Read the passage below carefully:
Mangrove forests along the Niger Delta coast serve as crucial natural barriers against ocean surges and tidal erosion, while also functioning as key carbon sinks and breeding grounds for aquatic life. However, decades of oil spills, unsustainable wood harvesting for fuel, and shoreline urban expansion have severely depleted these coastal ecosystems. Recent community-driven reforestation initiatives, combining indigenous ecological knowledge with satellite monitoring, have begun restoring degraded mangrove estuaries. Early data indicates that reinstated mangrove belts not only stabilize shoreline sediments and reduce flooding risks for coastal settlements, but also significantly enhance local fish yields. Consequently, environmental planners advocate for scaling up community-managed coastal conservation zones as a cost-effective strategy for climate resilience in coastal Nigeria.
Which of the following options best synthesizes the core message of the passage in a concise manner?
- Community-led mangrove reforestation in the Niger Delta mitigates coastal hazards and boosts local livelihoods, offering a sustainable climate resilience strategy.Answer
- BSatellite monitoring and indigenous knowledge are the primary tools used by environmental planners to track fish yields in coastal estuaries.
- CDecades of industrial oil spills have rendered all Niger Delta coastal settlements uninhabitable, necessitating immediate government relocation.
- DCoastal reforestation efforts have proven ineffective because urban expansion and fuel wood harvesting continue to destroy marine breeding grounds.