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Thursday, October 27, 2016

MAP News Issue 402, October 29, 2016

VerticalResponse

The MAP News
402nd Edition                               October 29, 2016

FEATURE STORY

UNESCO calls for shelving Rampal project
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BANGLADESH – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has recommended that Bangladesh shelve the Rampal coal-fired power plant, which is being constructed in close proximity to the Sundarbans. It said the project would cause irreparable damage to the forest and should be relocated. The three-member Unesco expert team which visited Bangladesh in March, made this appeal in their report submitted to the government. They said at the moment the Sundarbans would not be moved from the world heritage list to the endangered world heritage list, but requested for the Rampal project to be shelved and for Unesco’s recommendations to be followed. They said a decision in this regard would be taken at the 2017 World Heritage Commission meet. The Unesco report said the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report found many discrepancies between the statements of Rampal project construction firm Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company and the tender documents. During their Bangladesh visit, the team was only allowed to meet a limited number of experts. And the interaction with the local people was also organised by the company.
 
AFRICA
 
Benin launches Mangroves ecosystems restoration pilot
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BENIN – Benin’s government with the help of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recently launched a restoration of Mangroves Ecosystem and Forest protection pilot programme. The project began with an awareness seminar on the importance of mangroves in biodiversity balance. The programme aims to contribute to the welfare and food security of local populations. “We know that these resources are increasingly threatened by logging and degradation. They must therefore restore those ecosystem to also promote the maintenance of biodiversity and the production of goods and services, that these resources are used for, to provide for the population,” said Dr. Antoine Elie Padonou, FAO Consultant. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) last year warned that 70% of the mangroves of Benin will disappear if nothing is done, with many implications including the destruction of fishing and spawning grounds. READ MORE
 
Ethiopia’s vulnerable tropical forests are key to securing future of wild coffee
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ETHIOPIA - Coffee is the drink of choice for millions of us. But the world’s second-most traded commodity originates in Ethiopia – and its home is under threat. Ethiopia isn’t all dusty deserts – far from it. The country also contains rugged highlands and lush, tropical forests. Coffea arabica grows here in its original, wild form. The forests of south-west Ethiopia are considered to be the birthplace of coffee and the centre of its genetic diversity. But these forests and this gene pool are under pressure. It is already one of the last major woodlands remaining in Ethiopia, and deforestation over the past 40 years has resulted in the loss of one-third of the south-west’s forest cover. We risk losing the forests entirely in coming decades. It is critical that these forests are protected. Commercially grown coffee has been bred over the years to ensure high yields and other useful characteristics. But it is descended from a small number of individual plants, and so relies on a relatively narrow genetic range – just 10% of the diversity found in the wild. This makes it vulnerable to pests – and climate change is an additional threat. Wild coffee on the other hand exhibits much greater genetic diversity, which increases its chances of adapting to new challenges and reduces the possibility of extinction. It represents an insurance policy for plantation coffee, in case commercial strains are ever badly damaged. READ MORE
 
Conserving mangrove forests in Senegal
SENEGAL - In Joal, a fishing town located in the south east- of the Senegal’s capital Dakar, the mangrove ecosystem is under threat. The UN estimates that Senegal has lost about 40% of its mangrove forests since the 1970s. With this in mind, there have been concerted efforts to preserve the remaining areas. “The mangrove is very important, in relation to fishing.There are a lot of animals like monkeys, hyenas which live in the mangrove,” said Abdou Karim-Sall, President, Management Committee of Marine Protected Area in Joal. Additionally, the reforestation of the mangroves has been ongoing at the Marine Protected Area in Joal. For communities that depend on the mangrove ecosystem for their livelihood, these efforts have borne fruit. The rehabilitation of the mangrove ecosystem and raising awareness on how to sustainably manage natural resources will go a long way in ensuring that the rich biodiversity is preserved for generations to come.READ MORE
 
Madagascar's Mangroves: The Ultimate Giving Trees
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MADAGASCAR - Locals already use the trees for food, fuel and building materials. Now they're burning them to make lime clay. Beyond Antananarivo—Madagascar’s capital city—signs of urbanization give way to sprawling farms and sweeping grasslands. At the coastal city of Toliara to the south, after a full day’s journey, the road turns into tire-sucking sandy track that mainly serves cattle-drawn wooden carts. For seven more hours, travelers cross a desert marked with spiny trees, where the sun bakes everything to a dusty crisp. Finally, the Bay of Assassins appears, an oasis thrumming with life, fringed with lush evergreen mangroves. A mangrove forest is unlike any other. At low tide, the trees loom from exposed mud, balancing on woody, tangled roots like ballerinas en pointe; at high tide, cool seawater erases the dry world, transforming the scene into an underwater spectacle. Glassy shrimp hover, their legs flickering with movement. Tiny metallic fry shimmer past, while adults lurk in the shadows. Slim tree roots stick up like pencils poked into the forest floor. Hermit crabs shuffle along thicker, oyster-encrusted roots that loop down through the water. READ MORE
 
