The development of the city of Karachi is affecting mangrove stands, which have long protected the city from the effects of climate change.

One morning, several dozen Pakistani schoolchildren ran along a wooden boardwalk into a mangrove thicket. They jostled for space at a small viewing platform, pointing at fish lying among the exposed tree roots. While the tide gradually crept closer to the crabs and mud resting on the shore, a guide began to explain in detail the marine ecosystem that laps at the coast, and how important it is for both the replenishment of ocean fish and protection against tsunamis and storms. If mangrove stands are so important, why are they here and not there, one girl asked. By "here" she meant the high glass atrium of Karachi's recently opened MagnifiScience centre, where the high-tech centrepiece is a live mangrove exhibit with real trees, live fish, plastic crabs, and an accelerated tide cycle maintained by underground water pumps. Right next door is the nation's coastal megacity of Karachi, where a large portion of the mangrove forests that once defined this port city located in the Indus Delta have been felled, the areas paved over, and high-rises built with views of the ocean, golf courses, and ports. (...)
Matthieu Paley photograph used