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The MAP News, 240th Ed., 26 June 2010
Dear Friends,
This is the 240th Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News, June 26, 2010.
For the Mangroves,
Alfredo Quarto
Mangrove Action Project
Sign up to receive the MAP News by sending an e-mail to: mapnews@mangroveactionproject.org.
MAP's Mission
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.
All news items and notices published in the MAP News can also be accessed directly from our home page www.mangroveactionproject.org, with links to the full story and the original source. New items are posted daily and are available as an RSS feed!
DONATE TO MAP
MAP depends on your support in order to produce this e-bulletin and all that we do. Please visit our website and consider donating to MAP today. It is easy to give a one-time donation, or to set up monthly recurring donations via PayPal or Network for Good!
SHRIMP LESS, THINK MORE campaign has changed it's name to QUESTION YOUR SHRIMP:
Learn more about the affects of the shrimp industry on mangroves by visiting our blog.
Join MAP on Facebook
Sign the Consumer's Pledge to avoid imported shrimp
Action Alerts:
Papua New Guinea - Don’t Dump Poisons into the Sea!
The government of Papua New Guinea doesn't want to hear from us. It has authorized a Chinese mining company to dump toxic waste into the sea, and it is determined to stifle dissent from every quarter.
Sign Petition to Protect India’s Coastline
The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification was issued in 1991 to protect India's coasts. In the 19 years since then, it has been progressively weakened to suit industrial and political interests, and most violations have never been punished.
Stop Offshore Drilling and Demand a Clean Energy Future.
Let's put an end to offshore drilling. It’s been over a month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven people were killed in the explosion and millions of gallons of oil have been dumped into the Gulf of Mexico in what has become the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
Volunteers Needed In Seattle
Help needed for upcoming events in Seattle
Freemont Fair June 19, 20
Ballard Seafood Festival July 10, 11
Contact Cara Cruickshank 206-842-8505......or write to- mangroveactioncara@gmail.com if you can help. EVENT DETAILS
Please call Taco Bell's Customer Service at 1-800-TACO-BELL to make your request that they do not serve imported shrimp in their tacos, but serve only shrimp produced in N. America! READ MORE
Draft Daryl Hannah as Mangroves Spokesperson
This is a petition needing your supportive signature to 'draft' Daryl Hannah into being the voice of the mangroves! Ms. Hannah as the mermaid from the movie "Splash" has that coastal wetland connection making her the ideal candidate to speak for the mangroves.
JAMAICA'S FONT HILL Save Font Hill Nature Preserve from development. Please Sign our Petition
STOP MEXICO'S DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL TURTLE HABITAT Sign Letter Here
BIMINI'S MARINE PROTECTED AREA
In December of 2008, the Honorable Dr. Earl Deveaux proclaimed that Bimini's long-awaited Marine Protected Area had been made official. Local Biminites, as well as legions of people around the globe who care about Bimini, were elated with the news.
PUNTA CAREY ENDANGERS SEA TURTLES AND WETLANDSAT XCACEL
Punta Carey Business Trust wants to build a development at Xcacel that would affect the adjoining sea turtle sanctuary, because the project does not have any beach access except the protected beaches inside the sanctuary, and wetlands.
MANGROVE ACTION DAY IS JULY 26TH
Join MAP in celebrating Mangrove Action Day on July 26th.
REASOURCES
NOAA report: "Oil Spills in Mangroves: Planning and Responses Considerations"?
Oil Spills in Mangroves: Planning & Response Considerations
MAP 2011 CALENDAR NEEDS ARTISTS
READ MORE
ANNOUNCING the RELEASE of the UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME’S (UNEP) PUBLICATION “Dead Planet, Living Planet: Biodiversity & Ecosystem Restoration for Sustainable Development”
DOWNLOAD (15MB)
FEATURED STORY
All The King's Horses And All The King's Men
Make no mistake; the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem is broken, perhaps beyond repair – certainly beyond our ability to repair it. If somehow the shattered pieces come back together again, it’s pretty certain it won’t look or function like it did before the spill. Many who don’t live along the Gulf coast will probably have forgotten what that was like anyway. But those Louisianans, Arkansans, Mississippians, Alabamans, and Floridians, Texans (and perhaps others) whose health, livelihoods, and happiness are destroyed by this event will not soon forget. Can we help our fellow fishing communities? Can we prevent similar disasters from happening in the future – there and here? A vision for the future, along with a clear vision of the past might help. READ MORE
ASIA
Editor's Note: Mangrove conversion in one of the main issues involved in this struggle in Indonesia. Right now, less then 20% of mangrove ecosystem still exist. Most of the mangroves in the area have already been lost to reclamation.