ASIA
 
Mangrove online course by The Nature Conservancy and the UN University: “Mangroves Biodiversity and Ecosystem”
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THAILAND - Some months ago I decided to come to Thailand and do an internship in mangrove conservation, I’ve always been environment conscious and tried to be involve with projects and ideas that promote social change to help our planet. But this will be the first time I am actually doing something that has a bigger and more tangible result. I am from a city in the mountains, so I know more about habitats and ecosystems that exist 2000mts above sea level, or rainforests, due to the amazing and wide rainforest area in my country, Ecuador, than about mangroves. After applying to MAP, I decided that since I don’t have much experience or knowledge about mangroves I should start learning, and luckily I came across with a free online course. This new online course is recommended to anyone that wants to learn about mangroves, there are no requirements and it gives you a deeper understanding of this unique and critically important ecosystem, not just for tropical coastal communities by for all humans everywhere. READ MORE

 
China's reforestation program a letdown for wildlife, study finds
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CHINA – A team of international researchers led by Princeton University found that the overwhelming majority of forests restored under China’s Grain-for-Green program – which amount to roughly 28 million hectares – are monocultures or compositionally simple forests. This spells bad news for biodiversity, the study shows, in a country already experiencing severe wildlife population declines. Through fieldwork in south-central Sichuan Province, the researchers determined that restored monocultures support fewer species of birds and bees – common indicators of biodiversity – than sloped cropland, the very land targeted for restoration. Even mixed forests – those restored with two to five tree species – offer only marginal benefits for birds and harbor less bee diversity than cropland. But there is still a case for optimism, the authors emphasize. Choosing mixed forests over monocultures results in a net gain in bird diversity, with no penalty for bee diversity. Switching to mixed forests is also unlikely to pose significant economic risk to rural households, highlighting the potential for biodiversity gains that the Grain-for-Green program has yet to realize. READ MORE
 
Will Sundarbans lose its world heritage status?
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BANGLADESH – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1997 declared the Sundarbans to be a world heritage site. This unique and unusual forest, replete with its rare biodiversity, has been a matter of great pride to Bangladesh. But now almost 20 years hence, UNESCO may rescind the Sundarban status due to the Rampal coal-fired power plant project. The government has chosen to reject all concerns about the dire environmental harm that the Rampal coal-fired power plant will bring about. This inflexible stand of the government may cost the Sundarbans its world heritage status. Experts, environmentalists and researchers have offered hard facts and figures to highlight the damage the project will do to the forest, but the government has swept aside all reasons as unfounded, untrue and anti-development. In March this year, UNESCO sent a three-member team to visit the Rampal project site and the Sundarbans. In June it submitted its report to the government, pointing out the specific harm that the project will cause in the forest, and recommended that it be shelved or relocated. READ MORE
 
In Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta, a rapidly disintegrating mangrove forest
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MYANMAR -In a country with forests under increasing threat, Myanmar’s southern Irrawaddy Delta is home to one last precious pocket of green: Mein-ma-hla Kyun Wildlife Sanctuary. Although the Irrawaddy Delta plays host to the country’s largest remaining area of mangrove forest – 46 percent – here, too, the unique trees are rapidly disappearing and the impact has been devastating. Over the past three decades, about 83 percent of mangroves in the area have been lost, according to Win Maung of Myanmar Environmental Rehabilitation Network. Other estimates are slightly more conservative, at 75 percent. Myanmar is a known “hot spot” in Southeast Asia for mangrove loss from aquaculture, agriculture, and logging. As one of Myanmar’s most densely populated areas with an estimated population of 7.7 million, much of Irrawaddy Delta’s tree loss is caused by human beings. What is left of mangrove forests across the delta’s expanse of 13,500 square miles wasn’t enough to play the natural role of buffer when the deadly 2008 Cyclone Nargis hit. The sturdy trees have hardy, massive roots that grow in thick mud and partially above ground and are extremely resistant to high winds and flood waters. Had the Irrawaddy Delta mangrove forest been intact in 2008, experts believe that thousands of lives could have been saved. Instead, Nargis killed more than 138,000 people. Today, one small solid tract of mangroves remains nestled in a wildlife sanctuary. READ MORE

