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Friday, January 31, 2014

MAP News Issue 331 February 1, 2014

VerticalResponse

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.

The MAP News
331st Edition                                February 1, 2014

Action Alerts:


Your support is needed: Cameroon activists on trial for peaceful
protest against Wall Street land grabber READ MORE
 
Meeting of the Australian Mangrove Society - 24-25 Feb 2014
You are invited to the Society Conference and the Workshop on Rehabilitation! CLICK HERE
 
MAP VOLUNTEERS NEEDED IN THAILAND VIEW REQUIREMENTS

Order your 2014 Calender
2014cld-300x225 
 
Save the Sundarbans from Rampal power plant – View Sample Letter to Minister
Sign the Petition
 
Question Your Shrimp- Don't Buy or Sell Imported Tropical Shrimp! Sign the Petition
Donate to MAP via Paypal
Giving could never be easier
Donate.jpg
It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
 
—Mahatma Gandhi


Green Planet Fundraising Assists MAP – LEARN MORE



URGENT - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

MAP’s VOLUNTEER INTERNS HELP MAP MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
READ MORE

 


MANGROVE ISSUES 

The importance of restoring mangroves in an effective, long-term manner. Mangrove video - VIEW

Please view our new video for our Question Your Shrimp Consumer/Markets Campaign! It is now on our website under the Question Your Shrimp section heading. WATCH VIDEO

Mangrove Restoration in Asia – Watch Short Video
Mosaic of Life 
READ A MOSAIC OF LIFE” Peek into the underwater world of mangroves, "womb of the sea." By Liz Cunningham Photos By Wes Matweyew and Liz Cunningham

View MAP’s uploaded Videos at MAPmangrover’sChannel

“Education In The Mangroves" can now be seen on the  PhotoPhilanthropy website here!

Marvellous Mangroves – A Curriculum-Based Teachers Guide.
By Martin A. Keeley, Education Director, Mangrove Action Project
Read this 10 page history of the development of MAP’s educational curriculum VIEW DOCUMENT

FOR MORE ON MAPs AWARD WINNING CHINA MANGROVE CURRICULUM VISIT THESE SIGHTS
SLIDE SHOW
    VIMEO SHOW

Education In The Mangroves
Six minute video features discussion of Mangrove Action Project’s Mangrove Curriculum VIEW THE VIDEO
 
Article in Canada's Green Teacher Magazine -
Read More
 


"Question Your Shrimp" Campaign

Learn more about the affects of the shrimp industry on mangroves by visiting our blog

Editor’s Note: Mangrove Action Project’s Executive Director, Alfredo Quarto was interviewed about shrimp by Green Acre Radio’s Martha Baskin

LISTEN TO INTERVIEW


Join MAP on Facebook


Sign the Consumer's Pledge to avoid imported shrimp


Donate.jpg


Not yet a MAP News subscriber?
Click here to subscribe.



Note to Our Readers:
We strive to keep active links in our newsletter. However, due to circumstances beyond our control,
occasionally links to stories may become broken. If you find a link to a story is not functioning, please cut and paste the headline into your browser search bar. In most cases you should be able to locate the original story.




Help Mangrove Action Project through your recycled E-Waste.  List of Accepted E-waste Items:

Injet Cartidges, Cell Phones, Pagers, GPS, Radar Detectors, Mobile Hot Spots, Calculators, eBook Readers, iPods/MP3 players, Digital/Video Cameras/Camcorders, PDAs, iPads/Tablets/Laptops, Video Game Consoles, Handheld Video Games

Visit the Mangrove Action Project recycle website Click on the recycle button then click on the Download Shipping Label, and follow the instructions.

 

download_shipping_label





 

FEATURED STORY
Teaching High School Students To Think Green
Martin_Keeley_teaching_mangrove_edcuation_at_the_Lucayan_National_Park.2_t670.jpg?b3f6a5d7692ccc373d56e40cf708e3fa67d9af9d 
BAHAMAS - Earthcare and Save the Bays have launched an Environmental Education Programme for junior high school students on Grand Bahama. The programme started on Saturday, January 25, with a session on mangrove education at the Mary Star of the Sea Auditorium at noon. Well-known mangrove specialist Martin Keeley, of the Mangrove Action Project in the Cayman Islands, spoke to the students and accompanied them on a field trip to the Lucayan National Park, where they were able to see an actual mangrove forest. Gail Woon, founder of Earthcare and director of Save the Bays, said the programme is geared towards students in grades seven to nine. The purpose of the programme, she said, is to educate students about environmental issues affecting the Bahamas. “Our mandate is environmental education and we were able to partner with Save the Bays to do this programme from some funds we had available; we are trying to increase environmental awareness,” she said. READ MORE
 
ASIA
 
Preemptive Restoration Saves Mangrove by Correcting Hydrology
final+state+of+the+site 
THAILAND - “Preemptive restoration”, as termed by Robin Lewis, the Mangrove Action Project’s, Expert Technical Advisor, is the process where stressed mangroves are detected and saved prior to death. It can be included within the Community-based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) method as it intervenes in mangrove degradation before total death and loss of mangroves and their ecological functions. A case study of this preventive technique was undertaken by Mangrove Action Project (MAP) in Trang province in September 2013. Near the Bang Khao Village CBEMR site where MAP has been working a road was illegally built through the mangroves by a private individual who wanted to gain access his oil palm plantation. MAP was alerted about the road construction problem by the villagers that worked with them at the Ban Bang Khao site. After observation and assessment of the situation, MAP staff determined that the road was acting like a dike as there were not enough culverts placed underneath the road to allow normal tidal exchange. It also appeared that one culvert had collapsed. This poor construction was causing high stress on the mangroves due to the slow water drainage and was also causing the water to flow over the road during spring tide as the culverts could not handle the high water volume. READ MORE
 
