The MAP News
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2022 Year In Review
We are taking a look back of some of our top stories from 2022. Over the past 12 months, we have seen some major breakthroughs and witnessed some catastrophic setbacks in mangrove conservation and protection. Since its inception 31 years ago, MAP has watched global awareness of these important habitats change dramatically. No longer do we argue for their simple conservation but rather the best method of conservation. Where we once fought to dispell the myth that these were undesireable mosquito-infested scrub-brush, we now debate which species should be reintroduced and where. Our understanding of the critical role these forests play in carbon sequestration, storm abatement and coral and seagrass protection continues to grow exponentially. The question of the value of these essential forest and the worth of some of the most biodiverse habitats is no longer in question. And yet we cannot hope the battle to save mangroves has been won. We still see vast tracts of these tropical forests sacrificed for the construction of coal-powered energy plants. Vast swaths of forest cut down and replaced with palm-oil plantations. Bullet trains, ocean reorts, shrimp supply demands , all continue to threaten the remaining mangroves. And each year, MAP will continue to be a voice of reason and hope for magrove forests and the communites that depand on them. Here are our picks for the top stories of 2022 MAP News Issue #537 - Jan 08, 2022An Appeal from our Executive Director for the Mangroves Maybe world leaders are finally reading the writing on the wall? Maybe they finally understand that the recent frightening weather, massive forest fires, droughts and floods are not just chance occurrences but due to our planet-level experiment of increasing CO2 levels from the pre-industrial 280ppm to 415ppm today. There’s no argument about these numbers or the greenhouse gas effect – it’s just straight physics. We can debate the link between CO2 levels and climate change. Or we can take practical action now. Please support MAP to do what the world should be doing, climate change or not – conserving existing mangroves and restoring degraded forests, as fast as possible. Why mangroves in particular? Because they form an amazing intertidal ecosystem that provides all sorts of benefits, local and global, but are under threat from shrimp farming, urban development, road building, sea walls, oil palm expansion, sea level rise and other challenges. MAP News Issue #540 - Feb 19, 2022Man of the moment for dwindling mangrove INDIA - Several varieties of mangroves, spread over vast tracts of land, have been cut down in Kannur in the recent years to facilitate Kaipad and shrimp farming. All through, 58-year-old Parayil Rajan, a resident of Thavam, near Pazhayangadi, has been fighting a lone battle against the trend. Besides creating awareness among the people, he is on a mission to cultivate mangroves, especially the varieties that have dwindled due to deforestation, in his nursery on the premises of his house. Rajan, a fisherman, has been planting mangroves right from his childhood, and their massive destruction of late has been disheartening to him. Mangroves are being cleared from private land for shrimp and Kaipad farming, for which huge funds are made available by various agencies, he said. “People have little concern for mangroves, which they now see as a hindrance to profit-making. MAP News Issue #541 - Mar 05, 2022Living with Bees in Thailand THAILAND - At least half of all mangrove forests in Thailand have been destroyed, leading to many negative impacts to the coastal environment and people. As sea levels continue to rise with an increase in extreme weather events, coastal communities have become extremely vulnerable. But there is hope....At the edge of the sea on the Andaman Coast in Southern Thailand, villagers are nurturing bees and adapting their relationship with forests to fight the changing climate. Living with Bees will shine a light on an incredible connection one village has developed with pollinators, as we follow one woman’s journey of discovery; that introducing bees into the mangroves could be the key to saving her and her village. Help us to spread the word to everyone you know. MAP News Issue #542 - Mar 19, 2022Mangrove Restoration Project in Kenya KENYA - The MAP team has arrived in Kenya! We are here with Wetlands International East Africa to teach a mangrove restoration workshop for community members in Lamu County. The workshop aims to enhance understanding of mangrove ecology and stakeholder needs to improve project outcomes for coastlines and communities. Lamu County is home to over 60% of Kenya’s mangroves which are vital ecosystems for the community. They protect against coastal erosion, provide a buffer against storm surges, and are home to many of fish species that are important to local fisheries. Mangroves are directly tied to the culture and heritage of the region with many structures, boats and other amenities being built with mangrove wood. As well as harvesting, Lamu is also losing hundreds of hectares of mangrove forest to make way for the establishment of national projects such as the Lamu Port at Kililana. Mangrove forests have gained a newfound spotlight in the global conservation movement over the past decade, mainly due to the huge amounts of carbon they can sequester. MAP News Issue #544 - April 16, 2022Learning How To Restore Mangrove Population BAHAMAS - MANGROVE education and training is underway on Grand Bahama for some 30 participants at the Rand Nature Centre as part of a major Mangrove Restoration Project by Waterkeepers Bahamas and Earthcare Bahamas. The project - which is aimed at restoring the mangrove forests at Dover Sound - is being funded through a grant from the Bahamas Protected Areas Fund. The goal is to harvest and plant 30,000 mangrove propagules. The Mangrove Action Project (MAP), a well-known international mangrove conservation group, was brought in to conduct education and proper training for a week, which began on Monday. This is to ensure the successful mangrove restoration. According to Rashema Ingraham, executive director of Waterkeepers Bahamas, the mangrove restoration project with Earthcare Bahamas will be carried out in a phased approach.She said: “The first phase of this project is for 12 months, and it is funded under the Bahamas Protected Areas Fund, and that’s where we are looking at the collecting 30,000 (mangrove propagules).