No mangroves, no land, no work
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VIETNAM – For many years now, landslides have become a common phenomenon in Kien Giang Province’s Hon Dat District, with Tho Son, Lình Huynh, and Binh Giang communes among the worst hit. The most gravely affected area is the strip of coastal land stretching from Hon Queo Hamlet in Tho Son Commune to Binh Hoa Hamlet, Binh Giang Commune. Mangrove forests have completely disappeared in some sections here. Without the protection of mangroves, waves and tides are hitting the sea dyke harder, hastening erosion and increasing the risk of breaches. Tran Trong Than, a resident of Hon Me Hamlet, said he’d been allotted a coastal mangrove forest area of six hectares 13 years ago. Erosion has reduced this to a little over 1.5 hectares at the moment. Similarly, Nguyen Van Thu of Binh Hoa Hamlet said that in the past two years alone, the coastal protection forest assigned to his family has lost some 30 metres to the sea. READ MORE
 
Gel-injected shrimp a growing problem in China
CHINA - Consumer reports of gel-filled shrimp are rising in China, according to a Chinese newspaper report. The process of injecting gel into shrimp is an illegal method of increasing their weight so they can be sold for a premium. Reports of gel-filled shrimp have been common in China for more than a decade, but are on the rise, the Beijing News reported (via the Epoch Times). Penaeus and tiger prawns, which are mostly imported from Southeast Asia, are the shrimp most frequently reported to be tainted with gel due to their large size, the article reported. Shrimp sellers found by the Beijing News reporter to be selling gel-injected shrimp blamed wholesalers for the problem. The article reported the gel is typically made from a mix of collagen, animal skin and bones, but that there is a danger more harmful – and cheaper – materials are being used. “Even if what was injected was edible gel, which may not itself be harmful, who can guarantee that the process is aseptic? ”said Liu Huiping, a member of the executive council of the Tianjin aquatic products association, told the Beijing News. READ MORE
 
AMERICA
 
A Teetering Bimini: Thinking about The Old Man and the Sea
BIMINI – From Earnest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea to his less-well-known Islands in the Stream, Bimini stars as an island full of adventure, liquor and raucous living, a man’s island, where fishing and drinking go hand-in- hand. Bimini has changed little since these books were written.  Cultural integrity is essential for such a world-class tiny island.  It is still a place of booze and boating. Bimini boasts one of the most quietly dynamic tourist industries in the country as it has always managed to maintain its personality and distinct cultural flair.  It had more barrooms than most places but also had a serious culture of lawlessness that legends like Hemingway enjoyed.  The best Bahamian equivalent to this infamy would be Joseph Spence’s  “Bimini Gal,” containing the lyrics ‘Never get a licking till I go down to Bimini’. However, we risk erasing this character by packaging everything into one de facto gated resort.  Development is essential on every island, but we lose ourselves when development is an absolute and leaves little—if anything—of the history of place and the identity of space intact. READ MORE
 
Laying foundations for the future of fishing
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USA - Cast your mind forward – 10, 15, 50 years. What do you see? The world around us is changing: resource needs are transforming alongside a booming global population. Technology is evolving exponentially, informing how we respond to daily life. Our planet’s climate and the delicate balance of our oceans are under threat. With over 3 billion people in this changing world relying on oceans for sustenance, where do fish, and fishing, fit into this future? The world’s oceans have never been higher up the political agenda. Three major international events on ocean governance took place in the last month: the second UN Preparatory Committee on a legally binding instrument for the high seas; the IUCN global congress; and the star-spangled Our Ocean Conference, addressed by President Obama, COP21 President Ségolène Royal, and Leonardo DiCaprio (to name a few). READ MORE


LAST WORD

Hello everyone,
 
My name is Isabel Robinson and I am the new volunteer here at the MAP Asia Office. I’m from Ecuador, however, I’ve been travelling around Australia and Asia for almost two years, actually after I finish here in Trang it will be two years since I left home! (I did visit for a couple of months this summer).
 
I studied Communications and Photography and next year I will be applying for the Masters in Environment (pathway in Education and Social Change) at Melbourne University. I’ll be here until January so please feel free to contact me if you need anything!
 
I’m very excited to be part of this team and very keen to learn more about conservation and mangroves, I love learning new things so if you come across with anything you think it will help me do a better job, please do send it!
 