City ‘should preserve local needs, environment’
INDONESIA - The Coalition to Save Jakarta Bay Movement urged the city administration to stop land reclamation in Jakarta’s NorthCoastand conduct a strategic environmental review as required by the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law. The group expressed concern that the plan, which included construction of business and housing areas, would not address environmental aspects and local interests. Selamet Daroyni from the Indonesian Green Institute said Sunday that the reclamation of 2,700 hectares of Jakarta’s coastal area required 330 million cubic meters of filler material, which would destroy the surrounding environment. READ MORE
President asks regional leaders to rehabilitate damaged mangroves
INDONESIA - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged regional leaders to rehabilitate all damaged mangrove forests existing in their respective jurisdictions. "I urge all regional leaders with wide mangrove forest areas, especially in Sumatraand Java islands, to make more serious efforts to rehabilitate damaged forests and conduct reforestation," the President said. READ MORE
Papua New GuineaDefend Indigenous Rights and Protect Marine Life
PAPUA NEW GUINEA- The government of Papua New Guineadoesn't want to hear from us. It has authorized a Chinese mining company to dump toxic waste into the sea, and it is determined to stifle dissent from every quarter. It hired scientists to assess potential harm to marine life, but when the scientists warned that the damage could be widespread, it suppressed and ignored their findings. When coastal Indigenous land-owner clans challenged the mining company's "deep submarine tailings placement" project in court, the government passed a law that denies citizens the right to appeal any permit granted by the Department of Environment and Conservation, no matter how it might affect their health, livelihoods, and cultures. READ MORE
China approves guidelines to enhance forest protection
BEIJING - The State Council, China's cabinet, approved guidelines Wednesday that protect, restore and ensure the sustainable use of forests for the 2010-2020 period. Participants at the State Council meeting, chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, reviewed and approved the guidelines for forest protection and utilization for the 10-year period. The guidelines say Chinawill lift its forest coverage to 223 million hectares by the end of 2020, or 23 percent of the national area. READ MORE
AFRICA
Far From Gulf, a Spill Scourge 5 Decades Old
NIGERIA — Big oil spills are no longer news in this vast, tropical land. The Niger Delta, where the wealth underground is out of all proportion with the poverty on the surface, has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every year for 50 years by some estimates. The oil pours out nearly every week, and some swamps are long since lifeless. Perhaps no place on earth has been as battered by oil, experts say, leaving residents here astonished at the nonstop attention paid to the gusher half a world away in the Gulf of Mexico. READ MORE
American Oil Spills In Gulf of Mexico: Lessons for Nigerians & Ecuadorians etc.
Almost two months after the massive explosion at an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in the American Gulf Coast, the massive oil spill, an environmental disaster and catastrophe, continues to unfold. It will be recalled that 11 oil workers died as the rig exploded and sunk, after a malfunction of BP or blowout preventer, a malfunction which ascribed to poor equipment and dead batteries. BP systems failures which could have stemmed the disaster in magnitude and its aftermaths. In Nigeria and Ecuador, there have been clear cases of deaths, miscarriages, diseases and infections resulting from activities of American and European oil multinationals conglomerates. There have been complaints for 50 years in the Niger Delta n Nigeria, and similar complaints have persisted in Ecuador and other oil producing nations. READ MORE
NigerDelta Oil
NIGERIA- While the oil spill from BP's Deepwater Horizon rig is a major environmental catastrophe, more oil is spilled in the Niger Delta every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico. This discussion looks at the devastating effect this has had on the environment and the Nigerian people whose livelihoods depend so much on fishing and farming. An audio of this story is available on-line Listen Now
The Wealth and Decline of Mangroves
Voyage of Kiri blogger Kristian Beadle discovers the beauty of mangroves and recognizes the ecological peril climate change puts them in. Location: An estuary near Punta Abreojos, on the Pacific coast of Baja. Forests of trees that live in the salty and submerged tropical coastlines provide a wealth of benefits, although humanity is spending that wealth recklessly. READ MORE
Editors Note – Palynology is the scientific study of spores and pollen.