Bengali forests are fading away
BANGLADESH - Mangrove forests of the Sundarbans are disappearing, taking endangered species like the Bengal tiger with them. Rapid deterioration in mangrove health is occurring in the Sundarbans, resulting in as much as 200m of coast disappearing in a single year. A report published January 11 in Remote Sensing by scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) states that as human development thrives, and global temperature continues to rise, natural protection from tidal waves and cyclones is being degraded at alarming rates. This will inevitably lead to species loss in this richly biodiverse part of the world, if nothing is done to stop it. ZSL's Dr Nathalie Pettorelli, senior author of the paper says: "Our results indicate a rapidly retreating coastline that cannot be accounted for by the regular dynamics of the Sundarbans. Degradation is happening fast, weakening this natural shield for India and Bangladesh." READ MORE
 
Shrimp project helps create ‘organic coast'
Editor's Note This is not a recommended solution for conserving and restoring mangroves. We do not endorse this set up, but should state that MAP rejects this stated assumption that these shrimp farms are helping the mangroves because of their faulty 50/50 shrimp farm area to mangrove area. The area ratio should be 20/80 with shrimp farms being only 20% of the area. But we do applaud the effort on the part of shrimp farmers to recognize the importance of the mangrove forests.
VIETNAM - A new model of integrative shrimp farming introduced in Ca Mau will help farmers earn more while preserving the mangrove trees that aquaculture often destroys. Pham Hoang Nam reports. Tran Quoc Van is excited about his future since his shrimp farm is all set to get organic certification. "If we can get the certification for our shrimp, we don't need to worry how to sell and the price could be 10 per cent higher than usual," Van said. It all began in May when Van and 1,074 other households living in the southernmost province of Ca Mau's Nhung Mien Protective Forest were invited to take part in a four-year project to get organic shrimp certification by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Netherlands Development Organisation. The goal of the project is to help local shrimp farming systems become more profitable by combining them with protection of mangrove forests, thus boosting both profitability and sustainability while also increasing coastal resilience to climate change. READ MORE
 
Sacred forests ‘bulldozed’
CAMBODIA - Representatives for 35 ethnic minority families living in Ratanakkiri’s O’Chum district are seeking aid from a rights group amid Vietnamese rubber concessionaire CRD’s ongoing destruction of their sacred community forest, an NGO said. Two La’ak commune representatives filed complaints with rights group Adhoc, according to provincial coordinator Chhay Thy, claiming that CRD first began razing the forest along with adjoining farmland in November and has now bulldozed some 1,000 hectares. “The ethnic villagers are concerned about losing more forest and slash-and-burn farmland [a farming technique commonly used for root crops] now and in the future,” Thy said, noting that the land was their chief source of livelihood. Despite the arrival of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youth volunteers to measure the land in July and August, allocating up to three hectares to each minority family, the company has not stopped clearing the surrounding area, Adhoc and local villagers said yesterday. READ MORE
 
New ‘Mangrove Parks’ Can Help Conserve Burma’s Threatened Forests
mangroves-gone01 
MYRANMAR – Mangroves are disappearing worldwide. Burma, a country with some of the highest mangrove diversity, is no exception. This country once possessed the largest mangrove forests of the region, mostly in the Irrawaddy Delta, but as pointed out by The Irrawaddy on Dec. 4, the Delta’s mangrove forests shrank by 64.2 percent in 33-year period, with much of the area converted to small-scale rice farms. Nearly 60 percent of the country’s total rice crop comes from the four regions that occupy the Irrawaddy River Delta and adjacent coastline. However, the expansion of rice cultivation in the Delta has come at a price, the rice ecosystems have been created by cutting and clearing the expanse of its mangrove forests. READ MORE
 
AFRICA
 
The introduction of MAP’s Marvellous Mangroves Curriculum to Kenya
Mangrove%2Bmarathon2 
KENYA – Mangrove Action Project’s (MAP’s) Education Director, Martin Keeley, met with teachers and scientists in December 2013, in Shimoni and Wasini Island , southeastern Kenya, following an initial introduction through Global Volunteers International (GVI) in Kenya. Mr. Keeley spent several days in Shimoni, in southeastern Kenya, and explored the region’s mangroves, in particular those on Wasini Island. During this process he was assisted by Faridi Mshamanga, the GVI boat captain, who facilitated the meetings with the various educators who were not away on vacation! During this time work was initiated to develop a work-plan and establish a small working group that would initially comprise the following personnel. The members of the potential working group were met and introduced to the curriculum concept. All expressed great interest in Marvellous Mangroves and its introduction to Kenya. READ MORE
 
AMERICAS
 
Bimini resort, casino construction worries environmentalist
Bimini-SuperFast-jpg 
BAHAMAS - "Your experience starts in Miami on-board Bimini SuperFast, the fastest cruise ship in America," says Genting Group's radio ad for its ferry to its Resorts World Bimini. But what the ad doesn't mention about its ferry is that once you arrive, it could take another two hours before your feet touch land. After dancing, drinking and gambling, passengers are transferred to catamarans one at a time on a platform above open ocean. The catamarans rock back-and-forth in choppy waters since the ferry doesn't have a dock. f the waters are too rough, visitors can't transfer to the catamarans for safety reasons. Genting Group hopes to alleviate the experience with the construction of a new cruise ship terminal that will be dredged deep enough for the ferry to dock at its resort. A 1,000-foot pier is already under construction. "We're not really sure why an investor would purchase and start operating a huge cruise ship without a place to put it," said Gail Woon, founder of EarthCare Bahamas. "Too much on an area that has 14 prime dive spots on it with endangered, healthy coral." READ MORE
 