I will always try to contribute with new and interesting information and ideas.
 
Looking forward to working with you!
 
 
Kind Regards,
 
Isabel Robinson
MAP-Asia Office Development & Field Project Assistants (Interns)
******************************************
Mangrove Action Project (MAP)
MAP - Asia Office
1/31 B-206 Chang Residence Building (Formerly Yaotak)
Vienkapang Road
Amphur Muang, Trang 92000
T H A I L A N D
 

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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 25th Anniversary! Please order your calendars now, and help us celebrate a quarter century of MAP's work to Save the Mangroves!"

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.


Our new short documentary, Reducing the Risk of Disaster through Nature-Based Solutions : Mangroves
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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

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STOP PLANTING MANGROVES ON SEAGRASS BEDS _ A CALL TO ACTION
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Marvellous Mangroves Curriculum

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Marvellous Mangroves – A Curriculum-Based Teachers Guide.


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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

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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
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Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Mangrove online course by The Nature Conservancy and the UN University: “Mangroves Biodiversity and Ecosystem”


By: Isabel Robinson, MAP Volunteer Intern

Some months ago I decided to come to Thailand and do an internship in mangrove conservation, I’ve always been environment conscious and tried to be involve with projects and ideas that promote social change to help our planet. But this will be the first time I am actually doing something that has a bigger and more tangible result. I am from a city in the mountains, so I know more about habitats and ecosystems that exist 2000mts above sea level, or rainforests, due to the amazing and wide rainforest area in my country, Ecuador, than about mangroves. After applying to MAP, I decided that since I don’t have much experience or knowledge about mangroves I should start learning, and luckily I came across with a free online course. 

This new online course is recommended to anyone that wants to learn about mangroves, there are no requirements and it gives you a deeper understanding of this unique and critically important ecosystem, not just for tropical coastal communities by for all humans everywhere. The course was created to bring awareness of the importance of mangroves in a clear and interesting way. It takes approximately 14 hours, although it can take a bit longer if there are things that are completely new to the reader or if English is not your first language, in my case, both. Anyone can do it and it doesn't matter if you’ve studied something related to coastal ecosystems, or if you are completely new to the subject, or have little or no science background at all.  

There are ten units, each of them taking between 1 and 2 hours to complete and divided in lessons. The number of lessons in each unit depends, for example; the second unit ‘Ecosystem Structure and Function’ is divided in 6 lessons, and the third unit ‘Floral Diversity’ has only 3 lessons. I stay longer in the units that I find more interesting and that I really want to understand, sometimes it takes me more than 2 hours just because I’m  making notes or googling words to get a deeper understanding of them. Some lessons contain a small test at the end to check your understanding on the material, with 80% being the minimum passing mark.  The great thing is that you can do the course at your pace, when and where you want as long as you a PC, laptop, tablet. Another fantastic thing is that if you want to learn more about any unit, at the beginning of each, you have a full list of references and additional reading.

What you will be learning in this course is an overview of how mangroves evolved, their geographical distribution, importance to humans and coastal ecology, and global status and threats to mangroves, the role of the mangrove in climate change and an introduction to national policies and laws and international agreements that affect mangrove conservation and biodiversity. 

The whole course is worth it and since it is also dynamic it could be used as material for teaching, every unit can be downloaded once you enrol at www.conservationtraining.org, and the graphics and photos are enjoyable and easy to comprehend.


“Mangroves Biodiversity and Ecosystem”  is one of the 16 interesting  courses offered by The Nature Conservancy. All of these courses are environment and conservation related, such as “Conservation Measures” or “Great Lakes Inform”. You can find them all at www.conservationtraining.org

