Search News Archive

Thursday, September 1, 2016

MAP News Issue 399, September 17, 2016

VerticalResponse

The MAP News
399th Edition                               September 17, 2016

FEATURE STORY

"Much of the vegetation in the pictures is early colonizing "mangrove grass" not planted, but helping with the efforts to establish both planted and volunteer mangroves. Much of what is shown is also not planted but volunteer mangroves mixed with planted mangroves. This is an example of Community Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) without the participants really knowing the term or the method." Roy R. “Robin” Lewis III, Certified Professional Wetland Scientist, President, Lewis Environmental Services, Inc., Tampa, Florida, USA
Farmer's son witnesses climate change, turns the island's fate for the better.
sunderbans1
BANGLADESH - A farmer’s son in the Sunderbans has been single handedly trying to change the fate of one of the biggest mangroves in the world. Born in the island known for the Royal Bengal Tiger, Pranabesh Maiti woke up to climate change sooner than most and decided to do something about the vast biodiversity they were losing out on. Maiti, 36, realised that many of the things that his land was famous for, were slowly slipping away, be it the juicy watermelons of Sagardip or the fresh produce from the rivers. However it wasn’t until the Aila cyclone that the full extent of soil erosion and devastation was understood by him. He saw land being washed away into the sea, fauna suffering and the mangroves that protected the entire ecosystem getting destroyed. “Aila taught me something important – in the areas where the mangroves were, the dams didn’t break or get damaged. It was obvious we had to revive the mangroves if we were to ever flourish again. Coming from a family of farmers, I knew we had to begin with planting trees.” READ MORE

ASIA

MAP-Asia staff member joins Indo-Burma Hotspot Small Grants workshop
PickPresentation
THAILAND - On 4-5 August, 2016 Ms. Pimaaksara Chalermwon (Pick), MAP Thailand Project Manager joined the meeting on “Project Development & Proposal Writing Workshop of Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund” (CEPF). CEPF is designed to safeguard Earth’s biologically richest and most threatened regions, known as biodiversity hotspots. The Indo-Burma Hotspot comprises all non-marine parts of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, plus parts of southern China. The workshop objective was to building capacity for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on project development and implementation. READ MORE

Time to end our 'rubbish' behaviour
c1_1076392_160902044146_620x413
THAILAND - Koh Samui is an island paradise. But if you have ever looked behind the paradise, what you find may be mountains of rubbish.It was reported early in the week that local authorities there have been struggling to deal with some 250,000 tonnes of rubbish. The landfill on the island has overflowed, with simply no room for more. So the authorities are looking to "export" the waste to some places off the island. Samui is not alone with this problem. Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that every locality in the country is similarly mired in its own garbage. The magnitude of the problem is daunting. According to the Pollution Control Department (PCD), each Thai produces a daily average of 1.15kg of waste, amounting to over 73,000 tonnes nationwide. In 2014, the country had 2,490 dump sites but only 466 of them provide sanitary management services. The rest of them, I assume, were poorly-managed open dumps, and I suspect many more illegal dumps were missing from the statistics. READ MORE

Forest of Tides: The Sundarbans
Forest-of-Tides-The-Sundarbans?maxsidesize=2400&width=1200
BANGLADESH - Split not quite in half by the border between India to the west and Bangladesh to the east, crowning the Bay of Bengal, the world’s most complex river delta works like South Asia’s showerhead—one the size of Lebanon or Connecticut. Fed by Himalayan snowmelt and monsoon runoff, carrying a billion tons a year of Asian landmass suspended as sediment, the three great flows of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna rivers all end in one vast estuarial tangle, one of Earth’s great water filters, the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans. Most famously, the Sundarbans mangrove forest is a refuge for the endangered Panthera tigris tigris, or Bengal tiger, and the only mangrove forest in the world in which tigers live. On the Indian side, which comprises some 40 percent of the Sundarbans delta-estuary ecosystem, the protection of Sundarbans National Park keeps them relatively at a distance from humans; in Bangladesh, however, forest preserve mangroves are often just across narrow creeks—and tigers love to swim!—from villages where slow-moving goats and cows can tempt a carnivore whose diet otherwise consists mainly of spotted deer. READ MORE