Industry Awakens to Threat of Climate Change
USA - Coca-Cola has always been more focused on its economic bottom line than on global warming, but when the company lost a lucrative operating license in India because of a serious water shortage there in 2004, things began to change. Today, after a decade of increasing damage to Coke’s balance sheet as global droughts dried up the water needed to produce its soda, the company has embraced the idea of climate change as an economically disruptive force. “Increased droughts, more unpredictable variability, 100-year floods every two years,” said Jeffrey Seabright, Coke’s vice president for environment and water resources, listing the problems that he said were also disrupting the company’s supply of sugar cane and sugar beets, as well as citrus for its fruit juices. READ MORE
 
Equator Prize - call for nominations 2014
ECUADOR – A call for nominations to 'The Equator Prize' has just been announced. This award recognises local sustainable development solutions for people, nature and resilient communities. The Equator Prize 2014 will recognize twenty-five local sustainable development solutions for people, nature and resilient communities. Profiles of past Equator Prize winners can be found here. Equator Prize 2014 winners will each receive $5,000 (USD), with several selected for ‘special recognition’ and an additional $15,000 (USD). Representatives of winning communities will be supported to participate in a series of events held in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly, scheduled for September 2014 in New York. READ MORE
 
Tropical Forests Mitigate Extreme Weather
PANAMA - Tropical forests reduce peak runoff during storms and release stored water during droughts, according to researchers working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Their results lend credence to a controversial phenomenon known as the sponge effect, which is at the center of a debate about how to minimize flood damage and maximize water availability in the tropics. During nearly 450 tropical storms, a team of visiting scientists from the Univ. of Wyoming measured the amount of runoff from pastureland, abandoned pastureland and forested land as part of a large-scale land-use experiment in the Panama Canal watershed initiated by STRI. READ MORE
 
EUROPE
 
Better protection for mangroves with models for successful seedling establishment
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NETHERLANDS - Seedlings of mangroves do not have an easy time to get established. Many forces of nature work against their anchorage in the soil. Human intervention in coastal areas and climate change also make life difficult for mangrove seedlings. Thorsten Balke studied the conditions that enable mangrove seedlings to be successful. Recently he defended his PhD thesis at Radboud University. Mangrove forests protect coastlines and are important for biodiversity; they are a nursery ground for many fish species and host a variety of plants that have adapted to grow in salt water. For successful management and restoration of mangrove forests, good understanding of the interaction between vegetation, soil and the forces of nature is required. Geographer Thorsten Balke studied the establishment of mangroves: how do the seedlings get to the tidal flat and what factors ensure their growth to become a successful mangrove forest? To answer these questions, he carried out experiments in Singapore and New Zealand. READ MORE
 
World Wetlands Day 2014: Wetlands and agriculture
NETHERLANDS - The 2nd February is World Wetlands Day. This day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea in 1971. Each year since 1997, the Ramsar Secretariat has provided materials so that government agencies, non-governmental organizations, conservation organizations, and groups of citizens can help raise public awareness about the importance and value of wetlands. 2014 is the UN International Year of Family Farming – so the Ramsar Convention chose Wetlands & Agriculture as the World Wetlands Day theme for 2014. And what a great theme for Ramsar, given that wetlands are so often intimately linked with agriculture. Our slogan? Wetlands and Agriculture: Partners for Growth, placing a focus on the need for the wetland and agricultural sectors (and the water sector too of course) to work together for the best shared outcomes. READ MORE
 
Tiger conservation gets EUR 20 million boost from Germany
SWITZERLAND - A tiger conservation programme managed by IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, has received EUR 20 million from the German government through the KfW Development Bank. The aim of the programme is to increase the number of tigers in the wild and improve the livelihoods of communities living in and close to their habitat. The agreement was signed today at IUCN Headquarters in Gland, Switzerland. “The tiger is the face of Asia’s biodiversity and an emblem of the world’s natural heritage,” says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General. “This generous support from Germany provides great hope for this iconic species, which is currently on the brink of extinction. Saving the tiger depends on restoring its rapidly shrinking forest habitat. This will regenerate valuable ecosystem services and improve the lives of some of the most marginalised people on our planet.” READ MORE
 

LAST WORD
 

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Mangrove Action Project

Thursday, January 30, 2014

The introduction of MAP’s Marvellous Mangroves Curriculum to Kenya

The Mangrove Action Project’s (MAP’s) Education Director, Martin Keeley, met with teachers and scientists in December 2013, in Shimoni and Wasini Island , southeastern Kenya, following an initial introduction through Global Volunteers International (GVI) in Kenya.

Mr. Keeley spent several days in Shimoni, in southeastern Kenya, and explored the region’s mangroves, in particular those on Wasini Island. During this process he was assisted by Faridi Mshamanga, the GVI boat captain, who facilitated the meetings with the various educators who were not away on vacation! During this time work was initiated to develop a work-plan and establish a small working group that would initially comprise the following personnel. The members of the potential working group were met and introduced to the curriculum concept. All expressed great interest in Marvellous Mangroves and its introduction to Kenya.

Shimoni Primary School:  Principal Hannah M. Paul; Chief Teacher and Ecologist: Harold Ouma Amolo
Wasini Island Primary School: Principal Imamu Dossa; teachers Ali Omar and Hussein Mashee.
Mkwiro Primary School (Wasini Island); Principal Aboulbast Ahmed Aububakar
Mangrove expert and author/researcher Ruga Bakari.

Resources for the adaptation of the curriculum for Kenya were reviewed, especially the English version of Marvellous Mangroves for Belize, and a variety of suggestions for adaptations were planned. It was generally agreed that the translation process into Swahili should be undertaken.

