Rewind the clock back to 2010, to the same annual global conference on climate change—this time held in Cancún, Mexico—and it was a different story.
One thing was abundantly clear: everywhere in the world, climate change needed to be top of the agenda when it came to the challenges we were all facing.
Coastal wetlands really were an essential piece of the climate change puzzle and key to overcoming the worst effects of climate change along coasts around the world.
Just as our human skin protects us, mangroves provide vital services to the land and the people who live there.
The many mosquitoes are a sign that the mangrove swamp is teeming with life, from the tops of rustling trees to the murmuring ocean floor.
We have encountered obstacles at every stage, but our collaborative mindset is what has helped us to prevail.
I could not even begin to imagine what it would feel like to see, even from a distance, an impenetrable wave at least four times my height sweeping toward the island.
We need to have bold aspirations, with our heads in the clouds, while keeping our hands in the mud and creating change on a practical level.