AMERICA

Launch of Marvellous Mangroves in Suriname
guides%2Bgroup%2Band%2BMAK
SURINAME - More than 40 teachers and students from regional schools came together in Coronie last week to launch the Suriname adaptation of the Mangrove Action Project’s Marvellous Mangroves curriculum-based Teachers’ Resource Guide. They were joined by gamekeepers from Nickerie as well as students from the Herbarium at Antom De Kom University and Eco-Tour Guides based in Paramaribo. Co-sponsored by the international non-profit organization the Mangrove Action Project (MAP), the Stichting Ontwikkeling Radio en Televisie Suriname (SORTS), the Disney Conservation Fund and the Singing Field Foundation, the Marvellous Mangroves workshop gave teachers a first hand experience of the curriculum guide.Led by MAP’s education director, Martin Keeley, and CORE’s director Loes Trustfull, participants spent of their time learning how to deliver simple and practical hands-on activities to their students and communities which give students a basic understanding of the science behind mangrove ecology. READ MORE

The world's oceans produce around half the Earth's oxygen and store about 90 percent of the world's carbon dioxide.
Conservationists push to protect 30% of world's oceans by 2030
https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F204930%2F7897b633efc7456984be427577b2a59f
USA - Ocean conservation efforts took a significant step forward on Friday when a measure to protect 30 percent of the world's oceans by 2030 passed during a major meeting in Hawaii. The resolution, which is non-binding, garnered widespread support from the governments and global organizations gathered in Honolulu for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress. Marine scientists say expanding Marine Protected Areas is essential in order to spare oceans from further destruction and ensure that ecosystems stay healthy enough to adapt to human-caused climate change. "Marine reserves are also climate reserves, and protecting 30 percent of the ocean will ensure local communities are more resilient to climate change," Seth Horstmeyer, a director with The Pew Charitable Trusts' Global Ocean Legacy project, said in a statement after the vote. The world's oceans produce around half the Earth's oxygen, store about 90 percent of the world's carbon dioxide and encompass a whopping 95 percent of the planet's living space. Yet marine ecosystems are increasingly at risk because of human activities — from industrial fishing and coastal development to dumping toxic waste, plastics pollution and ocean acidification. READ MORE

Mud bank colonization by opportunistic mangroves: A case study from French Guiana
FRENCH GUIANA - Mud bank colonization by mangroves on the Amazon-influenced coast of French Guiana was studied using light detection and ranging (lidar) data which provide unique information on canopy geometry an sub-canopy topography. The role of topography was assessed through analysis of vegetation characteristics derived from these data. Measurements and analyses of mangrove expansion rates over space and time led to the identification of two distinct colonization processes. The first involves regular step-by-step mangrove expansion to the northwest of the experimental site. The second is qualified as ‘opportunistic’ since it involves a clear relationship between specific ecological characteristics of pioneer Avicennia and mud cracks affecting the mud bank surface and for which probabilities of occurrence were computed from terrain elevations. It is argued from an original analysis of the latter relationship that mud cracks cannot be solely viewed as water stress features that reflect desiccation potentially harmful to plant growth. Indeed, our results tend to demonstrate that they significantly enhance the propensity for mangroves to anchor and take root, thus leading to the colonization of tens of hectares in a few days. READ MORE

Seaweed farming, a sudden slimy success, needs greener rules: U.N.
?m=02&d=20160904&t=2&i=1152212985&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=780&pl=468&sq=&r=LYNXNPEC8306Q
CANADA - Seaweed farming needs tighter regulation to limit damage to the environment after booming into a $6.4 billion business with uses in everything from sushi to toothpaste, a United Nations study showed recently. Led by China, South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines, seaweed's surge in recent years has seemed environmentally friendly since it needs no fertilisers and has created both jobs and food in remote coastal areas of developing nations. But emerging evidence shows that seaweed can sometimes cause harm and spread diseases and pests, the U.N. report said. One Asian seaweed brought to Hawaii has smothered some coral reefs by out-competing local plants. "There's very little regulation" in many nations, Elizabeth Cottier-Cook, lead author of the U.N. University study who also works at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, told Reuters. "You can take a plant from the Philippines and plant it in East Africa. There are pests, there are pathogens that can go along with that plant. There is no quarantine," she said. A damaging bacterial disease known as ice-ice, for instance, has spread with a red seaweed from the Philippines and infected new farms in nations such as Mozambique and Tanzania. READ MORE