The Womens’ Co-operative which runs the huge boardwalk in Wasini Island would also be involved in the eco-tourism component of the Kenya Marvellous Mangroves. Dr. James Kairo, a founding member of MAP’s board of advisors, would be involved on research aspects, although attempts to meet with him were unsuccessful during this trip.

There is a need to establish a local partner in Kenya that will be MAP’s main partner in that country. We are hoping that this partner could be GVI which has a long established community education role in the region.

The working group needs to be finalised with  several experts who were unavailable being on vacation during the Christmas/New Year’s break. These would include Mr. Jillo Katello of the Kenya Wildlife Service who would provide input on the terrestrial and aquatic wildlife found in local mangroves.

The structure of Marvellous Mangroves in Kenya would follow the same process as previous adaptations/translations:

There are five major units which are all inter-related:
All about mangroves
Mangroves as habitat
Human impacts on mangroves
Exploring mangroves
Making change.

Each unit contains the following:
An introduction containing factual and detailed background information
Fact sheets and accompanying illustrations
Several supporting hands-on activities with detailed instructions and full lesson plans
Illustrations to support the activities

In addition, three new sections will be added: one on restoration, a second on water quality testing and a third on ecotourism following the criteria developed for Belize. These could also be researched and upgraded to senior secondary school and junior college level. The same criteria will also be applied to other sections of the adaptation.

An artist will be brought in to complete the necessary illustrations for the flora and fauna of Kenya’s nine species of mangroves.  It will then be edited, a final draft completed, and printed. The process of the development of the Kenya translation and adaptation of Marvellous Mangroves would follow the pattern established in other countries where the project has been successfully introduced. This would be as follows:
A full review of Marvellous Mangroves in Belize to see which areas are appropriate for Kenya.
Initiation of translation of Marvellous Mangroves in Belize into Swahili to speed up the final production
A resource search for existing resource materials available on related flora and fauna.
New flora and fauna added and changed.
Localisation of mangroves by Mr. Ruga Bakari.
Review of availability of workshop/activities materials re: cost to teachers etc.
New illustrations.
Review by marine scientists
Review by local teachers including classroom testing some of the activities.
Review by editors.
Publication.

Following the publication of the curriculum, MAP, in conjunction with the local NGO/Government partner  (GVI) and the members of the working group, will host 40-50 teachers at a “train the trainer” pilot event led by MAP Education Director Keeley and local teachers and held at a location preferably close to Wasini Island and Shimoni. The first of the three workshops in would be held in Shimoni or a location like the Mkwiro Village Hall on Wasini Island. This first large workshop will likely entail bringing in teachers from other parts of the region.

At this workshop the curriculum is formally introduced and teachers are shown how to conduct the activities, as well as how to use the resource guide, of which they each receive a copy to take back to their classrooms – together with materials that will enable them to carry out the activities. An extensive mangrove field trip is held at the end of the workshop (possibly to the Women’s Co-operative Mkwiro boardwalk) so teachers can apply their knowledge in the field.

The teacher training activity will also serve to train future workshop facilitators.  As the demand for MAP’s Mangrove Curriculum grows, it has become apparent that Mr. Keeley cannot personally attend all of the requests for workshops.  It is therefore crucial to build local and regional capacity to facilitate workshops, that is, train the trainers.  With this objective in mind, local education and GVI outreach officers would assist in the workshop, and will help facilitate the workshops to be held in in following years, thus learning how to be able to give the workshops themselves in the future. Teachers attending the first workshop will also assist.

During the full workshop a larger group of local teachers will be selected – in addition to the ones who have already conducted trial lessons – and these will become the local core group. The MAP Education Director will also work closely with the local teachers and GVI staff to assist teachers with implementing the curriculum in their classrooms. Teachers who take the workshop are certified as Mangrove Educators. Suggested additional follow-up includes such things as competitions and awards to further support the continuation of the program. MAP’s experience with introducing the curriculum in developing countries shows that this contact is extremely valuable in assuring the project’s continuing success and implementation.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Preemptive Restoration Saves Mangrove by Correcting Hydrology - Case study from Trang, Thailand

“Preemptive restoration”, as termed by Robin Lewis, the Mangrove Action Project’s, Expert Technical Advisor, is the process where stressed mangroves are detected and saved prior to death. It can be included within the Community-based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) method as it intervenes in mangrove degradation before total death and loss of mangroves and their ecological functions.

A case study of this preventive technique was undertaken by Mangrove Action Project (MAP) in Trang province in September 2013. Near the Bang Khao Village CBEMR site where MAP has been working a road was illegally built through the mangroves by a private individual who wanted to gain access his oil palm plantation. MAP was alerted about the road construction problem by the villagers that worked with them at the Ban Bang Khao site. After observation and assessment of the situation, MAP staff determined that the road was acting like a dike as there were not enough culverts placed underneath the road to allow normal tidal exchange. It also appeared that one culvert had collapsed. This poor construction was causing high stress on the mangroves due to the slow water drainage and was also causing the water to flow over the road during spring tide as the culverts could not handle the high water volume. Standing water at low tide indicated improper drainage.  Dying Ceriops tagal, which seemed to be suffering the most due to their preference for higher drier sites and their inability to deal with the flooding, was observed in the area.  Rhizophora apiculata were faring better to the flooding stress.

Illegal road built through the mangroves

Water flowing on the road  during Spring tide

Dying Ceriops tagal due to flooding

Drown mangroves and wood taken by locals for firewood


MAP decided to take action and solve the problem by using the backhoe that they had working near the village on the CBEMR site in order to install two new large culverts under the road. This was done fairly quickly and on a low budget costing just over $300.  The cost only entailed the backhoe operation time as the culverts were provided free. The site was visited about month later and MAP reports that the problem seems to have been solved. Future visits will be carried out in order to monitor the hydrological situation and the state of the mangroves.

