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The MAP News
506th Edition Oct 24, 2020 |
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Rare and Critically Endangered Mangrove Species Has Been Sighted in Maldives  MALDIVES - Bruguiera Hainessii is a species of mangrove belonging to the Rhizophoraceae family. It is native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Papua New Guinea. Bruguiera Hainessii is listed as critically endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN). Ministry of Environment announced via a press release that this rare and endangered species of mangrove plant have been sighted in Maldives for the first time at the protected wetland area situated at Kelaa, Haa Alif Atoll. Four of these plants were discovered and identified during an ecological field survey conducted this March by the ICUN’s Mangrove Specialist Group Red List Coordinator, Dr. Jean Yong. There is a possibility of Bruguiera Hainessii existing in other parts of Maldives. With this new addition, 15 different types of mangrove plants have been identified in Maldives. The Ministry further revealed that discussions were already underway to designate a local name for the Bruguiera Hainesii plant. According to a global survey in 2010, the world had just 200 fully grown trees of the species, and was drawing rapidly close to extinction. Environment Ministry described the discovery of the rare mangrove species in Kelaa as an additional feature which makes the island unique. READ MORE GLOBAL MAP Named as 2020 .ORG Impact Award Finalist  GLOBAL - Mangrove Action Project was recently named as Finalist in .ORG Impact Awards. Public Interest Registry (PIR), the People behind .ORG, recently named the finalists for the 2nd annual .ORG Impact Awards, which honor the remarkable organizations and individuals making the world a better place. The announcement includes the top five entries across 9 award categories. Winners in these categories and the .ORG of the Year will be announced as part of “The Ten Days of .ORG,” an online experience beginning on November 30th that celebrates the range of achievements that have healed, inspired, transformed and connected communities over the past year. Each day of the celebration will place a spotlight on an award-winning organization and individuals making an impact in areas such as combatting the coronavirus, battling poverty and hunger, championing equality, and advancing environmental sustainability. Advancing Environmental Sustainability: Mangrove Action Project - Protecting the world’s mangrove forests. READ MORE Total alkalinity production in a mangrove ecosystem reveals an overlooked Blue Carbon component  GLOBAL - Blue Carbon ecosystems (seagrass meadows, mangroves, and saltmarshes) sequester atmospheric CO2 as organic carbon in their sediments for periods of centuries to millennia. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) dissolution is another major permanent sinks of atmospheric CO2 in the coastal area, but has been disregarded in Blue Carbon ecosystems. In the Red Sea, as in many tropical areas, Blue Carbon ecosystems thrive on carbonate sediment generated by the erosion of coral reefs. Our study reveals that the dissolution of CaCO3 is a major sink of atmospheric CO2 in carbonate sediment mangroves, representing 23‐fold the sink from organic carbon sequestration at our Red Sea mangrove site. The CaCO3 calcification and dissolution budget should be considered in future Blue Carbon assessments. READ MORE Boosting Education for Greener Forests  GLOBAL - There is growing international concern over the quality and availability of training and education needed both to prepare those whose daily work and decisions most closely impact the sustainable management of forests, and to inform new generations who will look after forest resources in the future. We can only guess at how many children these days dream of being a forester when they grow up – likely too few. For the sake of our forests, we have to turn this situation around. We need talented students to enter forest education programmes. We need well-trained forest managers and policymakers. We need to provide more opportunities for informal training and continuing education for forest communities and forest owners and businesses. And we need to reach the broader public. After all, there is important work to do. READ MORE AMERICAS No prosecution over dumped concrete in Red Bay mangrove  CAYMAN ISLANDS - The Department of Environment will not recommend prosecution against National Concrete, after a company truck was spotted Monday evening dumping concrete into a mangrove swamp in Red Bay. A department officer visited the site at Prospect Point Road Tuesday morning, after workers had already cleared the concrete and part of the mangrove using a backhoe and shovels. While unauthorised mangrove destruction has been illegal since April, under the mangrove conservation plan, DoE Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie said it would not be fair at this time to recommend prosecution against the offending party. The National Conservation Law’s mangrove plan came into effect during the COVID-19 lockdown and, as a result, Ebanks-Petrie said companies may not be aware that it is illegal to dump their waste directly into the mangrove swamp. READ MORE ASIA Cambodia: Save Koh Kong Island! Sign the petition  CAMBODIA - Koh Kong, Cambodia’s largest island, is a slice of paradise with its lush tropical lowland rainforests, waterfalls and freshwater lagoons, white beaches and mangroves. “We’re proud that such an amazing place, which was left to us by our Khmer ancestors, still exists. Now it’s up to our generation to preserve these priceless natural treasures,” explains Thun Ratha in a video by the environmental NGO Mother Nature that highlights the island's beauty. “Save Koh Kong Island” is their campaign to defend this unique place against exploitation. Saving the island for posterity will mean ensuring its complete protection. Cambodia’s government apparently has other plans – in June 2019, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that the L.Y.P. Group had been given the green light to “develop” the island. The group’s holdings include luxury resorts, amusement parks, sugar and rubber plantations and other businesses. Conservationists therefore fear the worst. While the Environment Ministry