Friday, October 14, 2016

MAP News Issue 401, Oct 15, 2016

VerticalResponse

The MAP News
401st Edition                               October 15, 2016

FEATURE STORY

World mourns the loss of beloved King
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THAILAND - The name Bhumibol means "Strength of the Land," and the bounty of Thailand's soil and waters was the king's passion. In 1952 he set out to breed a better freshwater fish, a staple of the Thai peasantry, in the ponds of his Chitralada Palace in Bangkok. It was the first of more than 4,300 palace-sponsored development projects now blanketing the country. King Bhumibol has been praised for lifelong support of village development. He has personally launched more than 4,000 development and social welfare projects, according to a tally from the Thai government, in areas such as irrigation, agronomy, forestry, fishing and health. He introduced improved strains of rice, stocked streams with fish, established irrigation projects. He used to frequently helicopters around the country doing things like promoting dam and irrigation projects and encouraging Golden Triangle farmers to switch from opium to kidney beans. His rural development projects are credited with weaning highland off opium amd helping to stop the expansion of the Communist movement in Thailand. To clean up the highly polluted Makasan swamp, the King developed an inexpensive natural filter relying on water hyacinths, which have a great capacity to absorb wastes. After absorbing pollutants the saturated plants are detoxified and used as fuel, compost and material for making baskets and place mats for poor people who live around the swamp. He also introduced paddle-wheel-like devices that aerate the water in the stagnant pools of Bangkok's Bavornnives Temple. Fish have returned to Makasan swamp and turtles once again occupy the pools of Bavornnives Temple. READ MORE


AFRICA

A Burning Problem For Mangroves
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MADAGASCAR - Beyond Antananarivo—Madagascar’s capital city—signs of urbanization give way to sprawling farms and sweeping grasslands. At the coastal city of Toliara to the south, after a full day’s journey, the road turns into tire-sucking sandy track that mainly serves cattle-drawn wooden carts. For seven more hours, travelers cross a desert marked with spiny trees, where the sun bakes everything to a dusty crisp. Finally, the Bay of Assassins appears, an oasis thrumming with life, fringed with lush evergreen mangroves. A mangrove forest is unlike any other. At low tide, the trees loom from exposed mud, balancing on woody, tangled roots like ballerinas en pointe; at high tide, cool seawater erases the dry world, transforming the scene into an underwater spectacle. Glassy shrimp hover, their legs flickering with movement. Tiny metallic fry shimmer past, while adults lurk in the shadows. Slim tree roots stick up like pencils poked into the forest floor. Hermit crabs shuffle along thicker, oyster-encrusted roots that loop down through the water. Scattered around the bay’s 40-kilometer shoreline, 10 subsistence communities also rely on the mangroves’ offerings: from food, fuel, and building materials to erosion control and shelter for the young fish that will grow up to stock fisheries. READ MORE


ASIA


Ditch Coal -- Save the Last Tigers!
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BANGLADESH - Banks are dishing out millions to build a planet-frying coal plant, right next door to the mega forest that’s home to some of the last Bengal Tigers. It’s the worst example of our disconnection from nature but we can stop it. After a leaked UN report slammed the project in Bangladesh, we went straight to the international banks. Now they’re scrambling to figure out what to. If we turn up the pressure on JPMorgan, Crédit Agricole and others, we can make this so toxic that they’ll quit the project for good. Both JPMorgan and Crédit Agricole have ditched similar projects in the past. Let’s build a million-strong cry to save the tigers and convince their CEOs to pull out. Sign now to save the last tigers. READ MORE


Kids Mangrove Action Day activities at Ban Ta Sanook in Phang Nga
THAILAND – Students in Ban Ta Sonook Thailand share their short 3min 30sec video of MAP's Mangrove Action Day activities at Ban Ta Sanook in Phang Nga, Thailand The school children experienced the new mangrove nature trail which was constructed under Daimler AG supported project. A resource person from the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) provided information on the flora & fauna found along the trail. The video was produced by Khun Donnapat of Raks Thai Foundation, one of MAP's partners. Although it's in Thai you can get an idea of what went on. VIEW VIDEO


Exec. Director’s Note: While this article below recommends that NGO activists opposing the shrimp industry in Indonesia should try to instead partner with industry to ensure much fewer mangroves are lost in the future. My question is simply what this author sees NGOs actually doing within such a partnership?
Fate of Indonesia's mangroves lies in shrimp aquaculture
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INDONESIA - Mangroves are extremely important for mitigating global climate change and protecting communities from storm surges, coastal erosion and tsunami. They also provide food, building materials and medicine. Indonesia has the largest areas of mangroves in the world. Unfortunately, the country’s shrimp industry is causing massive mangrove deforestation. In a study for which I am one of the researchers, we contend that mangrove conservationists in Indonesia should work together with shrimp producers to save mangroves. Here is why. For Indonesian, mangroves are crucial for the local economy. They directly support shrimp industries that earn about US$1.5 billion annually from exports alone, supporting the livelihoods of more than 1 million Indonesian people. The facts showed that shrimp is the most important species in the country’s fishery sector. Unfortunately, the benefits of shrimp come with costs, particularly to the mangrove ecosystem. By helping them put the current shrimp production system back on track, shrimp producers would not only satisfy demand but also restore vast abandoned farms back into being mangroves. READ MORE


