PERSPECTIVES
Kandelia obovata, one of the mangrove species, provides a low-cost solution for recovering heavy metals and improving water quality, which could be useful, especially in developing countries with limited wastewater treatment. In this research, we found that heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead accumulate in the fallen leaves of Kandelia obovata.
Fallen leaves contain six times more cadmium than young leaves. By collecting these fallen leaves, along withother toxic heavy metals, about 2.01 kg of arsenic and 1.29 kg of cadmium can be recovered per 1 km2 of yellow mangrove forest per year. This method would provide a practical means of addressing heavy metal pollution in water bodies.
This is how I came up with the idea for this project:We are in the IB curriculum and had an opportunity to do research, a project called “Group 4 project”. Our research member, Rino, used to play at Manko, a wetland near our school, as a child and is very familiar with the community too, thus, we focused on Manko.
Programme manager ania.andersch@siwi.org +46 8 121 360 59