announced that the island and its surroundings would become a marine national park in 2021, previous statements indicated that some regions would be protected, while others would be declared economic zones. READ MORE Guardians of the Pearl River delta: a photo journey  HONG KONG - Nestled deep within one of the many bays of the Pearl River delta, a rare patch of mangrove forest can be found hidden between the towering skyscrapers on the Hong Kong–Shenzhen border. Egrets laze in the sun as small crabs scuttle at their feet, a mountainous skyline of construction cranes looming behind them. Mangroves are small trees that grow along the coastlines of more than 100 countries in tropical and subtropical regions. They were once widespread on the Pearl River delta and around the inlets and islands of the neighbouring Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Now there are only about 60 small patches remaining in Hong Kong – the largest is at Mai Po, at the head of Deep Bay (also known as Shenzhen Bay). Protected by the Mai Po Nature Reserve, this mangrove forest and the surrounding mudflats has been designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention since 1995. It is part of a Hong Kong success story, albeit a limited one. After years of degradation, a recent survey conducted by Dr Stefano Cannicci from Hong Kong University’s Integrated Mangrove Ecology Lab found that mangroves are now making a recovery in the region. READ MORE Replanting alone won’t stop mangrove degradation  INDONESIA - When 53-year-old Azizi is not tending to his crab farm, he would be nursing the 456-hectare mangrove forest near his home in the village of Gambus in North Sumatra’s Batu Bara regency. The former fisherman said recently that fewer than three-quarters of the nearby mangroves were in good condition, but the same could not be said for the rest of the regency’s mangrove cover, about 70 percent of which is damaged. Some areas were being converted into oil palm plantations or prawn farms, he said. The mangrove degradation had caused landslides in neighboring villages, he claimed, sinking 30 to 50 houses. He said the dwindling mangrove cover would allow strong wind to pass through, potentially damaging nearby neighborhoods in the future. “It’s a big risk,” he said. “We have to be ready to let our houses plunge [to the sea] if we are not ready to preserve our mangroves,” he said. But natural disasters are just among a slew of negative effects as a result of mangrove degradation, activists warned, as failure to prevent mangrove degradation also harmed biodiversity and caused economic losses for communities that depended on mangroves for a living. READ MORE Sankar and his community dig canals to save Muthupet’s mangroves  INDIA - Driven by a sense of urgency to protect the ecosystem which has been a source of livelihood for his family and community for generations, Sankar began to seek out organisations and agencies that could help him understand the science behind the importance of mangroves. In 1997, the then 30-year-old enlisted help from MSSRF. “I knew how marine animals make the roots of the mangroves their home and how they are also sometimes used as breeding areas, but after my association with scientists and researchers, I got to know how mangroves help in maintaining an ecological balance among the sea, the land and the rivers,” says Sankar, a fisherman. There were 200 traditional fishing canals in Muthupet, but on realising the importance of the inflow of fresh water to keep the soil salinity in control, Sankar began to mobilise his community to dig more canals — with the help of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department — leading the Cauvery river water into the wetland. Over 20 years, Sankar worked closely with researchers to educate the coastal community on the importance of mangrove forests to their livelihood and, with the Forest Department, to dig over 3,000 canals spread across 5,000 hectares. These canals are also his legacy. READ MORE EUROPE Ban forest killing products Sign the petition  U.K. - 15 BILLION trees are chopped down every year -- 476 every single second. That's our rainforests, jungles, and woodlands being decimated to make space for ever more cattle, palm oil, and soybeans. But today we have a unique opportunity to change it. Right now the EU is considering a new law to ban any products linked to deforestation. If the law passes, the EU is such a massive market that it could force the world's biggest companies to change, transforming the global supply chain, and helping to save our woodlands, wetlands, and mangroves. Earth needs this law -- so let's win it now and help save the world's forests! Add your voice before the consultation closes, and tell everyone you can. READ MORE Forests, forest stakeholders key for achieving Sustainable Development Goals  ITALY - Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires halting deforestation, protecting intact forests and restoring degraded forest landscapes – and an upsurge of action by communities, forest industries and responsible businesses provides the best hope of doing so, according to speakers in the High-Level Dialogue on Forests in the Decade of Action held during the 25th Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry last week. The United Nations Secretary-General has called on all sectors of society to mobilize for a decade of action – comprising global action, local action and people action – to achieve the transformations needed to end poverty, safeguard the planet and build a peaceful world. This High-level Dialogue, held as part of the 25th Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry, generated insights and guidance on how forestry can contribute to the Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs. Tony Simons, Executive Director of CIFOR-ICRAF, who moderated the dialogue, noted that forests receive little explicit attention in the SDGs. This is surprising for a biome that, said Simons, covers 30 percent of land, transpires 60 percent of water and houses 80 percent of terrestrial biodiversity. READ MORE NEW – VIDEO FEATURE We will feature new videos here for you to enjoy. Please visit these important projects site and take advantage of the increasing information available through videos! SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM IN THAILAND  Like this newsletter?
