Dear Friends,

This is the 199th Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News, 31 May 2008.

We would like to dedicate this issue of the MAP News to those countless victims of mangrove forest loss around the world, especially to those most recent victims of the tragedy unfolding around the Irrawaddy Delta in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, whose lives were lost or put to ruin by the short-sighted policies of unsustainable development that still threaten our very existence on this planet today. We should remember now those wise words of MAP’s co-founder, Pisit Chansonah of Yadfon Association in Trang Thailand:

      “The mangroves protect the people who protect the mangroves!”

For the Mangroves,

Alfredo Quarto  
Mangrove Action Project

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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.

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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!

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Contents for MAP NEWS, 199th Edition, 31 May 2008

FEATURE STORIES 
Destruction of Mangrove Forests Increased Devastating Impact of Cyclone Nagris

MAP WORKS 
Shrimpless Blog
MAP-Asia Welcomes New Intern
Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop, March 2-5, 2009 
Next Calendar Children’s Art Contest for 2009 Open for New Submissions  

ASIA

S.E. ASIA 
Burma 
Pre- and Post-Cyclone Nargis Satellite Images
Mangrove loss ‘left Burma exposed’
Myanmar - impact of the cyclone on livelihoods and food security, agriculture and fisheries
Forest Clearing May Have Worsened Toll
Removal of Myanmar's mangrove forest defenses gave cyclone easy ride into exposed delta  
Op-Ed Contributor: Death Comes Ashore  
Mangrove Loss Exacerbated Cyclone Devastation
Conservationists: Mangrove rehabilitation should be a priority in cyclone-battered Myanmar

Indonesian 
KPK grills lawmakers over bribery case

Malaysia
No more clearing of mangrove forest 
Japan provided yen 5 billion in humanitarian assistance for Aceh

Thailand
Mangrove Rehabilitation Project & Honestay at Phra Thong Island, S. Thailand

Vietnam 
Salt makers rake in the dough on rising prices
Shrimp farms suffer from poor plans

The Philippines
DENR to sue Napocor for cutting mangrove trees in Palawan
Crocodile attack prompts calls to curb mangrove bark trade
BFAR planting up to 6M mangrove saplings

S. ASIA 
Bangladesh
Govt visits shrimp farms, processing plants on May 15
New video on shrimp farming in Bangladesh "Voices from Paikgacha"
PRESS RELEASE: Parties to the CBD must promote sustainable use to achieve biological diversity

India 
Deforestation making Mumbai cyclone-prone
Govt plan may alter coastline

Pakistan 
VIEW: Cyclone Nargis

E. ASIA 
China
The USA: A Significant Market for the Chinese Seafood Industry
China's mangrove campaigner wins conservation award in Britain

MIDDLE EAST

United Arab Emirates 
In the Mangrove, a one-stop shop

LATIN AMERICA 
Brazil
Community Based Tourism Network of Ceará – REDE TUCUM

OCEANIA 
Papua New Guinea
Price of Cooking Fuel Threatens Papua New Guinea Mangroves

THE CARIBBEAN 
Bahamas
An open letter to the Prime Minister: Bimini in danger of devastation

Trinidad and Tobago 
T&T's life-giving mangrove forests under threat

NORTH AMERICA 
USA
Shrimpers Try to Stay Afloat
Seafood imports: worries growing
Area grocers respond to consumers' concern
Land swap offered to expand Port Everglades for bigger freighters
Seafood Sustainability Report 
Center for Food Safety seeks Attorneys’ General action to prevent deceptive practice of labeling fish as “organic.”
US Lose Anti-Dumping Battle
US organic chain commits to sustainable seafood

Canada 
Ingredient of the Year: B.C. spot prawns

STORIES / ISSUES 
Businesses Seeking Expertise from the Conservation Community Now Have Clear Steps for Moving Ahead on Sustainable Seafood
At CBD meet, fishers' groups decry expanding marine protected areas without prior, informed consent of fishing communities

CONFERENCES / WORKSHOPS / PUBLICATIONS 
The Mangrove Seed Chronicles: Learning To Trust
The return of ecosystem goods and services in replanted mangrove forests: perspectives from local communities in Kenya
Catch-22: New book casts wide net in exploring the ethics of eating seafood
2nd International Conference on Sustainable Tourism will be realized in Fortaleza
New Book: Transforming - Re-Forming Tourism

AQUACULTURE CORNER 
Saipan shrimp farm goes full blast with expansion
New Fish Farms Move from Ocean to Warehouse
FISH INFOnetwork Market Report on Shrimp (USA) April 2008
Langosmar Organic Shrimp Signs Domestic Exclusive Distribution Deal with Blue Horizon Organic Seafood Co.
B.C. fish-farm critics move fight to court
Tilapia food costs rising
ELI's Gold Standard for Sustainable Aquaculture Labeling to Influence Development of International Standards

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FEATURE STORIES

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7 May 2008

Destruction of Mangrove Forests Increased Devastating Impact of Cyclone Nagris

In the wake of the destruction and rising death toll caused by Cyclone Nagris, Mangrove Action Project (MAP) is calling for the re-establishment of mangrove buffer zones and coastal greenbelts along affected coastal zones to avert future such disasters.

“This latest disaster in Burma is a grim reminder of other recent natural disasters,” said Alfredo Quarto, MAP's executive director, referring to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami that left over 200,000 dead or missing and the 1999 Super Cyclone that hit the coast of Orissa, India that killed over 10,000. “The force of the cyclone could have been greatly lessened and much loss in life and property damage could have been averted if healthy mangrove forests had been conserved along the coastlines of the Irrawaddy Delta,” he added.

The Irrawaddy Delta was formerly a lush, highly biodiverse wetland of extensive intertidal forests. Much mangrove loss initially occurred under British colonial rule in order to clear space for rice production. Since that time, mangrove loss has continued; during WWII to satisfy military demands, and more recently, for fuel wood and unsustainable developments, such as industrial shrimp aquaculture and urban expansion.  “The result is that these vital, natural protective buffers have been foolishly destroyed, leaving these areas quite exposed and vulnerable to the energy and impact of waves and winds,” according to Jim Enright, Mangrove Action Project’s Asia Director, based in Thailand.

According to Burmese researchers, during a period of 75 years (1924-1999), 82.76% of the mangroves of the Irrawaddy were destroyed and globally, less than half the world's mangrove forests remain--around 15 million ha (around 37 million acres). The FAO estimates a 1% annual loss of mangroves worldwide, which signifies a 150,000 ha (367,500 acres) loss per year.