MAP News Issue #546 - May 13, 2022Children’s Mangrove Calendar Art Contest 2022
 BAHAMAS - During the Bahamas CBEMR training that took place from April 8-14 in Freeport on Grand Bahama, Monica Gutierrez-Quarto collaborated with Waterkeepers and with the resident artist Marie Louis Hayward producing the Kids Art Mangrove workshop on April 13th. Two art projects were presented to the students: a Painting workshop about animals of the mangroves and a silk screen workshop producing prints of a mangrove tree. Before the hands-on art projects, the students received an educative presentation by a scientist from Waterkeepers about mangroves in Grand Bahamas. The students also had the opportunity to see the mangrove nursery at the Rand Center, where both the CBEMR training workshop and the children’s art workshop took place. Twenty students from ages 7 to 13 years old participated in this project. The event lasted 3 hours, and the kids had a great time producing their varied creations. MAP News Issue #549 - June 25, 2022Co-existing mangrove-coral habitats have a new global classification system GLOBAL - On any given day between 2016 and 2019, Heather Stewart could be found snorkeling in between mangroves in the Bocas del Toro archipelago along Panama’s Caribbean coast. For years she visited these forests at the interface between land and sea, trying to understand what drove corals to grow inside them. Corals and mangroves often grow near each other in tropical coastal environments, but finding them sharing the same habitat appeared to be an evolutionary trait that deserved an explanation. With this in mind, a group of researchers that included Stewart and other scientists from STRI, the University of Miami, Santa Fe College and the University of Florida set out to create a system to classify coexisting mangrove-coral (CMC) habitats around the world. They reviewed scientific studies and identified the main characteristics and conditions occurring in these ecosystems. “We believe it is important to have a global classification system for coexisting mangrove-coral habitats because for nearly a century these systems have been known to exist, but were largely ignored by the scientific community,” said Stewart. MAP News Issue #551 - July 30, 2022Rare freshwater mangroves discovered BRAZIL - Freshwater mangroves have been discovered in the Amazon Delta for the first time - suggesting ecosystem adaptability to the river flow. This study is the first scientific finding published as part of the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition, a two-year exploration of the Amazon River Basin from the Andes to the Atlantic. Angelo Bernardino and Thiago Silva, both National Geographic Explorers, conducted the first exploration of 11 mangrove forests along the Amazon Delta in April this year (2022). The Explorers analyzed data from the soil pore water, salinity, composition and tree density and volume using 3-D laser scanning from the ground and from drones. Their findings have been published in the journal, Current Biology. Bernardino, a marine ecologist, told The Ecologist: "It was fascinating. At first, I was confused because we were not seeing the same forests we are used to seeing all over Brazil. In the Amazon Delta, the forests have this unique mixture of freshwater plants."MAP News Issue #552 - Aug 13, 2022Cayman Islanders & and Mangrove Rangers produce Mangrove Videos for Young and Old
 CAYMAN ISLANDS - The community of adults and youth in Cayman Islands has come together recently to release a series of educational videos. Each is geared towards presenting information about mangrove restoration in a light, educational way. From children's stories to raising a cold beer that supports mangrove conservation efforts, Cayman Islanders are helping the world find new ways to celebrate the biodiversity in their back Yard. MAP's education Director, Martin Keeley has been busy recently helping groups participate in clean-ups and better understand the importance of tropical forests in their own back yard. And the videos do more than educate. They are fun, affirming snippets of the lives of many environmentally conscious citizens of these Caribbean islands. We invite you to watch these short films and share them with your family and friends. The future of our planet just may rely on it!