Large culverts being brought to the site


The culverts being installed


State of the site once the culverts were installed


 
This case study shows that although CBEMR is not a substitute of proper management and protection of existing mangroves, it can also be used to prevent the loss of mangroves and a much more costly restoration intervention. It is a good example of the importance of preventive action and community involvement.




This hydrological correction work was completed under MAP's "Mangrove Restoration and Reforestation in Asia, a Project for Knowledge Exchange and Action to Protect Climate change, Forest and Biodiversity" project supported by the Global Nature Fund, the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) (Germany) and the Foundation Ursula Merz.


Saturday, January 18, 2014

MAP News Issue 330, January 18th, 2014

VerticalResponse
 

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.

The MAP News
330th Edition                                January 18, 2014

Action Alerts:

Mangrove Talk Scheduled in Port Townsend, WA USA - Jan 24th
Mangrove+Talk 
 
Meeting of the Australian Mangrove Society - 24-25 Feb 2014
You are invited to the Society Conference and the Workshop on Rehabilitation! CLICK HERE
 
MAP VOLUNTEERS NEEDED IN THAILAND VIEW REQUIREMENTS

Order your 2014 Calender
2014cld-300x225 
 
Save the Sundarbans from Rampal power plant – View Sample Letter to Minister
Sign the Petition
 
Question Your Shrimp- Don't Buy or Sell Imported Tropical Shrimp! Sign the Petition
Donate to MAP via Paypal
Giving could never be easier
Donate.jpg
It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
 
—Mahatma Gandhi


Green Planet Fundraising Assists MAP – LEARN MORE



URGENT - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

MAP’s VOLUNTEER INTERNS HELP MAP MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
READ MORE

 


MANGROVE ISSUES 

The importance of restoring mangroves in an effective, long-term manner. Mangrove video - VIEW

Please view our new video for our Question Your Shrimp Consumer/Markets Campaign! It is now on our website under the Question Your Shrimp section heading. WATCH VIDEO

Mangrove Restoration in Asia – Watch Short Video
Mosaic of Life 
READ A MOSAIC OF LIFE” Peek into the underwater world of mangroves, "womb of the sea." By Liz Cunningham Photos By Wes Matweyew and Liz Cunningham

View MAP’s uploaded Videos at MAPmangrover’sChannel

“Education In The Mangroves" can now be seen on the  PhotoPhilanthropy website here!

Marvellous Mangroves – A Curriculum-Based Teachers Guide.
By Martin A. Keeley, Education Director, Mangrove Action Project
Read this 10 page history of the development of MAP’s educational curriculum VIEW DOCUMENT

FOR MORE ON MAPs AWARD WINNING CHINA MANGROVE CURRICULUM VISIT THESE SIGHTS
SLIDE SHOW
    VIMEO SHOW

Education In The Mangroves
Six minute video features discussion of Mangrove Action Project’s Mangrove Curriculum VIEW THE VIDEO
 
Article in Canada's Green Teacher Magazine -
Read More
 


"Question Your Shrimp" Campaign

Learn more about the affects of the shrimp industry on mangroves by visiting our blog

Editor’s Note: Mangrove Action Project’s Executive Director, Alfredo Quarto was interviewed about shrimp by Green Acre Radio’s Martha Baskin

LISTEN TO INTERVIEW


Join MAP on Facebook


Sign the Consumer's Pledge to avoid imported shrimp


Donate.jpg


Not yet a MAP News subscriber?
Click here to subscribe.



Note to Our Readers:
We strive to keep active links in our newsletter. However, due to circumstances beyond our control,
occasionally links to stories may become broken. If you find a link to a story is not functioning, please cut and paste the headline into your browser search bar. In most cases you should be able to locate the original story.




Help Mangrove Action Project through your recycled E-Waste.  List of Accepted E-waste Items:

Injet Cartidges, Cell Phones, Pagers, GPS, Radar Detectors, Mobile Hot Spots, Calculators, eBook Readers, iPods/MP3 players, Digital/Video Cameras/Camcorders, PDAs, iPads/Tablets/Laptops, Video Game Consoles, Handheld Video Games

Visit the Mangrove Action Project recycle website Click on the recycle button then click on the Download Shipping Label, and follow the instructions.

 

download_shipping_label





 

FEATURED STORY
Former MAP-Asia Intern Joins 1st Mangrove Training Course for the Western Indian Ocean Region
Mangrove+marathon2 
KENYA - From the 2nd to the 10th of December the First International Mangrove Training on Biodiversity and Ecosystem in the Western Indian Ocean Region took place at the University of Nairobi’s Moana Research Station for Marine Studies, in Diani, Mombassa, Kenya.  The training was attended by more than 20 participants from 10 different countries. The team of trainers were also international, including Professor Kathiresan, Director of the Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, at Annamalai University, India; Hanneke Van Lavieren from the UNU-INWEH; and Dr. Cairo from the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI). The objective of the training course was to build the capacity of mangrove practitioners and managers throughout the region, as mangroves are under huge pressures from human over-exploitation. Students were asked to give presentations about mangroves in their respective countries to raise awareness that the problems faced by mangroves in the Western Indian Ocean region are all very similar. READ MORE
 