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ACTION ALERTSCambodia: Save Koh Kong Island! Sign the petition
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Mangrove Action Project Click here to view past newsletters
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Partnering with mangrove forest communities, grassroots NGOs, researchers and local governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests and related coastal ecosystems, while promoting community-based, sustainable management of coastal resources.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
MAP News Issue 506 - Oct 24, 2020
Saturday, October 10, 2020
MAP News Issue 505 - Oct 10, 2020
PREVIEW VERSION
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The MAP News
505th Edition Oct 10, 2020 |
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Photography award winners show the fragility and beauty of mangrove forests  GLOBAL – Thank you to all who who made the 2020 Photography contest our best and most thought provoking competition to date! Please watch our video and hear the voices of those who stood behind these incredible photographs VIEW VIDEO GLOBAL VIDEO FEATURE - How Sri Lanka's mangrove forests can save lives  Our oceans represent one of the biggest opportunities for slowing and reversing climate and ecological breakdown - but they are under continuing threat from over-fishing, dumping of toxic waste and other human impacts. By protecting and restoring the world's oceans, we can help restore the prospects of humanity. VIEW VIDEO AFRICA Conserving Biodiversity of the Cacheu Mangroves National Park  GUINEA BISSAU - From 2015 to 2018 Wetlands International, IBAP and other partners implemented a ground-breaking initiative to conserve the mangroves, tidal flats, dryland forests and seagrass beds of Cacheu national park and its buffer zone in Guinea Bissau. Long ignored by the conservation community this beautiful area is home to many threatened species such as manatees and marine turtles, provides important breeding and staging habitat for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds and serves as a nursery ground for countless species of fish. READ MORE Gambia mangroves from space  GAMBIA - An astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) shot this photograph of coastal western Africa where the Gambia, Casamance, and Saloum Rivers flow into the Atlantic Ocean through The Gambia and Senegal. The Republic of The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa, extending about 320 kilometers (200 miles) inland from the Atlantic and hugging its namesake river. It is bordered by Senegal on all sides, except the coast. (Note: the white border is approximate.) The Gambia River flows approximately 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) from the Republic of Guinea through The Gambia. The dark green areas along the banks of the rivers and in the estuaries are mostly mangroves. READ MORE AMERICAS Mangrove Damage in Venezuela (Oil Spill) PLEASE SPEAK UP  VENEZUELA - Venezuela is among the top 10 most biodiverse countries in the world, with irs portion of the Amazon rainforest, savannas, Andes, tropical beaches, the highest waterfalls in the world, and 8000 species of animals (world’s 5th highest total). Now, this same country has rampant mining, and an oil industry with years of under-investment in safe infrastructure, and now spilling thousands of barrels of oil into the ocean. Very few organizations dare to speak about this reality. Here are some of the fossil fuel issues impacting Venezuela. READ MORE Brazil revokes mangrove protections, triggering alarm  BRAZIL - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's government on Monday revoked regulations protecting mangroves and other fragile coastal ecosystems, in a measure environmentalists condemned as a "crime" that would lead to their destruction. The decision eliminated so-called "permanent protection zones" created in 2002 to preserve Brazil's many tropical mangroves and the sand-dune scrublands known as "restinga" along its Atlantic coast. Environmentalists warned that rolling back the regulations would open such lands up to development, with possibly catastrophic impact on their ecosystems. "These areas are already under intense pressure from real-estate development," said Mario Mantovani, head of environmental group SOS Mata Atlantica. READ MORE Mangrove loss has fallen dramatically, but the forests are still in danger  USA - “We’re definitely headed in the right direction,” says Liza Goldberg, a researcher at the University of Maryland and NASA, who led a recent study of mangroves based on satellite data. According to satellite data, mangrove loss has fallen dramatically in the past two decades, with human-caused mangrove destruction declining even faster than loss from natural causes. But that doesn’t mean mangroves are out of hot water — figuratively or literally. Both Goldberg’s study and another paper using different methods found that sea-level rise and erosion could soon reverse the positive trend and, in the long term, possibly wipe mangroves off the map altogether. If you were tasked with choosing just one ecosystem to safeguard the future of humans and the planet, mangroves would be a strong contender. READ MORE Huge Mangrove Restoration Project to Begin in April  USA - A huge 210-acre mangrove restoration project on Marco Island is scheduled to begin in April, according to Project Manager Corey Anderson for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. I’m super excited,” remarked Corey Anderson. “This is about a 210-acre