Rates and drivers of mangrove deforestation in Southeast Asia, 2000–2012
INDONESIA- This study quantifies the proximate drivers (i.e., replacement land uses) of mangrove deforestation across Southeast Asia between 2000 and 2012. Mangrove forests in the region were lost at an average rate of 0.18% per year. Aquaculture was a major pressure on mangrove systems during this period, but its dominance was lower than expected, contrary to popular development narratives. Rice agriculture has been a major driver of mangrove loss in Myanmar, and oil palm expansion is a key but under-recognized threat in Malaysia and Indonesia. The threat of oil palm to mangroves is likely to increase in the future as new frontiers open up in Papua, Indonesia. Future research and policy responses must consider the diversity of drivers of mangrove deforestation. READ MORE


AMERICA


Myths & Legends Book Brings Alive Mangrove Stories from ‘Round the World
Marvellous-Mangroves

CAYMAN ISLANDS - The stories which surround the world’s mangrove forests come alive in the new book from Brac author Martin Keeley, Marvellous Mangroves Myths & Legends. Beautifully illustrated by Brac artist Daniella Christian the book features enchanting stories from around the world of mangroves – including Cayman – that bring to the reader the magic of goddesses, guardians, lost boys and ghosts. Mr. Keeley explains that during his travels to the countries which host the world’s mangrove wetlands he discovered that the mangroves are intimately associated with popular culture. Take a country like Brazil, for example, which has one of the longest mangrove-covered coastlines of all the nations of the world. “In the northern state of Pará it is believed that mangroves and salt flats are home to entities such as the Matinta-Pereira, the Boiúna, and the Mãe-do-caranguejo (the latter is compared to another entity, the Curupira),” he says. “These creatures are supposed to induce a feeling of agony to those who interfere in the environment. The unfortunate soul will then lose its way back home. READ MORE


Marvellous Mangroves Curriculum Continues to Grow Worldwide
Martin
CAYMEN ISLANDS – A busy year so far has seen MAP’s Marvellous Mangroves (MM) curriculum making the big time in Asia, South America and the Caribbean with preparation for at least two more countries in the coming year. The year began with a visit to Shenzhen in mainland China. Working in conjunction with the Chinese Mangrove Conservation Network (CMCN) The Youyun Ecological Education Studio and the Yantian Foreign Languages School’s Ecological Education Centre, MAP’s education director, Martin Keeley, together with veteran environmental education teachers Steven Chen and Ms. Mabel Yo, ran several workshops and activities for teachers and students alike. Highlight of the trip was a special event in Shenzhen’s Sunset Park celebrating the life of threatened Blackfaced Spoonbill which is being adopted at Shenzhen’s “official”bird. Following the Chinese training programs, Mr. Keeley‘s text workshop –one that has become an annual event was held in Freeport, theBahamas, in conjunction with EARTHCARE led by Gail Woon, where students from the Ecokids group, togethe with adults took part in a series of activities. Several schools also participate in exploratory workshops followed by fieldtrip to Lucayan National Park. Many programs were also conducted in the “home” of Marvellous Mangroves – the Cayman Islands. READ MORE

The Importance of Mangroves … for Social and Environmental Preservation
MEXICO - This past month, September 2016, we, the planet, have officially passed the threshold (400 ppm) of carbon in our atmosphere. If we, in spite of everything are lucky enough to finish out our lives with enough clean air to breathe, history books will look back on this moment in time as the major event marking the world’s deteriorating environment; to be specific, AIR…number one importance to the existence of life. Remember, without oxygen for us to breath, we have approximately 7 minutes before our hearts fail to pump and we die…7 minutes at its maximum. Latest news from meteorologist researching the atmosphere, explain that Arctic stored methane is being released now from under the ice caps, from the bottom of the seas, unnoticed to the eye. This phenomenon is called deglaciation. It is intensified by global warming. This results in the ‘methane release effect’. Methane is itself a most powerful greenhouse gas, and these gases trap heat in our atmosphere, with a snowball effect…a process that started gaining momentum a few decades ago. While methane doesn’t linger as long as carbon dioxide, it is initially far more devastating to the climate because of how effectively it absorbs heat. In the first two decades after its release, methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Both types of emissions must be addressed if we want to effectively reduce the impact of climate change. This methane and carbon is not just limited to the arctic seas, but also is stored in Mexico’s coastal mangroves… in the leaves, the stems, the trunk, the roots and the mud. Mangroves are natural carbon-scrubbers, taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it away. These mangrove forests then return to us this precious and most important to our lives, clean perfect oxygen, sequestering carbon for millennia in their rich soils. We must give thanks to that word “sequestered”. READ MORE