ASIA
 
Mangroves, nature’s shield against typhoons and tsunami
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PHILIPPINES - Following typhoon Haiyan, the Philippines’ Department for Environment and Natural Resources has earmarked around US$8m to fund efforts to replant much of the affected coastal zone with mangrove forests. Reforesting these coasts with 19m trees, particularly the extensively damaged islands of Leyte and Samar, is a key part of bolstering the first line of defence against future storms. Reports suggest up to 80% of the money is likely to be channelled to residents to engage them in tree planting activities as part of the country’s cash-for-work program. Why trees and not, say, concrete? Mangrove forests grow along the coast in fine, salty sediments across the tropics and sub-tropics. Recent research has revealed that mangroves, along with salt marshes and other wetlands, can sequester carbon much more permanently and effectively than terrestrial forests, offering an important means to mitigate global climate change. READ MORE
 
City task force mum on mangrove destruction
INDIA - Mangroves are being burnt, destroyed and encroached upon in various parts of the city. But Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) Task Force for Navi Mumbai, comprising top civic, police and government officials, is sitting idle on the notification issued by the state environment department to safeguard mangroves from being further butchered. This inaction is pushing the satellite city into eco-sensitive zone. It is learnt that the task force has never met since its formation on November 22, 2011, to decide the fate of the mangroves. Taking note of the large-scale violation of coastal corridor and following complaints from residents, MCZMA was forced to constitute a task force for Navi Mumbai. But rampant destruction of mangroves continues unabated. READ MORE
 
Action sought against mangrove charcoal-making
PHILIPPINES - Officials of Barangay Balaring in Silay City have referred to the Negros Occidental Provincial Environment Management Office (Pemo) the mangrove charcoal-making activities in their village. The barangay officials discovered about three tons of cut mangroves believed to be processed into charcoal as they also discovered charcoal pits and other materials for charcoal making. Village chief Remy Roldan in a TV interview said they want charcoal- making using mangroves to be stopped because they know how important mangroves are to prevent flooding. In fact, mangroves shielded Sagay City’s coastlines when Typhoon Yolanda hit the area. Roldan said they already have suspects but he refused to divulged their identities. He said they will check other areas if the same illegal activities are also taking place. VIEW SOURCE
 
Land sharks sneakily filling up lake, choking mangroves
INDIA – Land-grabbers have been steadily and stealthily filling up a large salt water lake to the south of Palm Beach road in Navi Mumbai, said residents and environmentalists who fear both the lake and the mangroves lining it will be killed. They want a tarred road providing access to the area to be closed off, as it is not being used by anyone but those who are filling up the lake. Already, they say, 20 per cent of the lake, which extends over 580 metres in length and is over 368 metres wide, is gone. The site in question lies on the left side of Palm beach road as one drives from NRI complex towards Vashi. The huge salt water lake is gradually being filled up, with heaps of mud dumped on its periphery. READ MORE
 
AFRICA
 
Longing for a carbon project
MADAGASCAR - For Mamelo Honko, a community based association for mangrove protection in Ambondrolava, southwest Madagascar, International Mangrove Day (held on July 26th) is one of the rare occasions to share publicly their efforts and plans with government officials and partner organisations. Mamelo Honko, meaning “to give life to the mangrove”, was founded in 2010 and engages with a number of support partners. They organised the mangrove day festivities with their long-time partner, the Belgian NGO Honko Mangrove Conservation and Education. To maintain these conservation efforts, the Mamelo Honko Association, along with the NGO Honko, has undertaken various activities to create alternative sources of income for their communities. These include a mud crab farming project, beekeeping, and training sessions in basket making for a local women’s group. Though a lack of technical skills has meant that some of the projects have been slow  to get off the ground, they are not discouraged, and the Association is well aware that there is no success without hard work. READ MORE
 
Group calls Govt’s land deal with US company a grave injustice
CAMEROON – Since 2010, Struggle to Economize Future Environment (SEFE) has led a non violent campaign against US owned Herakles Farms by organizing community resistance against the establishment of large-scale oil palm plantations in the midst of four very important protected areas including the iconic Korup National Park. The area is also a complex watershed formation (Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve), which provides freshwater to nearby and far-off communities in Cameroon and Nigeria, and it is widely considered to be a hotspot for biodiversity and a habitat for rare, endemic and threatened species of animals. Therefore the project will not only have negative impacts to nearby communities but also on far-off communities living on coastal fringes in both Cameroon and Nigeria (Cross River State). So it cannot be said to be a sustainable project. By granting this concession, the President seems to have denied inhabitants their inalienable rights to free, prior and informed consent and also ignored the widespread impacts of this large-scale oil palm plantation. Tension is now rife within the concession area since the signing of the decree on November 25, 2013, and could degenerate into conflicts among the villages in the area which have long co-existed in peace and enjoyed communal life together for many centuries. READ MORE
 
AMERICAS
 
Spared Winter Freeze, Florida’s Mangroves Are Marching North
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USA  - Much of the Florida shoreline was once too cold for the tropical trees called mangroves, but the plants are now spreading northward at a rapid clip, scientists reported Monday. That finding is the latest indication that global warming, though still in its early stages, is already leading to ecological changes so large they can be seen from space. Along a 50-mile stretch of the central Florida coast south of St. Augustine, the amount of mangrove forest doubled between 1984 and 2011, the scientists found after analyzing satellite images. They said the hard winter freezes that once kept mangroves in check had essentially disappeared in that region, allowing the plants to displace marsh grasses that are more tolerant of cold weather. READ MORE
 
Why it's a good idea to stop eating shrimp
USA - Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the United States, with Americans eating an average of 4.1 pounds per person annually. As delicious as shrimp may be, we actually should not be eating them. The process that delivers bags of frozen shrimp to your grocery store at cheap prices has devastating ecological consequences, and you’ll probably not want to touch that shrimp ring ever again after reading what’s really happening behind the scenes. Shrimp is either farmed or wild, but neither option is good for the environment. Farmed shrimp are kept in pools on the coast, where the tide can refresh the water and carry waste out to sea. Ponds are prepared with heavy doses of chemicals such as urea, superphosphate, and diesel. Then the shrimp receive pesticides, antibiotics (some that are banned in the U.S., but used overseas), piscicides (fish-killing chemicals like chlorine), sodium tripolyphosphate, borax, and caustic soda. READ MORE
 
