Caxito — Angola has fulfilled and went beyond its commitment to plant a million mangroves along the country's coast, an Environmental expert said on Friday in municipality of Ambriz, northern Bengo province.

Fernanda René confirmed this on Friday while speaking to the press on the sidelines of a mangrove planting campaign in the municipality of Ambriz.

Also coordinator of the Otchiva project, the expert said that the one million mangrove programme was a challenge Angola had taken on before the African Union and the world.

She said that this also served as a strategy for environmental education of citizens.

"One of the main goal was to inspire the government to protect the mangroves and we are now achieving the results. Many mangrove areas have been recovered, many mangroves have been reforested and we have seen the return of marine biodiversity, several fishing communities have returned to their areas and their activities," she stressed.

René noted that with the goal achieved, Angola sets an example in Africa and in the world in the efforts to prevent global warming and fight against climate change.

The environmentalist warned that despite all these efforts, these ecosystems are still being devastated by illegal occupation for the construction of infrastructures, as well as the extraction of wood for firewood by the communities, so the environmental education and awareness campaigns cannot stop.

In Ambriz municipality, 14,000 mangroves were planted in the campaign, ahead of celebration of the 43rd anniversary of Bengo province.