be accelerated through various plantation development strategies. There was a detailed question answer session at the end of the book talk.