Cuba imposes mangrove protection
CUBA - Cuban scientific authorities promoted a program of protection of mangroves, which occupy 70 percent of the coastal area of the island and are the most representative in the Caribbean. The program, titled "Green for restoration of mangroves in selected areas of the Cuban archipelago Bases ", allowed the study of the actual status of these ecosystems in areas east of Havana, south of the present province of Mayabeque, in northern the provinces of Matanzas and Villa Clara, in the south of Camagüey cays. The research fellow of the National Biodiversity Centre, from the Institute of Ecology and Systematics, Leda Menendez, told local media that the investigation established the degree of deterioration of mangroves in these points, as well as the causes of damage. This data, he said, made for ​​methodological guidelines aimed at preserving these areas of future impacts, and promotes recovery. READ MORE (en Espanol)
 
EUROPE
 
Help sought for mangroves, nature's dams
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GERMANY - Mangroves provide the tropics with protection from the increasing incidence of storms and flooding caused by taiphoons and tsunamis. But the coastal forests are in decline. Efforts are underway to bring them back. A green forest, rising out of the ocean, hugging the coastline like a green lifebelt - mangroves live only in tropical areas. They need warm conditions and a mixture of salt and fresh water. Their branches and web of aerial roots are home to numerous bird species. The waters around their base are alive with fish, the sediment crawling with crabs. But since the 1980s, mangroves have declined by around 35 percent for various reasons. They often have to make way for harbors, airports or housing. Even more of the mangroves have been sacrificed for shrimp ponds that feed international demand for the small crustaceans, Ulrich Saint-Paul of the University of Bremen's Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology, told DW. By destroying mangroves, tropical countries are paying a high price to consumers in other parts of the world who want cheap shrimp. READ MORE
 

LAST WORD
 

Dear All,
 
As I am joining MAP team in Thailand, I would like to introduce myself to each of you. My name is Piyapat Nakornchai (Por), and I will be assisting Jim with the GNF Project in Thailand. Actually, I was a part of MAP before, when I was helping with the community and conservation project on Phra Thong Island. After the project, I became a research assistant for a team which studied the impacts from climate change on marine protected areas in Thailand. Last year, I finished my masters in Environmental Social Science from the University of Kent, with a dissertation focusing on the networking of environmental organisations in Thailand. I am very pleased to be a part of MAP team again, and looking forward to working with you all. Please do not hesitate to contact me if anything is needed.
 
Regards,
Por
volunteer.mapasia@gmail.com
 

~ WE WELOCME YOUR LETTERS - If you’d like to have the last word on this or any other mangrove related topic, please send us your submission for upcoming newsletters. We’ll choose one per issue to have “the last word”. While we can’t promise to publish everyone’s letter, we do encourage anyone to post comments on our Blog at www. mangroveactionproject.blogspot.com

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Mangrove Action Project

Friday, January 17, 2014

Port Townsend WA Jan 24 Talk Slated


Happy New Year


I just want to report that our present efforts are sowing some good success. We have already raised around $7,000 via our end of the year fundraiser with more funding on its way. I am setting the goal for this at $10,000, so we are getting closer to this. I want to report that our new website, our new Network for Good Donate button and our new multi-mailer approach seems to have worked! We are getting larger donations also, including several donations of $100, $200 and $300- more than on previous years! Also, we are seeing much more funding coming in by internet than ever before, and we are getting bigger individual donations as well. So, something we are doing seems to be working for us! Reassuringly, we were getting new donations each time we did one of our six e-mail blasts over the last two weeks or so, so we proved the utility and importance of asking via e-mail for donations more than once, as before we were too concerned we may be "bothering our supporters" with too many mailings asking for support. I think we have proven the opposite via this current end of year campaign...People seem to respond positively to these multiple reminder mailings.

So, we go into the new year with some positive movement. We are now planning for an Indigogo-style fundraiser in March, aiming at support for our MAP Asia office, which needs to pay its commitment to the GNF project it has signed onto. We will be directing future such "Crowd-fundraisers" at other MAP projects in the future, aiming for one every 3-4 months. With Leo's able help, we will be also utilizing our new website, blogs, twitter and Facebook accounts to reach more folks. This is something we are finally taking on- Social Media! So we are attempting to reach out further and wider, building up both our individual donor list and our foundation support, trying to especially grow our individual donor support that allows us to direct more funding at organizational funding support, which is rather urgently needed still.

MAP is still supporting its main campaigns, including the CBEMR work, the MAP Curriculum, QYS Campaign, the News, our Advocacy and Outreach, and our continuing network building. We now have over 5,000 e-mail contacts and 3200 mailing addresses, so MAP is growing our support and contact base. However, there is still much more to do. I am awaiting our bookkeeper's final budget report for 2013, and am in process of reapplying for $30,000 per year from Marisla for unrestricted funding. Also, I will be reapplying soon after for Munson funding to support the QYS campaign. Martin has a funding bid in with Sea World / Busche Gardens and has recently received grants from Disney Conserv. Fund and Singing Fields for around $30,000 total for work in Australia and Bangladesh. $45,000 just arrived for MAP Asia from McKnight Foundation, which is mainly aimed as a pass through grant to PMCR in Cambodia, though a small amount will help with admin. support for MAP Asia. 