There is scientific evidence that the mangroves’ dense, intertwining trunks, branches, and roots can protect coastlines, and that the destructive force from storm surges is greatly dissipated as they pass through intact, healthy coastal zones containing mangroves.

The conversion to large-scale shrimp and fish farms is the most significant threat to mangroves world wide, and other pressures include tourism developments and rising populations.  This is worrisome to those who believe that global warming and rising sea levels will cause more frequent and intense storms, and that the loss of mangroves will make the coastlines more susceptible to damage. 

The most effective method for successful, large-scale mangrove restoration is through Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR), a long-term, effective process which considers local hydrology and results in biodiverse, ecological functioning ecosystems. Mangrove Action Project currently works closely with local stakeholders to carry out EMR projects in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand.

“It is crucial to restore mangrove coverage to these destroyed or degraded coastlines. We must re-establish the mangrove buffer zones that previously protected people and property from storms and tsunamis,” urged Quarto.  “So much is at stake.”

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MAP Exec. Dir., Alfredo Quarto, was interviewed on 12 May by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio programme "The Current"  regarding mangrove destruction in Burma in light of the devastation and loss of life caused by Cyclone Nargis.  Click on the following link and scroll down to hear the interview in Part 3. 
www.cbc.ca

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Jim Enright, MAP-Asia Coordinator, did a live interview on BBC World Service, News Hour program, on 23 May, immediately following the World News, with host Claire Bolderson.  The interview is archived at: www.bbc.co.uk. Scroll down the page under the Newshour 1300 GMT column, and click on: Listen Saturday 1300 GMT (58 mins). Burma coverage starts at the 6 min mark, and Jim's interview starts at 9:20.

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MAP WORKS

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Shrimpless Blog

As part of its new campaign, "Shrimp Less, Think More," MAP recently launched a new blog:

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23 May 2008

MAP-Asia Welcomes New Volunteer

MAP-Asia would like to extend a belated warm welcome to Sarah Hornby, as our new volunteer.  Sarah is from the UK and has completed her MSc in Tropical Coastal Management at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in 2006.   She comes to us with previous mangrove and aquaculture experience and has spent time in Thailand doing volunteer work as well as her MSc research.  Her research was based at Ranong Coastal Resources Research Station and focused on mangrove ecosystems while investigating the role of sesarmid crabs in mangrove food webs.   The Ranong UNESCO Biosphere Reserve has some of the best mangroves in Thailand containing at least 24 species in the 30,000 ha reserve.   Ranong is also known as the wettest province in Thailand with approx. 4 m of annual rainfall and in 1955 reached an amazing 6.7 m.

Sarah's is already at the mid-way point of her six-month placement, having joined MAP in March and will be with us until August. She has been very active helping MAP-Asia with a variety of important tasks including editing, proposal writing, documentation, developing information sheets for the website, updating information on our MAP-Asia homepage, and managing the MAP art calendar contest in Asia.  She has also been involved in the field, joining community meetings on mangrove restoration in Krabi, a village school English camp in Trang, an environmental youth camp at Ban Talae Nok in Ranong and assisted with a MAP training in Ranong on "Strategic Plan and Community Coastal Resource Management Plan" for the Asia Resource Foundation.   MAP-Asia greatly appreciates Sarah's contribution to date, which has been great assistance to us and we look forward to her timely help during the remaining months with us. 

Submitted by: Jim Enright

MAP-ASIA Coordinator

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ANNOUNCEMENT: “Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop, March 2-5, 2009, Hollywood, Florida, USA.

The seventh "Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop will be held at the Anne Kolb Nature Center, in Hollywood, Florida, USA, March 2-5, 2009. The training site is within a 500 ha mangrove restoration project at West Lake Park operated by Broward County. The award-winning project was designed by Roy R. "Robin" Lewis III, who will be teaching the course. Mr. Lewis has taught this very successful course in Cuba, Nigeria, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka.

 
More details at mangroverestoration.com or contact me at lesrrl3@aol.com.

 
Robin Lewis

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Next Calendar Children’s Art Contest For 2009 - Open For New Submissions

Feb. 2008

Dear Friends of the Mangroves,

We are sponsoring our 9th international children's art competition and would like to invite children in your country to enter this contest and learn more about the important role that mangrove forests play in the lives of the coastal communities in particular and for marine life in general.

Specifically we would like you to contact schools and teachers in your area and provide them with information regarding this contest, and also to act as a liaison between MAP and the local schools as a resource person regarding mangrove and ecological information. In addition, we would ask you to collect the winners from each school participating within your country, and send the three best entries on to MAP at the above address for the final judging, and possible inclusion in the calendar. We must receive the art work by July 31, 2008 for the 2009 Art Calendar.

This provides an opportunity for participating NGOs to build relationships with teachers and to provide school children with environmental information. Educating children on the importance of mangrove and coastal ecosystems is critical to effecting long term change. Without this information, current generations will grow up placing little value on the environment (as modeled by their parents) unless they are given new eyes with which to see coastal ecosystems and mangrove forests.

See MAP’s website childrens art calendar for more information and downloadable material that is ready to have your name added as the local contact representative and duplicated for distribution to teachers in your country.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance in helping you implement this exciting educational project in your country. We will send all student winners, participating NGOs and schools copies of our calendar as well. And, the winning students will receive a signed official certificate announcing their great achievement in the 2009 Children’s Mangrove Art Contest.

Yours sincerely,

Monica Alicia Paz Gutierrez-Quarto, 
Calendar Project Coordinator 
Mangrove Action Project

monicagquarto@olympus.net

tel. (360) 452-5866

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Senora Gutierrez-Quarto: the Children's Mangrove Calendar organizes my chaotic life and is pinned securely to the back of my office door.... I eagerly await the 2009 Edition.

Senectitudinally,  
D. Reid Wiseman who is teetering on fragile prop roots

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ASIA

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S.E. ASIA

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Burma

Pre- and Post-Cyclone Nargis Satellite Images

Cyclone Nargis Floods Burma (Myanmar) – May 8 and 16

image 1

image 2

image 3

image 4

Mapping the Aftermath of Cyclone Nargis – May 8

Satellite View: Before/After/The Flooded Areas/The Affected Population www.nytimes.com

Satellite imagery showing the depletion of mangroves in the Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar between 1995 and 2000 – May 8

fao.org

Clearing of mangrove forests for rice production – May 22

earthobservatory.nasa.gov

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6 May 2008

Mangrove loss 'left Burma exposed'

Destruction of mangrove forests in Burma left coastal areas exposed to the devastating force of the weekend's cyclone, a top politician suggests.

ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said coastal developments had resulted in mangroves, which act as a natural defence against storms, being lost.

At least 22,000 people have died in the disaster, say state officials. (Editor’s Note: The official toll is now much higher)

A study of the 2004 Asian tsunami found that areas near healthy mangroves suffered less damage and fewer deaths.

Mr Surin, speaking at a high-level meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Singapore, said the combination of more people living in coastal areas and the loss of mangroves had exacerbated the tragedy.

"Encroachment into mangrove forests, which used to serve as a buffer between the rising tide, between big waves and storms and residential areas; all those lands have been destroyed," the AFP news agency reported him as saying.

"Human beings are now direct victims of such natural forces."

His comments follow a news conference by Burma's minister for relief and resettlement, Maung Maung Swe, who said more deaths were caused by the cyclone's storm surge rather than the winds which reached 190km/h (120mph).

"The wave was up to 12ft (3.5m) high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," the minister said. "They did not have anywhere to flee."

Storm shelter

Mangroves have been long considered as "bio-guards" for coastal settlements.

A study published in December 2005 said healthy mangrove forests helped save Sri Lankan villagers during the Asian tsunami disaster, which claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people.

Researchers from IUCN, formerly known as the World Conservation Union, compared the death toll from two villages in Sri Lanka that were hit by the devastating giant waves.

While two people died in the settlement with dense mangrove and scrub forest, up to 6,000 people lost their lives in a nearby village without similar vegetation.

"Mangroves are a very dense vegetation type that grows along the shore," explained Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist for IUCN.

"Where the saltwater and freshwater meet, that is where the mangroves grow; they often extend from several hundred metres to a few kilometers inland.

"Especially in river deltas, mangroves prevent waves from damaging the more productive land that are further inland from the sea."

Lowering defences

A recent global assessment found that 3.6 million hectares of mangrove forests had disappeared since 1980.

The study carried out by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that Asia had suffered the greatest loss, with 1.9 million hectares being destroyed, primarily as a result of land use change.

It found that large-scale conversion of mangroves into shrimp and fish farms were among the main destructive drivers.

Other pressures included new development to accommodate the growth in the tourism sector and rising populations.

Mette Wilkie, a senior forestry officer for the FAO, said most of the mangroves in Burma had suffered as a result of being overexploited.

"There are very limited areas that you would describe as pristine or densely covered mangrove in the Irrawaddy area," she said, referring to the region of Burma where Cyclone Nagris first made landfall.

"There are some efforts in place to try to rehabilitate and replant mangroves, but we do know that the loss rate is quite substantial still.

"During the 1990s, they lost something like 2,000 hectares each year, which is about 0.3% being lost annually.

"But that does not give you the whole picture because the majority of these tidal habitats are being degraded, even if they are not being completely destroyed."

Growing awareness

However, the global picture is not entirely bleak. The FAO assessment showed that the annual rate of destruction had slowed from 187,000 hectares during the 1980s to 102,000 hectares during the early 2000s.

Some nations, such as Bangladesh, had actually increased mangrove cover, the FAO reported.

The role mangroves can play in reducing the devastation caused by extreme weather events was among the reasons behind Bangladesh's decision to protect one of the world's largest examples of the coastal habitat.

The Sundarbans, located in the delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, contain about 100,000 hectares of mangrove forest habitat.

"This has been allowed to grow, or in part at least, because Bangladesh was really hammered by a typhoon that killed something like 300,000 people a couple of decades ago," Dr McNeely said.

"They realised that if they did not have that mangrove buffer, another typhoon heading up the Bay of Bengal would cause even worse damage because the population is even more dense than it was then."

Source: BBC NEWS 
news.bbc.co.uk

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7 May 2008

Myanmar - impact of the cyclone on livelihoods and food security, agriculture and fisheries

 
Thailand -- The cyclone hit 5 states which are predominantly agricultural societies. Rural poor are the most hit.

Damage to annual crops is expected, in particular on rice, oil palm and rubber plantation.

The 5 states produce 65 percent of the countries rice, and have about 50 percent of all irrigated areas. There is risk that stored rice seeds kept by farmers - usually under poor storage facilities - might be affected by the cyclone.

Some rice crops under irrigation might be affected if not yet harvested.

Rubber plantations in 5 affected states cover some 20 percent of national total. However, most rubber trees are relatively young and might also be affected by the cyclone.

The 5 affected states are famous for livestock production - having roughly 50 percent of national poultry production and 40 percent of pig production. FAO also expects problems for small scale livestock holders to treat injured/sick animals or feed surviving animals.

The 5 states own 80 percent of the country's fish aquaculture ponds and 26 percent of the shrimp aquaculture ponds. Fish and shrimps might have escaped from the ponds if flooded by water.

FAO/WFP will carry out joint assessments of food needs; damage and needs assessment in the agricultural, livestock and fisheries sectors as well as looking at livelihoods and natural resource issues in the most affected areas.

UN clusters are leading the action, and the UN - including FAO - is examining the need for a flash appeal.

Together with the government, UN partners and donors, FAO is ready to undertake on the spot detailed damage assessment – and formulate measures to protect farmers from further losses and provided immediate support to recover rural livelihoods.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 
reliefweb.int

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9 May 2008

Forest Clearing May Have Worsened Toll

By Jane Spencer jane.spencer@wsj.com

HONG KONG -- The impact of the Myanmar cyclone was likely worsened by an environmental problem plaguing Asia's coastlines: widespread degradation of mangrove forests that once protected coastal villages from tidal surges and strong winds.

In Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta, the region ravaged by last Friday's cyclone, vast swaths of mangroves have been cleared over the decades to make way for rice fields and shrimp ponds and to provide wood for fuel. Ecologists say the destruction of the forests may have worsened the effects of the natural disaster.

Mangrove forests "used to serve as a buffer between the rising tide, big waves and storms and the residential area," said Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore earlier this week. "All those lands have been destroyed. Human beings are now direct victims of such natural forces."

Mangroves, the dense networks of trees and shrubs that live in tropical tidal zones, line one-quarter of the world's tropical coastlines. But in Asia they have been hurriedly uprooted to create farmland and aquaculture farms and for urban development.

Researchers in Myanmar estimate that 83% of the mangroves in the Irrawaddy were destroyed between 1924 and 1999. The destruction was spearheaded by British colonial authorities who encouraged rice cultivation in the delta, which was once known as the "rice bowl" of the world. More recently, coastal development and demand for wood have added to the problem.

