"Since the December 2004 tsunami, there has been a mounting call for re-establishing protective greenbelts along coastlines. Although the jury is still out on the extent to which mangroves mediate tsunami damage, mangrove forests are proven effective barriers against tropical storms and strong wave action. How effective depends on a number of factors, such as, the density, width, height, and complexity of the mangrove forest, as well as the bathymetry of the coastline and other oceanographic factors. What is more clearly understood is that mangroves provide many benefits to coastal populations in terms of economic goods and ecological services, such as, fisheries production, medicinal use, wastewater treatment, provision of building materials, bird and mammal habitat, eco-tourism value, etc. Mangrove forests are valuable ecosystems which are currently extremely undervalued and they require long-term protection and conservation. Much of the post-tsunami effort to restore coastal greenbelts involved simple planting of mangrove seedlings and propagules. Already, there have been numerous failures due to planting of inappropriate species, in inappropriate locations, but in general failure occurs due to a lack of understanding of the restoration site itself. What was its history? What mangroves grew there? Where did they grow? What were their hydrological requirements? How deep was the substrate in which they grew? What were the fresh water inputs to the area? Where did exchange of tidal and sea water take place? Contrary to popular belief mangroves require some freshwater to grow well, and they are submerged only around 33% of the time. Planting mangroves along an exposed coastline, in too deep water without fresh water input is a recipe for failure..."