Note: MAP Intl. (our US-based office) is not able to utilize any funding from these grants for its own admin. needs, though we are providing admin. support for accepting grants for these other projects. There are good reasons why we are not taking a percentage of such incoming grants, based mainly on the stipulations of the granters that no admin. fee be taken from their donation (Disney), or that the projects being granted need to cover their own admin. costs in Thailand (McKnight, GNF, EPIC), or in regards to Martin Keeley, his travel costs which he himself is paying for to carry out the projects that need reimbursement or at least some supplementing. My aim is to raise more MAP admin. support via our online fundraisers which then can be used to cover MAP Intl. admin. costs, but we are in need to raise the bar on what this form of fundraising can bring in.  

While I am at it, I want to mention the hiring of Vanessa Lopez, who is MAP's new QYS campaign coordinator. She just began working part time with us in late November. The QYS campaign is being funded by Munson, so it is important that we renew our grant with Munson soon, and as well, we need to do some "down home" fundraising, which Vanessa and I are now working on doing via so-called "house parties" and small-scale events, such as public speaking before church groups, school classes and clubs. We just met earlier this week to discuss these ideas and strategize for taking this on. Vanessa is also putting together ads for interns and volunteers, while furthering our networking and forming potential working  partnerships with other non-profits in Seattle. We believe that our work on the QYS campaign offers us much greater potential for expanding our public recognition and bringing in new members, volunteers and support for MAP. I would really like to see Vanessa work full time, instead of the quarter time we are now employing her to take on. She is also quite versed in social media, which when combined with Leo's efforts will be a good help.

Leo Thom is still with MAP doing great things for our organization, including the redesign of our website, the three new you tube videos, setting up our Donate Button with Network for Good, doing Social Media outreach, and preparing our future Crowd-Fundraisers. Please check out the new website to let us know what you think: www.mangroveactionproject.org

Sam's work on our newsletter continues to gain steam, and our mailing list sign-ups are proof of the growing interest in the MAP News. Julie continues posting news on our website, and works with Leo in managing the site. 

Leslie, our bookkeeper is donating her time for the last few months to MAP, but we need to provide better support for her services, as I do not feel we can expect her to be there as much as we need unless we pay her for these services. Again, I am awaiting the budget report for 2013 to send you. Our MAP 990 form for 2012 was finished in the Fall, and is posted now on the website.

After a four month hiatus, Ira is again working very part time (around 5 hours per week) for MAP, putting together LOIs to try to stimulate requests for full proposals. We are aiming for two LOIs submitted per week. I am still pursuing support from several potential funders, include=ding Tiuring, Synchronicity Fund, Qatar Foundation, PCI and others. Any of these could make a big difference and brighten up our New Year cheer!

That is all for now. Again, Happy New Year, and let's work together to make 2014 a great year for MAP and the mangroves!

Alfredo

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Former MAP-Asia Intern Joins 1st Mangrove Training Course for the Western Indian Ocean Region



From the 2nd to the 10th of December the First International Mangrove Training on Biodiversity and Ecosystem in the Western Indian Ocean Region took place at the University of Nairobi’s Moana Research Station for Marine Studies, in Diani, Mombassa, Kenya.  The training was attended by more than 20 participants from 10 different countries. The team of trainers were also international, including Professor Kathiresan, Director of the Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, at Annamalai University, India; Hanneke Van Lavieren from the UNU-INWEH; and Dr Cairo from the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI).

First day introductions given by Dr. Cairo, the KMFRI Director


I am currently working as a Mangrove Conservation Officer at Blue Ventures Conservation (BVC) in Toliara, Madagascar and this international mangrove training course has been the first official training course on mangroves I have been part of. However, I acquired knowledge and experience on mangroves through the completion of an internship with Mangrove Action Project (MAP) in Thailand. I have been on the ground with BVC for over a year now.


 Myself on the left and some other participants collecting data in the field


During the week of the training we all learned a great deal about mangroves. The objective of the training course was to build the capacity of mangrove practitioners and managers throughout the region, as mangroves are under huge pressures from human over-exploitation. Students were asked to give presentations about mangroves in their respective countries which made me aware that the problems faced by mangroves in the Western Indian Ocean region are all very similar.

Professor Kathiresan shared case studies from India in his presentations. He explained the uses of mangroves in India and how healthy mangrove buffers protected many people during the 2004 Tsunami, which I found especially informative. I also learned how local fishers protect themselves from attacks by Sundarbans Tigers by wearing a mask. Case studies from Tanzania and Kenya were shared and were both very informative and instructive.

We also had practical field studies which included a mangrove marathon and a visit to the Mikoko Pamoja Project site.  I was very enthusiastic to learn about the Mikoko Pamoja Project as it is one of the very first successful community mangrove carbon projects and could therefore act as an example for BVC, which is trying to implement a similar project in Madagascar.


 Participants taking part in the marathon field activity


The Gazi Bay’s Community has generated carbon credits through mangrove reforestation and conservation which has been very helpful as such funds are currently helping towards the development of their village. During our field visit to the Gazy Bay I was keen to learn more about this project but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time. To conclude, I believe that what I have learned during the training was very useful, especially for my work at BVC as my job focuses on working with remote mangrove communities whose lives are dependent on mangroves.  I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this informative and practical training and I would strongly recommend it to other young professional mangrove practitioners and managers in the Western Indian Ocean region.  Please take a look at the following website for application information for the next mangrove training course to be in December 2014.  http://inweh.unu.edu/mangrove-wio-region/


Group photo taken at the field site on day two of the training


For more on my work with Blue Ventures please see: 
http://blog.blueventures.org/longing-for-a-carbon-project/

By: Sylvia Paulot   E-mail <sylviapaulot@yahoo.com>

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