OCEANA


Dugong deaths along Queensland coast spark calls for testing to prevent further losses
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AUSTRALIA - Four dugongs have been found dead along the Queensland coast in the past week, sparking calls for testing to prevent further losses. Recently, carcasses have been found south of Mackay, at Hervey Bay and north and south of Townsville. One drowned in a commercial fishing net. Jim Higgs from the World Wildlife Fund said Queensland's environment department had not done testing to find out how the animals died. "Most of the animals we've seen over the last week have been in a situation where an internal investigation would have been possible to see if the animal had ingested something that had caused a blockage or if it had drowned," he said. READ MORE

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The Importance of Mangroves


…for Social and Environmental Preservation

This past month, September 2016, we, the planet, have officially passed the threshold (400 ppm) of carbon in our atmosphere.  If we, in spite of everything are lucky enough to finish out our lives with enough clean air to breathe, history books will look back on this moment in time as the major event marking the world’s deteriorating environment; to be specific, AIR…number one importance to the existence of life.  Remember, without oxygen for us to breath, we have approximately 7 minutes before our hearts fail to pump and we die…7 minutes at its maximum.

Latest news from meteorologist researching the atmosphere, explain that Arctic stored methane is being released now from under the ice caps, from the bottom of the seas, unnoticed to the eye.  This phenomenon is called deglaciation. It is intensified by global warming. This results in the ‘methane release effect’.  Methane is itself a most powerful greenhouse gas, and these gases trap heat in our atmosphere, with a snowball effect…a process that started gaining momentum a few decades ago.

While methane doesn’t linger as long as carbon dioxide, it is initially far more devastating to the climate because of how effectively it absorbs heat. In the first two decades after its release, methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Both types of emissions must be addressed if we want to effectively reduce the impact of climate change.
This methane and carbon is not just limited to the arctic seas, but also is stored in Mexico’s coastal mangroves… in the leaves, the stems, the trunk, the roots and the mud.  Mangroves are natural carbon-scrubbers, taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it away.  These mangrove forests then return to us this precious and most important to our lives, clean perfect oxygen, sequestering carbon for millennia in their rich soils. We must give thanks to that word “sequestered”.

From the dwarf trees in the deserts of Baja California to 40 meter giants in the coastal forests of Chiapas to the shoreline of the Riviera Maya, the coast of Mexico has more than 700,000 hectares of mangroves, 5% of the world total, making it the fourth country in the world, after Indonesia, Brazil and Australia.
Studies on the Meso-american reef showed that there are as many as 25 times more fish of some species on reefs close to mangrove areas than in areas where mangroves have been cut down, filled in, and destroyed.   This makes mangrove forests vitally important to coral reef and commercial fisheries as well.
In a time of out of control global warming, as being seen with the latest super storm Hurricane Matthew leaving death and destruction in its path, mangrove shorelines will protect the land, the buildings and the people from these damaging winds, waves, and floods.

Mangrove forests are the breeding and nursery grounds for many marine species.  An example is the shark, who will lay their young in the mangrove and there their young will stay until they are 2 years of age.  They will be then strong enough to fend in the open sea for themselves. Hence, loss of mangroves not only affects us indirectly but there are direct economic repercussions through loss of fishing industry and of course for the tourism that Quintana Roo is known for.
if you poke the mangrove mud  slowly with a stick and then pull the stick out, you can light the hole with a match, and a tall flame will burn.  This is the methane gas escaping.  As long as the atmosphere is healthy, mangrove trees will live, making our mangrove forests almost certainly over 10,000 years old, from the era of the last ice age, and thus tons of carbon sequestering by the mangroves has resulted.  With all these carbons ‘C’s hanging out in the mud, just add hydrogen (which is the water) and these ‘C’s now change to methane, stored methane, lots of stored methane.  Methane is deadly.  Methane will blow up as in bombs.

Along the coastline of the Yucatan Peninsula, to date more than 100,000 hectares of mangrove have been destroyed by fill to make way for coastal hotels.  Close to 90,000 rooms have now been built and more coming every day, mangroves are on the verge of extinction.  Yet these are the most important real estate we have in Mexico today.