In other parts of Asia, the greatest spoiler of coastline is shrimp farms as Thailand, Indonesia and India have become some of the world's biggest shrimp exporters. Shrimp farms demand brackish water and flat land, both found in abundance where mangroves grow.

A typical shrimp pond lasts for no more than eight years before the many chemicals and antibiotics that are poured into it in the process of raising shrimp make it unusable. The shrimp farmers move on, cutting more mangrove forests for new farms. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that world-wide, 1% of the world's mangroves are destroyed each year.

Environmentalists have long lamented the loss of biodiversity associated with mangrove destruction, but a growing body of research suggests humans also pay a price for the destruction. Several studies following the 2004 Asian tsunami found that villages protected by healthy mangrove forests experienced fewer casualties, because the forests can dissipate the impact of a wave. Since then, nations including India and Bangladesh have launched projects to regrow mangroves to provide storm buffers.

Mangroves offer a double layer of protection against the pounding surf. Low red mangroves anchor themselves in mud flats along tidal estuaries, their flexible branches and tangled roots absorbing the sea's power. Behind them stand black mangroves as tall as trees. Scientists say they can also slow winds.

The rampant poverty in Myanmar has accelerated destruction of tidal forests. "People in the city of Rangoon [Yangon] can't afford to buy propane or gas, so mangrove is being cut continuously for fuel," says Jim Enright, Asia coordinator for the nonprofit Mangrove Action Project, who previously has visited the region hit by the cyclone. "When I was there, you could see large barges of wood headed to Rangoon."

Groups such as Mangrove Action Project have launched mangrove-regrowth projects in countries including Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Thailand.

Scientists in Myanmar are still in the very early stages of assessing the relationship between mangroves and the damage wrought by the cyclone.

"From our initial analysis, there's no doubt there's a connection," says Faizal Parish, an ecologist at the Global Environment Center, a Malaysian nonprofit group that focuses on mangrove protection, who has been in touch with environmentalists on the ground in Myanmar.

Mr. Parish says that part of the problem is that as the mangroves have been converted to agricultural lands, residents have moved closer to the sea and built homes in vulnerable areas. Many villages in Myanmar are in rice-growing areas that are actually below sea level.

The closed nature of Myanmar's government is making it even more difficult for outside scientists to get accurate information on the issue. For years, Myanmar's military government has blocked outside nongovernmental organizations and scientists from accessing the region, so data about mangrove destruction were limited even prior to the cyclone.

Edward Barbier, a professor of environmental economics at the University of Wyoming who has studied Asia's mangroves, says more study is needed before definitive conclusions about the relationship between mangroves and the cyclone death toll can be assessed.

Source: Wall Street Journal 
online.wsj.com

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9 May 2008

Removal of Myanmar's mangrove forest defenses gave cyclone easy ride into exposed delta

BANGKOK, Thailand: A cyclone with winds up to 120 mph (190 kph). A low-lying, densely populated delta region, stripped of its protective trees.

When Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta and pushed a wall of water 25 miles (40 kilometers) inland, it had all the makings of a massive disaster.

"When we saw the (storm's) track, I said, 'Uh oh, this is not going to be good," said Mark Lander, a meteorology professor at the University of Guam. "It would create a big storm surge. It was like Katrina going into New Orleans."

Forecasters began tracking the cyclone April 28 as it first headed toward India. As projected, it took a sharp turn eastward, but didn't follow the typical cyclone track in that area leading to Bangladesh or Myanmar's mountainous northwest.

Instead, it swept into the low-lying Irrawaddy delta in central Myanmar. The result was the worst disaster ever in the impoverished country.

It was the first time such an intense storm hit the delta, said Jeff Masters, co-founder and director of meteorology at the San Francisco-based Weather Underground. He called it "one of those once-in-every-500-years kind of things."

"The easterly component of the path is unusual," Masters said. "It tracked right over the most vulnerable part of the country, where most of the people live."

When the storm made landfall early Saturday at the mouth of the Irrawaddy River, its battering winds pushed a wall of water as high as 12 feet (3.6 meters) some 25 miles (40 kilometers) inland, laying waste to villages and killing tens of thousands.

Most of the dead were in the delta, where farm families sleeping in flimsy shacks barely above sea level were swept to their deaths. Almost 95 percent of the houses and other buildings in seven townships were destroyed, Myanmar's government says. U.N. officials estimate 1.5 million people were left in severe straits.

"When you look at the satellite picture of before and after the storm the effects look eerily similar to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in how it inundated low-lying areas," said Ken Reeves, director of forecasting for AccuWeather.com.

The Irrawaddy delta "is huge and the interaction of water and land lying right at sea level allowed the tidal surge to deliver maximum penetration of sea water over land," Reeves said. "Storms like this do most of their killing through floods, with salt water being even more dangerous than fresh water."

The delta had lost most of its mangrove forests along the coast to shrimp farms and rice paddies over the past decade. That removed what scientists say is one of nature's best defenses against violent storms.

"If you look at the path of the one that hit Myanmar, it hit exactly where it was going to do the most damage, and it's doing the most damage because much of the protective vegetation was cleared," said Jeff NcNeely, chief scientist for the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

"It's an expensive lesson, but it has been one taught repeatedly," he said. "You just wonder why governments don't get on this."

According to the Washington-based Mangrove Action Project, Burmese researchers have found that 82.76 percent of mangroves in the Irrawaddy delta were destroyed between 1924 until 1999. That echoes a global trend.

"The force of the cyclone could have been greatly lessened and much loss in life and property damage could have been averted if healthy mangrove forests had been conserved along the coastlines of the Irrawaddy delta," Alfredo Quarto, the conservation group's executive director, said in a statement.

Some environmentalists also suggested global warming may have played a role. Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that warming oceans could contribute to increasingly severe cyclones with stronger winds and heavier rains.

"While we can never pinpoint one disaster as the result of climate change, there is enough scientific evidence that climate change will lead to intensification of tropical cyclones," said Sunita Narain, director of the Indian environmental group Center for Science and Environment.

"Nargis is a sign of things to come," she said. "The victims of these cyclones are climate change victims and their plight should remind the rich world that it is doing too little to contain its greenhouse gas emissions."

Weather experts, however, are divided over whether global warming is a factor in catastrophic storms. At a January conference of the American Meteorological Society, some postulated warmer ocean temperatures may actually reduce the strength of cyclones and hurricanes.

Masters, at Weather Underground, said Wednesday that in the case of Nargis, the meteorological data in the Indian Ocean region "is too short and too poor in quality to make judgments about whether tropical cyclones have been affected by global warming."

