LANDOVER, MD, October 10th, 2014 – This week the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation launches a year-long mangrove restoration project in Jamaica called the Jamaica Awareness of Mangroves In Nature (J.A.M.I.N.) project.

The venture, joined with the University of the West Indies-Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, will work with teachers and students from the William Knibb High and Holland High Schools in Falmouth, Jamaica. The project will begin this week with a training session for teachers. This will provide them with information and materials to teach their students about the importance of mangroves for Jamaican marine ecosystems.

Mangrove forests are made of several species of trees and shrubs that grow in the intertidal zone. They provide important habitat for young fish and sea creatures, and help protect the coastline from storms.

Following the educational training sessions teachers and students will go on a mangrove walk to identify the different species of mangroves, observe the negative human impacts to the mangrove forest, and collect young mangrove seedlings called ‘propagules’ for future rehabilitation of a mangrove forest in West Falmouth. The students will plant the propagules in containers and track their growth over the coming school year while learning about mangrove survivability.

The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory will continue running training sessions throughout the school year, and after several months will help students plant their young mangrove trees along the shoreline. The young trees will be planted in restoration sites monitored by the University of the West Indies.