mangrove restoration along San Marco Road between Goodland and Marco Island. There’s those big dead patches of mangroves in there. We’re planning to do a restoration of those so they’ll come back.” Anderson said the big dead patches of mangroves are referred to as mangrove heart attacks. “The middle of the mangroves start to die from the inside out,” Anderson said. “We call them mangrove heart attacks. You can liken it to a heart attack in a human. When your arteries are clogged up. Basically, there’s no tidewater coming in and out. That causes rainwater to pool in the middle. The mangroves are actually drowning,” he said. “Just like in a heart attack,” Anderson continued, “what we plan to do is go in and clean out the arteries. READ MORE Honoring Trees: A Teacher's Guide  USA - Blending the arts with science is a superb way to engage students — and our online art exhibition, Honoring Trees, is an excellent place to begin! This Guide offers educators 60 online resources to harness the power of Honoring Trees in art, science, history, social studies, language arts, and civics classes. We sponsor an annual Sustainability Award at the Smithsonian Women’s Craft Show and, through our quarterly Climate Art Beat® calendar (Climate Art Beat® | Honoring The Future) and online News articles and social media, promote public awareness of art exhibitions addressing climate change and environmental hazards. We also showcase educational resources for teachers from pre-school through colleg. READ MORE ASIA Mangroves, amazing sentinels of coastlines  NEW GUINEA - Mangroves are very unique and peculiar in the sense that they are few coastline dwelling plants that thrive very well in highly saline conditions and in huge numbers often in loose soil substrate in anaerobic conditions. They are also exposed to severe battering by storms, violent waves and tropical cyclones but often in briny conditions with loose and muddy soil substrate but have withstood test of time and nature. One such species is Rhyzopora stylosa, which is the most abundant mangrove amongst coastlines, often found inhabiting the high tidal zones of coastlines. How are mangroves able to do that? They have various adaptations that enable them to do that. Mangroves serve a very important biological and ecological role in that most aquatic organisms spawn (breed) where the water/wave velocity is non-existing or minimal, especially for detritus feeders like crabs, lobsters and prawns. The mangrove swamps provide an ideal environment for breeding (reproduction) ground for such and food source. READ MORE State declares 4 eco-rich sites in Addu as protected areas  MALDIVES - The state declared four environmentally rich sites in Addu Atoll as protected areas under the Environmental Protection and Preservation Act.The Ministry of Environment announced that the areas protected from September 22 onwards are 'Kudakandu' area in Addu's lagoon, 'Maakilhi' and 'Fehele kilhi' in Hithadhoo, 'Maafishi Kilhi' (Keyvakaa Gon’do) in Hulhudhoo and 'Mathi kilhi' at the intersection of Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo. 'Kudakandu' area is known for its biodiversity, housing various types of rocks and coral as well as endangered species including Spotted Eagle Rays, sea turtles and dolphins. 'Maakilhi and 'Fehele kilhi' are two mangroves, dotted with lotus plants, found in Hithadhoo's southeastern wetlands. These mangroves assist in preventing floods on the island by draining rainwater. READ MORE Indonesia’s Stimulus Plan Draws Fire From Environmentalists and Unions  INDONESIA -BANGKOK — Indonesia’s Parliament is on the verge of approving a sweeping coronavirus stimulus package that opponents charge would undermine worker protections and permit widespread destruction of the country’s rainforests. The legislation is backed by Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, and is seen as a way to attract investment and stimulate the creation of new jobs by reducing regulations on businesses. Its supporters hope to win passage before Parliament ends its session next Friday, even as opposition to the measure grows. READ MORE Indonesia to replant 600,000 hectares of mangrove areas  INDONESIA - Indonesia will replant 600,000 hectares of mangrove areas in the next three years, said the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs. "Our damaged mangrove areas cover nearly 1 million hectares. Our target in the next three years is (to replant) 600, 000 hectares through this program," Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said at the virtual launch of the Labor Intensive National Economic Recovery Program through the Coral Reef Restoration.Pandjaitan said that replanting mangrove areas would have a broad impact on the trade of carbon emissions or known as carbon credit among countries. READ MORE LAST WORD For the mangrove peoples, our spaces are more than ecosystems, they are the territory of life that our ancestors entrusted to us to protect from generation to generation. the modern world does not understand this, and gets involved in the generality of classifying our lands, exploiting them, taking advantage of them and then abandoning them. Like this newsletter?
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ACTION ALERTSOur Paradise and Sovereignty under Siege - Protect Grenada from Destructive Development! SIGN THE PETITIONStop the destruction of Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve
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Mangrove Action Project Click here to view past newsletters
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