Students learn about the importance of wetlands

After a successful initial contact (read following article), the Réserve Naturelle then met with sixth graders at the Mont des Accords middle school, on February 23.

Julien Chalifour, and his associate Caroline Fleury, led an event as part of an international wetlands day, about these zones that are not very well known. This second scientific foray for students was the perfect occasion to delve into the mangrove, a species of flora that play a purification role, serve as a fish nursery, and provide a zone for rest and feeding of birds. The mangroves, located along the shorelines, are constantly threatened by dumping and illegal cutting down, which reduce their surface. The Réserve Naturelle and the Conservatoire du Littoral have also put various actions into place for the protection and restoration of the salt ponds and mangroves: regulations to respect, reforestation via the planting of young trees, bird observation, the quality of the water, the surface of the mangroves… This presentation also provided an opportunity to discuss the issue of the sargassum seaweed, whose development is intimately linked to the lack of purification of water coming from the islands; waters rich in organic materials that favor the growth of algae.