Despite assertions by Myanmar's military government that it warned people about the storm, critics contend the junta didn't do enough to alert the delta and failed to organize any evacuations, saying that made the death toll worse.

"Villagers were totally unaware," said 38-year-old Khin Khin Myawe, interviewed in the hard-hit delta town of Labutta. "We knew the cyclone was coming but only because the wind was very strong. No local authorities ever came to us with information about how serious the storm was."

The India Meteorological Department, one of six regional warning centers set up by the World Meteorological Organization, began sending regular storm advisories April 27. The information appeared in Myanmar's state-run newspapers, radio and television 48 hours ahead of the storm.

But the international advisories said nothing about a storm surge. And Myanmar, unlike its neighbors Bangladesh and India, has no radar network to help predict the location and height of surges, the WMO said.

There also wasn't any coordinated effort on the part of the junta to move people out of low-lying areas, even though information was available about the expected time and location of landfall.

"How is it possible that there was such a great death toll in the 21st century when we have imagery from satellites in real time and there are specialized meteorology centers in all the regions?" said Olavo Rasquinho of the U.N. Typhoon Committee Secretariat.

Bangladesh has a storm protection system that includes warning sirens, evacuation routes and sturdy towers to shelter people, measures that were credited with limiting the death toll from last year's Cyclone Sidr to 3,100.

Atiq A. Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies and a disaster specialist, said Myanmar's death toll would have been lower if it had such a system.

"Taking some action to move people from affected areas would have dramatically helped reduce the numbers of causalities. Absolutely," Rahman said.

But junta officials and some weather experts said evacuating a large area with millions of residents would have been nearly impossible, given the poor roads, the distance to some villages and the likely refusal of some families to leave.

"Even if they warned them, they can't go anywhere. Or they are afraid to go anywhere because they are afraid of losing their property," said Lander, the University of Guam professor. "It is debatable how much of a mass exodus you could have had."

Associated Press writer Lily Hindy contributed to this report.

Source:  The Associated Press  
www.iht.com

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10 May 2008

Op-Ed Contributor: Death Comes Ashore

By AMITAV GHOSH

THE word “cyclone” was coined in Calcutta (now called Kolkata) in the 1840s by an eccentric Englishman named Henry Piddington. Inspired by the great British meteorologist William Reid, Piddington became one of the earliest storm-chasers, besotted with a phenomenon that he once likened to a “beautiful meteorite.” His elegant coinage was originally intended as a generic name for all revolving weather events, but is now applied mainly to the storms of the Indian Ocean region like Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma with devastating effect last week.

Piddington was among the earliest to recognize that a cyclone wreaks most of its damage not through wind but through water, by means of the devastating wave that is known as a “storm surge.” In 1853, when the British colonial authorities were planning an elaborate new port on the outer edge of Bengal’s mangrove forests, he issued an unambiguous warning: “Everyone and everything must be prepared to see a day when, in the midst of the horrors of a hurricane, they will find a terrific mass of salt water rolling in ...” His warning was neglected and Port Canning was built, only to be obliterated by a cyclonic surge in 1867.

The phenomenon of the storm surge has been extensively researched since Piddington’s day, yet few public-response systems have drawn the obvious lesson. To this day, the warnings that accompany a storm’s approach typically say nothing about moving to high ground: their prescription is usually to seek shelter indoors. As a result people tend to hunker down in the strongest structure within reach — only to find themselves trapped when the surge comes sweeping through.

But even if they were fully warned, where would those people go? The delta regions of Burma and Bengal are flat and swampy with very few elevations. To move millions quickly is not an easy task even for a technologically advanced country, as Hurricane Katrina showed.

Yet for the rapidly growing countries that surround the Bay of Bengal there is an increasing urgency to find a way to protect themselves. They have experienced some of the world’s most devastating storms. The Hooghly cyclone of 1737, for example, almost erased the infant settlement of Calcutta and was once considered the worst disaster in human history: the surge that accompanied it is reckoned to have reached a height of 40 feet (as opposed to the 12-foot wave generated by Cyclone Nargis).

There are no reliable casualty estimates of that storm, but two other cyclones are known to have killed some 300,000 people each: the Buckerganj cyclone of 1876 and the Bhola cyclone of 1970, both in what is now Bangladesh. As recently as 1991, a storm surge killed more than 100,000 people in Bangladesh.

Nor are the energies of the Bay of Bengal exhausted by its all-too-frequent cyclones — there is also the extremely unstable fault line that produced the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, which took some 230,000 lives. If global warming does bring an increase in cyclonic activity there can be no doubt that the bay’s heavily populated coastline will be among the most vulnerable regions of the world.

Natural phenomena like tsunamis and cyclones have no respect for national boundaries — in fact, they follow trajectories that seem almost to mock the vanities of nation-states. Cyclone Nargis, for example, had it stayed on its original path, would very likely have hit either India or Bangladesh; it was only in the last stretch of her journey that she veered off toward the Irrawaddy Delta.

Nation-states tend to see their interests as being confined within their own borders. But the reality is that the people who live around the Bay of Bengal have a vital interest in common that they do not share with their compatriots in the hinterlands: they are joined by the furies (and let it be said also, the blessings) of that body of water. Clearly they have a common interest in working together to mitigate the effects of natural disasters. For example, by designing inexpensive, elevated shelters that are appropriate to the terrain; by cooperating to preserve the mangrove forests that are the best natural safeguards against surges; and by creating a joint rapid-response force familiar with the local conditions.

This would require these governments first to acknowledge a basic and ever-more evident truth of the human condition, which is that in dealing with nature’s fury, no nation is an island. This is where national pride gets in the way, for this acknowledgment requires a humility that does not come easily; a glaring example was President Bush’s rejection of the offers of foreign aid that poured in after Hurricane Katrina. It was as if the world’s generosity were an affront.

Recent experience has demonstrated in spectacular ways that rich, technologically advanced nations are not invulnerable to extreme weather. What has also been demonstrated, but more quietly, is that a nation need not be wealthy or technologically advanced to be well prepared for natural disasters.

A case in point is Mauritius, a small Indian Ocean island in a zone that meteorologists call a “cyclone factory.” The islanders have evolved a sophisticated system of precautions, combining a network of cyclone shelters with education (including regular drills), a good early warning system and mandatory closings of businesses and schools when a storm threatens. It’s been a remarkable success: Cyclone Gamede of 2007, a monster of a storm that set global meteorological records for rainfall, killed only two people on the island.