MAP News Issue #555 - Sept 24, 2022Moon’s ‘wobbles’ mysteriously linked to mass mangrove tree deaths in Australia
 AUSTRALIA - A wobble in the moon’s orbit around Earth affects mangrove cover across Australia and likely contributed to mass tree deaths in the Gulf of Carpentaria, new research suggests. A study published in the journal Science Advances has found that an 18.61-year cycle known as the lunar nodal cycle shapes the condition of tidal wetlands. The moon’s orbit around Earth does not occur in a flat plane. “Since the 1720s, people have known that it moves up and down by a few degrees,” said the study’s lead author, Prof Neil Saintilan of Macquarie University. He likened the motion to “when you’re spinning a coin – as it loses momentum, it kind of wobbles”. Changes in gravitational pull as a result of this lunar wobble are known to affect the Earth’s tides. Previous research conducted by Nasa scientists has predicted that in the mid-2030s, the lunar wobble will amplify rising sea levels caused by climate change, resulting in high-tide floods along coastlines. MAP News Issue #556 - Oct 08, 202221st annual MAP’s Children’s International Art Calendars 2023 are here and ready to order! USA - Every year, MAP conducts and international children’s art contest among students from various mangrove countries, whose artwork is then featured in our MAP Children’s Calendar. With beautiful artwork submitted by students from many countries around the world, these calendars both make a great gift, and are a helpful reminder for what we can do to assist in saving our world’s mangroves. It is an opportunity for the younger generation to learn about the vital role Mangroves play in the lives of coastal communities and marine life around the world while letting them explore their imagination and have fun when creating their art pieces. This colorful calendar has increased in popularity since its first publication in 2002. The artworks entered were incredibly stunning and expressive and have resulted in one of our most beautiful calendars to date.
MAP News Issue #558 - Nov 5, 2022Crocodile close-up in Cuba wins photo awards
 GLOBAL - Run by the Mangrove Action Project, the competition - now in its eighth year - aims to show the relationships between wildlife, coastal communities and mangrove forests, as well as the fragility of these unique ecosystems, both above and below the waterline. Gardens of the Queen is an archipelago off the coast of Cuba and has been strictly protected since 1996. It is one of the most untouched marine ecosystems in the world. "The healthy population of American crocodiles is down to the pristine condition of the mangroves, and I wanted to capture close-ups of this gentle giant in its natural habitat," said Ms Houppermans. "I hope this image can illustrate that protecting areas like this is so critical." Mangroves are an important protection against climate change, with one acre (4,000sq m) of mangrove forest absorbing nearly the same amount of carbon dioxide as an acre of Amazon rainforest. Like this newsletter? *Articles in this newsletter may mention practices being used and/or show exagerated results being claimed without proof. Stories are presented here in effort to show mangrove related activity around the world and do not necessarily reflect Mangrove Action Project's views or mangrove restoration best-practices. NOTICEChildrens Art Calendars 2023
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CAYMAN ISLANDS - The Mangrove Education Project (MEP) is pleased to announce a grant of Euros $295,000 from the European Union, Expertise France and Resembid, to complete its new curriculum of the Cayman Islands Coastal Education Guide (CEG). The project commenced just prior to Covid and developed and piloted during the past year. The project will continue the support of the Mangrove Rangers which operate through MEP, as well as research and education programs throughout the coastal lagoon which comprises the intertwined ecosystems of mangroves, seagrasses and reefs. “MEP’s Marvellous Mangroves curriculum-based program - which has been taught in Cayman’s schools since 2001 – will be researched, revamped and expanded to include seagrass and coral reefs,” explained MEP executive director, Martin Keeley. “It will be rebranded the CEG and tailored to the coastal ecology and specifics of the Cayman Islands. A number of educational guide copies will be published and made available to teachers online - using up-to-date science, including illustrations, graphics and photographs of the relevant species, features and ecosystems” he added.
GLOBAL - Mangrove crabs are important components of mangrove forests however their large scale habitat suitability and conservation received little attention. The Metopograpsus thukuhar/cannicci species complex is a mangrove dwelling species occurs in the Indo-Pacific mangrove forests. Since identifying the complex suitable habitat is critical for its conservation, we modeled global habitat suitability of the complex within marine biogeographic realms and estimated representation of the complex suitable habitats within marine protected areas. We found that the complex’ largest and smallest suitable ranges are located in Central Indo-Pacific and Temperate Southern Africa realms, respectively. Only 12.5% of the complex suitable habitat is protected.