OCEANA

Study: One-tenth of Earth's wilderness lost since the 1990s
unspecified-5
AUSTRALIA - It’s a bleak revelation — a new study reveals that about a tenth of the Earth’s wilderness has been lost since the 1990s. Over the last 20 years, a total area half the size of the Amazon and twice the size of Alaska has been depleted. The researchers behind the study, published in the journal Current Biology, say they hope that the sobering revelation that rich natural habitats like the Amazon have been decimated in a relatively short amount of time will act as a wakeup call to global leaders to emphasize conservation efforts in their environmental protection policies. When asked why these important, at-risk areas haven’t been better protected, study lead author James Watson points the finger at government leaders around the world. “Put simply — no international treaty talks about the importance of wilderness or has any targets that nations must follow that limit their (wilderness areas’) loss,” Watson, an associate professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, wrote in an email to CBS News. READ MORE

Pacific Community highlights climate change, resilience, sustainable fisheries
MARSHALL ISLANDS - The world’s largest conservation congress kicked off last Friday in Hawaii and the Pacific Community has joined over 8,000 global leaders and decision-makers from government, civil society, indigenous groups, business and academia, to garner support for stronger action towards a sustainable future. The Pacific Community director general Dr. Colin Tukuitonga attended the Pacific Ocean Summit at the start of the IUCN Congress and moderated a session on Action on Climate Change-reducing emissions, increasing renewable energy, which included addresses from the President of the Republic of Marshall Islands, H.E. Dr Hilda Heine, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Hon. Enele Sopoaga. and the Kingdom of Tonga’s Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni. The summit provided an opportunity to launch the 2030 Ocean Partnership for action on the world’s largest ocean with an aim to make commitments for action on climate change as well as renewable energy and for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (14) on Oceans. READ MORE

LAST WORD

Dear All,

I too believe that Ville-Veikko Hirvelä is correct in pointing out that the so-called "ongoing wasting and polluting over-consumption of the Earth by the rich minority" is a main issue needing fuller attention, if we are serious about halting further biodiversity losses.

In the last quarter century, we at Mangrove Action Project have been attempting to address such issues via our ongoing opposition to such wasteful, destructive industries as shrimp aquaculture, which has over the last three decades resulted in massive losses of our planet's important mangrove forests and related coastal wetlands. Mangroves are vital for both enhancing biodiversity and combating climate change, yet these unique coastal wetlands are being cleared at around 1% per year for such luxury industries as shrimp farming and tourism, fitting perfectly that same scenario spotlighted by Ville-Veikko Hirvelä today.

In the US, shrimp is the number one consumed seafood, and 90% of that shrimp is imported from countries in the Global South. Shrimp imports to Europe, Japan and Canada are also increasing. If we are truly serious about addressing the loss of biodiversity upon this planet, we must address such "ongoing wasting and polluting over-consumption" in order to conserve and restore mangroves and other biodiverse rich natural resources that are otherwise still being degraded to support short-sighted luxury markets.


For the Mangroves and Mangrove Communities,
Alfredo Quarto,
Co-director and Co-founder
Mangrove Action Project
PO Box 1854
Port Angeles, WA 98362-0279
360-452-5866
www.mangroveactionproject.org
 

BACK TO TOP

Not yet a subscriber?

Click here to subscribe.

Please cut and paste these news alerts/ action alerts on to your own lists and contacts. Help us spread the word and further generate letters of concern, as this can make a big difference in helping to halt a wrongdoing or encourage correct action.


ACTION ALERTS WANTED: MAP News is looking for links to calls to actions/petitions and letter writing campaigns on mangrove issues, tropical coastal communities and other related topics. Not all submissions can be selected, but we look forward to hearing about your work and want to let our readers' voice be heard!
Email submissions to news@mangroveactionproject.org

Action Alerts:

MAP Calendar 2017
MAP is happy to announce that we are now accepting orders for our 2017 Children's Mangrove Art Calendar . This is our 16th annual edition of Children's Mangrove Art, and this Calendar is celebrating MAP's 235th Anniversary! Please order your calendars now, and help us celebrate a quarter century of MAP's work to Save the Mangroves!"