I happened to be in Mauritius when Hurricane Katrina struck. I still remember the open-mouthed disbelief with which people there watched the unfolding of the events in Louisiana. Mauritius is a country that has learned, through trial and experience, that early warnings are not enough — preparation also demands public education and political will. In an age when extreme weather events are clearly increasing in frequency, the world would do well to learn from it.

Amitav Ghosh is the author of the forthcoming novel “Sea of Poppies.”

Source:  New York Times 
nytimes.com

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22 May 2008

Mangrove Loss Exacerbated Cyclone Devastation 
 
by Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK (IPS) - When researchers surveyed the battered coastlines of Asian countries after the December 2004 tsunami, they stumbled upon an arresting fact -- that mangroves can save lives.

In Sri Lanka, for instance, one village on the flattened eastern coast revealed a tale that contrasted with the death and destruction all around. Kapuhenwala’s dense mangroves protected its residents and only two deaths occurred there when the South Asian nation accounted for 35,000 of the 220,000 tsunami-related fatalities across 12 Indian Ocean countries.  
 
The value of mangroves now haunts Burma which was hit by Cyclone Nargis in the early hours of May 3, resulting in the deaths of over 100,000 people and affecting 2.5 million others. On that night, the storm, with wind speeds of up to 190 km per hour, churned up a sea wall that rose 3.5 m and swept 40 km inland on the flat terrain of the Irrawaddy Delta.  
 
Burma’s populous delta region stood exposed to the storm surge due to the drastic reduction of its mangrove cover over many decades. During the 75-year period from 1924 to 1999, 82.76 percent of the mangroves in the Irrawaddy Delta was ‘’depleted,’’ states a study by the Forest Resources Environmental Development and Conservation Association, a Burma-based non-governmental organisation (NGO).  
 
According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the mangrove area in the delta is ‘’now less than half the size it was in 1975 or just over 100,000 hectares.’’ The annual mangrove deforestation is ‘’the highest in Burma,’’ at one percent, of seven tsunami-affected countries surveyed, adds a report in a recent issue of the ‘Journal of Biography’.  
 
‘’The destruction of mangroves in the Irrawaddy Delta has definitely been a contributing factor to the devastation suffered by people living in the delta,’’ Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist for the International Conservation Union (IUCN), told IPS. ‘’The mangroves by themselves would not have been sufficient to stop all of the damage, but they certainly would have helped minimise the impacts.’’  
 
Mangroves that are intact ‘’help to slow down the pressure of the waves. But their absence helps the water to move in swiftly, exposing the communities living close to the shore,’’ said Simmathiri Appanah of FAO’s Asia-Pacific regional office. ‘’The impact of the tsunami confirmed this in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Aceh, in Indonesia,’’ he told IPS during an interview.  
 
The reasons behind the delta’s loss of mangroves are rooted in a quest for food over environmental concerns. Burma’s oppressive military regime led the way in the rapid destruction of the mangrove forests to open more land for rice fields and, later, shrimp and fish farms. An impoverished local population, desperate for food, readily obliged.  
 
‘’Shrimp farming was one of a number of factors but not the major cause of mangrove loss,’’ says Jim Enright, Asia coordinator for the Mangrove Action Project (MAP), a Washington D.C.-based environmental lobby. ‘’Rice production was by far the largest single cause, and then cutting mangroves for building material and fuel wood for cooking were major reasons in recent times.’’  
 
‘’Rice cultivation started way back under British colonial rule, but greatly expanded in the mid- to late-1980s by the regional commanders,’’ he added in an interview. ‘’The delta has lost 85 percent of its mangroves primarily due to rice cultivation.’’  
 
The local military commanders targeted the mangroves in other ways, too, to strengthen army’s presence in the delta. ‘’The villagers were ordered to cut the mangroves for firewood to make bricks to build the army camps in the area,’’ says Khaing Dhu Wan, executive director of the Network for Environment and Economic Development (NEED), an NGO formed by environmentalists from Burma. ‘’Every military camp requires about 300,000 bricks each year.’’  
 
Such a demand for wood from the mangroves increased after the 1990s, when more camps of the light infantry division and light infantry brigade were set up in the area, he revealed in an interview. ‘’There are at least 60 camps in the Irrawaddy delta now.’’  
 
Consequently, attempts by NEED to educate the local communities of the high cost they may pay if a cyclone strikes their mangrove-depleted terrain was viewed as a threat by the regime. ‘’The military government does not allow any awareness raising,’’ Khaing added. ‘’We had to be very careful in training local people.’’  
 
Moreover, even in regional or international settings the destruction of the delta’s mangroves rarely captured attention as other environmental issues in Burma did, such as illegal logging in the country’s north-east or the construction of mega hydropower dams.  
 
‘’It was not given much attention outside of Burma because few persons travelled there to see the situation or write about it,’’ says Enright of MAP. ‘’No foreign groups are working there on the ground.’’  
 
‘’Much of the Irrawaddy Delta is a restricted zone and requires permits for foreigners to travel,’’ Enright adds. Even after the tsunami (which also hit Burma) there was very little information available about what had occurred.’’

 

Source:  IPS

ipsnews.net

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24 May 2008

Conservationists: Mangrove rehabilitation should be a priority in cyclone-battered Myanmar

BANGKOK, Thailand: Replanting Myanmar's once-abundant mangrove forests should be a top priority as the country struggles to reconstruct after this month's devastating cyclone, an environmental group has said.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, said Friday that the first priority has to be getting aid to an estimated 2.5 million survivors of the May 2-3 Cyclone Nargis.

But once victims have been tended to, Myanmar's battered mangroves should be next, the Geneva-based group said in a statement.

"By approaching the reconstruction with due consideration for the natural environment, disasters such as this can be mitigated in the future," the statement said. "Restoring mangroves and other coastal ecosystems is an important investment to make for the future."

Mangroves, long-rooted trees found in brackish coastal waters, are widely seen as acting as a buffer against extreme weather. But many of the dense forests that once lined the Myanmar coast have been cleared in recent decades to create rice paddies as well as fish and shrimp farms to feed the region's burgeoning population. Mangrove wood, which makes good charcoal, is also widely used for cooking fuel.

More than half of Myanmar's mangroves disappeared over the last 30 years, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization said in a recent statement.

When Cyclone Nargis struck, there was little natural protective barrier against the storm's 120 mph (190 kph) winds. A wall of water slammed across the low-lying, densely populated Irrawaddy delta region, sweeping away bamboo huts and killing at least 78,000 people.

In its statement, the FAO said an intact beltway of mangrove forests along the delta's coastline "could have mitigated the damage" caused by the cyclone and advocated for mangrove rehabilitation efforts.