Protection: there are laws….perfect laws, but sadly, non-enforced laws.  Non-enforced as developers have bribe money to make the government turn and look away.  Laws protecting these most important forests stating it is crime, to hurt a mangrove, to fill a mangrove, to touch a mangrove, yet, the laws are NOT followed by the people elected to protect us and our country.

We ask why there is a Chapter in the Criminal Federal Law (Codigo Penal Federal) making it a criminal offense with jail to violators, if this law is NEVER enforced…. only one person to date in the Yucatan has ever been accused of mangrove filling, and that is this author.  My fabricated crime was filling in a 20X30 meter piece of mangrove, which after nearly 5 years, the case was dropped.  During these years, this author could only spend time in her defense, putting her activism on the shelf, while mangrove after mangrove was annihilated.  This was actually what my neighboring Spanish hotel wanted, the stopping of activism, and the stopping of ecocide photos.  It’s called SLAPP.  A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.

Spanning the years from 1996 to present, filling in mangroves has been a crime.  To name the most recent, SEMARNAT supports and has given permissions to destroy the mangrove, at Punta Moroma, a beautiful beach just south of Cancun, the project called Dream Works:  a new Disneyworld project #23QR2016T0012,  8 Agosta 2016.  One of the most spectacular beaches on this touristic coastline; we don’t need or want a coastal Disneyland. We need a healthy State instead.
Although the news of this Peninsula does not readily reach the rest of the country, you will all remember the destruction in Cancun called Tajamar, just a few months ago, which made world news.

In just one weekend, 57 hectares of mangrove and animals were destroyed, for the construction of a housing development in accordance with the authorities again.  Please note there are plenty of empty lands to build housing developments, malls, hotels and Disneylands on this Peninsula that are safe and out of harm’s way to our planet.

But now we come to the saddest of all, a lagoon called Cenote Manati, located 10kms north of Tulum, and where the underground river Nohoch Na Chic connects one of the longest underwater Cave Systems in the world with the ocean. It is one of the few surface rivers on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Draining into the Caribe, this cenote is full of life, harboring fish, crabs, snook, manatees, also enjoyed by both snorkelers and divers. But Cenote Manari will soon be destroyed. This river system is so beautiful and alive; it gives the diver and snorkeler the feeling of diving underneath the jungle.

Yes, plans are to build yet another hotel…so once again, SEMARNAT will give its unlawful approval and this mangrove with disappear.   As previous owner of this no building green zone piece of property, Glaston Alegre and sole proprietor of the monopoly of all radio in this State of Quintana Roo, has just sold this mangrove and one of the last lagoons opened to the ocean.  Of course, although it is a crime against this country, SEMARNAT will give permissions for this destruction…as this is what they do!

Semarnat in total, or the persons responsible for signing these wetlands off, should go to jail? just like the law states.  It is the law. The law was not made for foolish or mindless reasons, but for the protection of our country Article 60 Ter of the  Wild Life General Law (Ley General de Vida Silvestre) says,
Queda prohibida la remoción, relleno, transplante, poda, o cualquier obra o actividad que afecte la integralidad del flujo hidrológico del manglar; del ecosistema y su zona de influencia; de su productividad natural; de la capacidad de carga natural del ecosistema para los proyectos turísticos; de las zonas de anidación, reproducción, refugio, alimentación y alevinaje; o bien de las interacciones entre el manglar, los ríos, la duna, la zona marítima adyacente y los corales, o que provoque cambios en las características y servicios ecológicos.

Mexico has one of the highest mangrove deforestation rates in the world. Is it really necessary that the idea of progress should validate destroying our ecosystems? If we continue on this reckless path we will face destruction from strong climate change fueled weather and we as a species are putting the lives of our children and next generations under serious danger. We need to start thinking in the long term and not being driven by the short-term profit and the destruction that comes along.

In the centuries to come will our future families be able to breathe?  The time to act is now.

http://www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacity-building-redd/news-and-features/mangroves-more-carbon-rich-and-important-climate-change
http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/coastalbluecarbon.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2016/09/29/carbon-dioxide-levels-400-ppm-scripps-mauna-loa-global-warming/91279952/
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/world-passes-400-ppm-threshold-permanently-20738
http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-sea-level-rise/
http://blog.nature.org/science/2013/10/11/new-science-mangrove-forests-carbon-store-map/
https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/frozenground/methane.html

MAP News Issue 593, March 9, 2024

MAP News Issue #593 - March 9, 2024 Nigeria has Commenced Large-Scale Mangrove Restoraion in Ogoniland Eastern Niger Delta NIGERIA - The...