SEYCHELLES - When the tide is out, Errol Renaud can see seagrass meadows on the ocean floor from his coastal home on the Seychelles island of Mahe. He's among many local people who have held up a hotel development that would have reclaimed the area. "There's a lot of seagrass meadows here, and there's a lot of fishermen across this area who put their fish traps there. So they depend on this area," Mr Renaud says. There are already two land reclamations near his home that have disturbed seagrasses that act as a barrier to rising ocean levels and extreme conditions. "This reclamation done before, during the monsoon it means a lot more sand is coming onto one side, and we are seeing much higher waves. "With climate change, we are losing a lot of it in this area," he says, of the region he has lived in for more than two decades, and where he is seeing his land increasingly saturated by rising water levels.
GHANA - Selected from over 220 candidates, seven youth-led ecosystem restoration projects are set to receive funding, mentorship and training to deepen the impact of their work across the globe in 2023. As the climate and biodiversity crises accelerate, young people around the world are raising their voices to demand action on the international stage, turning up in numbers both at COP27 and at the ongoing COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal. Many are taking the situation into their own hands by launching projects to nurse their local landscapes back to health. In this context, the Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL) and the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) have launched the 2023 edition of the Restoration Stewards program, which aims to support young restoration practitioners and their teams in developing their projects and raise local awareness of the importance of healthy landscapes.
USA - Look up to the blue skies, look right to the boats floating out at sea, look left to the deep green marshes of the Everglades and Big Cypress National Parks in Florida. This mangrove ecosystem contributes to the larger cycle of greenhouse gases, by both releasing and taking in carbon-containing compounds. How much, you might ask? This fall, scientists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, took to the skies (and sea and land) to take measurements of carbon dioxide and methane as part of the Blueflux field campaign. Blueflux, funded by the NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System project, aims to create a database of carbon dioxide and methane fluxes – or intakes and emissions – of mangrove ecosystems, which exist in coastal areas. “The mangroves are of interest for Blueflux because they’re really good at taking up and storing the carbon dioxide,” said Erin Delaria, post-doctoral associate at Goddard.
INDONESIA - Like many countries, Indonesia has set ambitious reforestation targets to help meet climate goals, including rehabilitating 600,000 hectares (1.48 million acres) of mangroves by 2024. But in 2021, Indonesia managed to rehabilitate 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres) of mangroves, the nation’s peatland rehabilitation agency said in January. The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Indonesia’s biggest environmental advocay group, said the government needs to move faster if it is to have any hope of meeting the target. “A five-fold acceleration is required to reach the ambitious (2024) target, given that mangroves in good condition is only 788,496 ha,” Parid Ridwanuddin, the head of Walhi’s coastal and oceans campaign, said in a statement after the G20 summit.
BANGLADESH - By 2050, researchers estimate that sea-level rise will inundate significant parts of coastal Bangladesh where shrimp is bred, while higher temperatures affect pond water quality. Tanzim Afroz, a climate-change law expert at Edith Cowan University in Australia, said large swathes of mangrove forests that usually act as a buffer against storm surges have been cleared to make way for shrimp farmersers, reducing natural protection for local communities. Mangroves are important for coastal ecology, supporting marine fisheries and protecting shores from erosion and extreme weather, she added. Bangladesh's newly adopted National Adaptation Plan calls for an assessment of the risks climate change impacts pose to shrimp cultivation, to enable the identification of suitable zones where the business can be run sustainably in the future. Already, growing climate risks and inadequate efforts to adapt the shrimp sector to new conditions are curbing its economic potential.
INDIA - The COP27 has concluded, and the COP15 on Conservation of Biodiversity (CBD) began a few days ago. We can only hope to fulfil the promise of the Paris Agreement by acting swiftly to stop and reverse the loss of nature this decade and by stepping up our efforts to rapidly decarbonize our economies. To scale the awareness and actions in the case of Mangrove forests, India became a signatory to the Mangrove Alliance for Climate ( MAC) coalition formed at COP. However, because the international alliance for mangroves is voluntary, there aren’t any mechanisms in place to hold members accountable. The parties will instead set their timelines and obligations for planting and rehabilitating mangroves. And as the world brought its focus to the COP27 discussions, Kolis continued to push for their participation in roundtable discussions to better understand the major difficulties they face and how to address them as they continue to campaign for the recognition of their indigenous knowledge and rights.