The IUCN said it was working with another U.N. organization, the UNDP, to assess the damage on the Irrawaddy coast. Both groups were active in replanting mangroves in other Southeast Asian nations after the 2004 tsunami, which killed some 230,000 people in 12 Indian Ocean countries.

Ecologists have said anecdotal evidence and satellite photography showed mangrove forests protected coastal communities from the tsunami.

Efforts were made to replant Myanmar's mangroves after the tsunami but most met with considerable government resistance.

Source: International Herald Tribune

iht.com

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Indonesian

3 May 2008

KPK grills lawmakers over bribery case

JAKARTA: Lawmaker Tamsil Linrung of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faced questioning by the anti-graft body on Friday.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioned the lawmaker in relation to alleged graft in the conversion of a mangrove forest in Palembang, South Sumatra, into a seaport.

The case also involved lawmaker Al Amin Nasution of the United Development Party (PPP). Al Amin was arrested by the KPK for allegedly accepting a bribe from the Bintan administration with respect to the regency's request to convert a mangrove forest into an office complex.

Both Tamsil and Al Amin are members of the House of Representatives' Commission IV overseeing agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

Another commission member, Imam Syuja of the National Mandate Party (PAN), was also questioned about receiving gratification money, although the KPK has yet to confirm his involvement in the graft case.

Imam told the press he had accepted a sum of money, although he said he forgot how much and when.

The KPK also held another interview with Bintan Secretary Azirwan, who was arrested at the same time as Al Amin.

Source:  Jakarta Post 
thejakartapost.com

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14 May 2008

Japan provided yen 5 billion in humanitarian assistance for Aceh

 

Banda Aceh (ANTARA News) - The Japanese government through its Red Cross organization has so far extended Yen 5 billion worth of humanitarian assistance for tsunami victims in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), a spokesman said. 
 
"There are programs which have been completed and programs that are still on-going. Most of the assistance is for cultivation of mangrove tree seedlings for reforestation purposes," the head of a visiting Japanese Red Cross delegation, Takayuki Masuda, said here on Tuesday. 
 
He said the mangrove seedling cultivation program was now at a stage where the seeds were being sown in a nursery in North Aceh. Later, the seedlings would be planted in coastal areas in East Aceh and Pidie districts. 
 
East Aceh and Pidie districts were selected based on the results of a research showing that the coastal forest areas in the two regions needed a post-tsunami reforestation effort. About 500,000 mangrove seedlings were now already available for planting in those regions.  
 
Masuda further said part of the Yen 5 billion worth of assistance channeled through the Japanese Red Cross was also used to finance the construction of 1,062 housing units for tsunami victims. 
 
The Japanese Red Cross had also built 90 mother-and-child healthcare centers (Posyandus) and hospitals in the province, Masuda said. 
 
"We also contributed to the improvement of the quality of the human resources of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) by sending PMI personnel to Japan for comparative studies. The provision of Japanese aid through the Japanese Red Cross for Aceh tsunami victims will continue until 2010," Masuda said. (*)

Source:  Antara 
antara.co.id

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Malaysia

11 May 2008

No more clearing of mangrove forest

By Julia Chan

KOTA KINABALU: There will be no more clearing of mangrove swamps in Sabah for development. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said: "Mangrove swamps have been cleared for large-scale development projects. No more." 
 
He was launching an environmental education and awareness programme at the Kota Kinabalu Wetlands Centre in conjunction with Earth Day. 
 
He said swamps and wetlands were crucial to a healthy environment and it was the government's policy to protect such areas. 
 
"Mangrove swamps are not only the habitat of numerous organic and animal lives, they also act as a buffer along the coast reducing flooding and storm surges. 
 
"Look at the cyclone in Myanmar. Damage was done by the storm surge because they do not have mangrove swamps as a buffer zone." 
 
Masidi hoped people would realise the importance of conserving our wetlands even in the absence of the law. 
 
The Kota Kinabalu Wetlands Centre is a 24-hectare site and the only remaining patch of mangrove forest left in the city. 
 
It was designated a bird sanctuary in 1996 and as a state cultural heritage site in 1998. It is a non-profit project managed by the Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society. 
 
The ministry announced yesterday an allocation of RM60,000 to the wetlands centre to upgrade its signage and boardwalk.

Source:  The New Straits Times 
nst.com.my

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Thailand

15 May 2008

Mangrove Rehabilitation Project & Honestay at Phra Thong Island, S. Thailand

Volunteers Needed:  10 days working in the mangrove forest learning about its ecology and restoration, 20 – 30 July 2008

Naucrates is searching for volunteers that will help during 10 days of mangrove rehabilitation activities in July 2008. It is a great opportunity to learn about mangrove forest ecology and restoration and to experience life in a Thai fishing village where you will stay. In addition, a Thai – teacher (Naucrates staff) will conduct conservation lessons in the local school and you will have the opportunity to join them.

Volunteer Activities

One of the main activities consists of planting new seedlings and seeds in the area damaged by the tsunami and in the nearby a village. You will walk long distances to collect seeds and seedling of native plants. You will learn how to identify the main species. A green house mangrove nursery (made of wood and green net) will be built where seeds and seedlings can grow in to plants before being placed in the field. The old green houses will be repaired.

An area, suitable for guided visits, will be selected near Lion Village. An educational path will be developed with signs, informative panels, and a wooden path. Training materials and informative leaflets will be produced. 

You will assist a Naucrates teacher during the lessons about conservation in the local school.

Target Area:

Tidal creek (about ~1.5 km long), badly affected by the tsunami,  on the West coast of Phra Thong Island and mangrove forest near Lion Village on the North coast of Phra Thong Island.

Requirements

No experience is needed, however you must be willing to work hard as the campaign requires walks into the mangroves in warm and humid conditions.

Volunteers are expected to be physically fit and to be able to work in a team in a remote place, during the rainy season. You also need to be friendly and communicative, be able to work in a group and live in a small Thai community.

You will be on a remote tropical island, and need to be prepared to live without night life, shops, television, etc. You will have a lot of free time during the day to walk and explore the beauty of the island or to read a book. Any health issues must be communicated to Naucrates before booking.

Accommodation

You will live with a Thai family (home-stay) in different homes but houses are very close to each other. You may have to share a room with another volunteer depending on availability.

Volunteer contribution  
The contribution required to take part in the project is 400 Euro for 10 days. This will include food, accommodation, boat to and from the island on the arrival/departure date, training, informative material, one year membership to Naucrates. You must have your own insurance and support your travel expenses.