MAP Mangrove Action Day PhotosView photos of our 2016 Event

The world's largest mangrove forest is in danger from a massive coal plant.
UNESCO can put pressure on India and Bangladesh to protect the forest, but they need to see that people around the world are speaking out. Click here to add your voice.

Tell the Ex-Im Bank: Don't let Big Coal wreck mangrove forests
The U.S. Export-Import Bank is considering using US tax dollars to pay for two coal plants in Bangladesh. These projects would wreck the world’s largest mangrove forest and devastate the Bengal tigers that live there. We need your help to stop it! 

Our new short documentary, Reducing the Risk of Disaster through Nature-Based Solutions : Mangroves
EPIC-Film 2
Tell Dam Builders to Pull Out of Agua Zarca Dam! For years, critics of the Agua Zarca dam project in Honduras have been targeted by a campaign of violence, intimidation and outright murder. Then, on March 2, Berta Cáceres – vocal critic of the Agua Zarca Dam, Goldman Prize winner and mother of four – was brutally murdered in her home. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Sign out Petition

Tell Red Lobster its "Endless shrimp" deal is damaging and unfair to the workers SIGN THE PETITION
 
Mangroves: Guidebook to Malaysia – available for download here
 
Mangrove rehabilitation in Asia – Local Action and cross-border Transfer of Knowledge for the Conservation of Climate, Forests and Biodiversity VIEW VIDEOS HERE

Volunteer Opportunities with Mangrove Action Project CLICK HERE
 
STOP PLANTING MANGROVES ON SEAGRASS BEDS _ A CALL TO ACTION
Want to learn more about mangroves?mangrove-action-project-presentation-1-1024.jpg?cb=1424228039
Our short presentation will give you a better understanding of the issues we are working to solve. WATCH PRESENTATION
What is CBEMR? Easy to follow fact sheet – CLICK HERE

SHARE MAP'S VISION 
CLICK HERE to watch short introductory video. Together we can work "at the roots of the sea".
Join us in saving our beautiful country!
We hope you have been following the ongoing battle in Bimini, Bahamas.
We are in need of your help more than ever Click here
 
Exclusive Interview with Alfredo Quarto, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Mangrove Action Project - See more
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

Marvellous Mangroves Curriculum

Marvellous Mangroves Curriculum in Bangladesh - WATCH VIDEO
MARVELLOUS MANGROVES IN BRAZIL
En Portuges

MAP%20Curriculum%20Video
Marvellous Mangroves – A Curriculum-Based Teachers Guide.


FOR MORE ON MAPs AWARD WINNING CHINA MANGROVE CURRICULUM VISIT
Education in the Mangroves - China
VIMEO SHOW
VISIT OUR "MM" WEBPAGE

Check out our presentation for more details on Marvellous Mangroves

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

Read this 10 page history of the development of MAP’s educational curriculum VIEW DOCUMENT
 
Article in Canada's Green Teacher Magazine - Read More

FREE MAP Mangrove e-cards CLICK HERE
Mangrove-Green-Turtle-Bimini-277x186
MAP’s e-Cards offer you a unique way to spread the word about MAP’s good works, while sharing beautiful photographs of the mangroves

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

MANGROVE ISSUES 
View MAP’s uploaded Videos at MAPmangrover’sChannel

The importance of restoring mangroves in an effective, long-term manner. Mangrove CBEMR video - VIEW
Question Your Shrimp Consumer/Markets Campaign!  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
 

"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

Information sheds clear light on shrimp-mangrove connection
Question Your Shrimp
SEE DETAILS MANGROVE/SHRIMP

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.
Mangrove Action Project

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




 
Mangrove Action Project
Click here to view past newsletters
MAPNEWS_website

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

MAP News Issue #594 - March 23, 2024

Saving Lamu Mangroves: From Futile Photo Ops To Real Progress KENYA - Hundreds flock Lamu County, not only for the beauty of Kenya’s oldes...