Prehistory of mangroves and humans in Nigeria
A study by Orijemie A Emuobosa
Palynological studies of the Lowland Rainforest (LRF) of Southwestern Nigeriaduring the Late Holocene have been undertaken. The aims of these studies are broadly to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment of the mangroves and ascertain the impact of human interactions with rainforest in this same period (the Late Holocene). READ MORE
NORTH AMERICA
Alternative deep-sea shrimp stocks discovered
A team of researchers at the the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) just uncovered new populations of six species of deep-sea shrimp that live in the waters of the gulf of Mexico, from Tamaulipas to Yucatan. The found shrimp species are: jumbo red, scarlet, royal red, purple, speckled pink and pink. READ MORE
Learning about the Mangrove Ecosystem
FLORIDA- Student's in Mrs Lamberts's 4th class at Barrett Elementary School became very interested in mangroves after reading about them in the reading textbook. When they started learning about the Gulf Oil Spill (or really a leak as one student pointed out) they wondered how this would affect the mangroves in Louisiana. READ MORE
Xcacel Action Letter UPDATE
MEXICO- Life is always changing as long as humans are in command of our world, and that is a fact. But to the lives of the aquatic animals, it appears that we humans are really testing their future existence, in particular, the majestic sea turtles. With the non stopping oil gushing from the deeps of the Gulf of México, it is time that we demand a future, and for more than just for us. We the public, must stand up and say we have had enough! ...and let’s start with a BIG NO!!!! to all hotel constructions on Xcacel turtle nesting beach. Please, WE NEED THE WORLD TO HELP US NOW. READ MORE
SOUTH AMERICA
Legal registry of shrimp farms deferred 90 days
ECUADOR Shrimp producers that operate parcels of 0 to 10 hectares will have an additional three months to legalise their activities. The head of the Subsecretariat of Aquaculture, Jose Centanaro, explained that the government is offering that possibility to shrimp producers who for diverse reasons, among which he mentioned the economic factor, did not do zo during the previous stage, which concluded on 31 March 2010. During this second stage, the authorities hope that more than regularised 10,000 hectares of shrimp farms. READ MORE
EU reviewing Ecuador's seafood industry
ECUADOR- A European delegation has been overseeing the production and commercialization conditions of Ecuador's fisheries and aquaculture products since 2 June. The inspectors of the Commission of the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) of the European Commission Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General (DG SANCO) were received in Guayaquilby authorities from the National Fisheries Institute (INP), an agency of thse Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries (MAGAP). READ MORE
New Threat To Prainha Do Canto Verde, Brazil
On the eve of celebrating the first anniversary of the creation of the Extractive Reserve RESEX (Reserve for sustainable development of the territory), the fishing village of Prainha do Canto Verde, Ceará, internationally known for its defense of land tenure and development of artisanal fishery, community based tourism and its struggle for the rights of traditional populations, is once more threatened by real estate speculators. READ MORE
EUROPE
Commission sets up system for certifying sustainable biofuelsBELGIUM- After a long process since the adoption of the Renewable Energy Directive, the European Commission has now made clear that biofuels produced or imported to the EU cannot be produced at the cost of wetlands, peatlands or forests. Areas that were in 2008 still forests or wetlands cannot be used for the production of biofuels. Any fuels from these areas will not count for the EU biofuel target and will not get any subsidies or other support. Peatlands (wetland areas with water logged, carbon rich organic soils) can only be used to produce biofuels if there is no drainage needed. Palm oil plantations will not be seen as forests. READ MORE