Special rates are available for Thai Volunteers. Please contact Monica Aureggi for more details about it, naucrates12@tiscali.it

How to Book

Before booking, contact Naucrates (naucrates12@hotmail.com; naucrates12@tiscali.it) to find out if there is availability. Then, download the booking form at www.naucrates.org or write to Naucrates directly.

Submitted by:  Monica Aureggi 
naucrates12@hotmail.com

====================================

Vietnam

3 May 2008

Salt makers rake in the dough on rising prices

HA NOI — Sharp increases in the price of salt has compelled salt workers in the Mekong (Cuu Long) Delta region to fill up their aquaculture areas to produce salt again.

Several years ago, the price of salt was low, even falling to VND100,000 (US$6.25) per tonne. Salt makers could hardly make ends meet even while working very hard.

Unable to earn a living from making salt, a lot of farmers in the Mekong Delta shifted to aquaculture. However, earlier this year, the price of salt increased considerably, rising to VND1 to 1.2 million ($62.50 - $75) per tonne.

The increase was due to bad weather-early and long-lasting rainy periods - which caused low yields for salt makers.

Farmers in these areas, who gain little from aquaculture, are shifting back to salt again, hoping to earn more money.

According to estimates by departments of agriculture and rural development nationwide, salt makers in Ben Tre Province’s biggest salt producing area widened their production area to 860ha, and Soc Trang Province’s Vinh Chau District now has 1,400ha for salt production. Meanwhile, farmers in Tra Vinh Province have filled up 100ha of shrimp-raising area to make salt.

Many farmers in Ninh Thuan Province even borrowed money to invest in making salt. Trinh De Thoai, a resident of Khanh Chu Village in Khanh Hai Commune of Ninh Hai District, borrowed money at a very high interest rate. According to him, the cost of salt production is about VND180,000 ($11.25) per tonne, while the price of salt is currently VND1 million per tonne. Salt makers can profit greatly from making salt this year, earning VND25 to 30 million (up to $1,825) per ha.

According to Chau Thanh Long, deputy director of Ninh Thuan Province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ninh Hai District has 800ha of shrimp-raising area. But earlier this year farmers filled up all these area to make salt.

"Though the increase in salt prices can help farmers make better earnings, giving over all cultivation area to salt making will destroy the province’s long-term plan for aquaculture," said Long.

This has become an issue that is hard to control among farmers: whenever a product’s price is high, farmers will immediately widen production area, ignoring the warnings of local authorities and planners.

A good trend or not?

"We cannot ban farmers from making salt. We have warned them not to destroy aquaculture raising areas to make salt, since the price of salt has always been fluctuating and irregular. But farmers all see the short-term profit," said Nguyen Minh Dang, vice chairman of the Long Dien Tay Commune’s People’s Committee in Bac Lieu Province.

Le Hung Hien, head of the Economic Department of Ninh Thuoc District in Ninh Thuan Province, shared the same concerns, saying that if the price of salt comes down again in the coming years, farmers’ lives in these areas would become even harder.

Stable development

With long-term perspective, the application of modern production methods in making salt needs to be carried out so that farmers can carry on with this traditional job.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan, the sector will put priority investment into trial projects for salt production that apply new technologies in order to gradually modernise the salt-making process.

The goal is to improve the productivity of salt making from 50 - 60 tonnes per hectare to 75 - 80 tonnes per hectare, instead of massive widening in production area.

Ben Tre Province has been successful in applying a new production model by covering the surface of the salt making area with plastic canvas. This can help shorten production time as well as increase productivity and salt quality. However, this method is costly, at around VND4.2 million ($260) per ha.

Thus, local authorities are therefore urged to support salt makers in providing preferential borrowing interest or other policies that encourage the adoption of more advanced production methods.

Source:  Vietnam News 
vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

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16 May 2008

Shrimp farms suffer from poor plans

Poor management and low funds are hampering aquaculture projects.

HA NOI — Lack of funding and poor management is being blamed for the failure of shrimp farms in Hai Phong City and Thai Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces.

Four out of six aquaculture projects in Hai Phong, occupying a total area of 2,000ha and carrying an investment of VND400 billion (US$25 million), this year either failed or are on the brink of closing.

A Hai Phong official said the projects were large employers in the city and that their failure was a major blow to the local economy.

The 80ha industrial shrimp farm run by Hai Phong Seafood Export Company is desperately seeking funds after the city’s People’s Committee decided not to back the project, citing the firm’s inefficiency and poor management.

Total investment earmarked for the project was VND46 billion (more than US$2.8 million), but so far just VND7 billion ($437) has been raised. While the company is looking for further investment, it has suspended its shrimp farming operations, and instead raises freshwater fish.

The failure of Viet My Technology Company’s project to build an aquaculture farm was also attributed to poor management.

Company director Dinh Van Hong said the VND76 billion ($4.75 million) project was meant to occupy an area of 988ha. However, Viet My has spent VND100 billion ($6.2 million) building a 330ha area that includes a 100ha industrial shrimp farm and a 200ha fish farm.

In the northern province of Thai Binh, a VND33.5 billion (US$2 million) project to build a frozen seafood processing plant on a 30,000sq.m site, approved by the provincial People’s Committee in July 2001, has yet to be completed.

The project, which was financed by Thai Thuy District’s People Committee and Thai Binh Seafood Company and meant to process around 3,000 tonnes of seafood a year, was scheduled to open in 2004.

So far, just the first phase of construction has been completed. The Thai Binh Seafood Company has refused to continue with the second phase, arguing that it would have to come up with a further VND20 billion ($1.25 million) to buy a high-tech production line.

The project has since been sold to the Taiwanese firm Rich Beauty Viet Nam for just VND2.4 billion ($150,000).

Meanwhile, in the central province of Thanh Hoa, six industrial shrimp farm projects worth VND89 billion ($5.56 million) and occupying a total area of 450ha, which started in 2001, are on the brink of failing due to a severe shortage of funds.

Nguyen Chu Hoi, director of the Viet Nam Institute of Fisheries Economics and Planning, under the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, blamed a lack of supervision for the failure of a number of seafood projects.

Deputy director of Thanh Hoa Province’s Fisheries Department Dang Van Thong said aquaculture projects made good economic sense, but many had been implemented too hastily, without adequate planning.

He said there was no generally accepted blueprint for an aquaculture farm.

"We do not even know what the model should be," said Thong.

We now realise that conditions are not ideal for the setting up of industrial shrimp farms in the province." Hoi said the failure of the frozen seafood processing factory in Thai Binh was due to a lack of sufficient planning.

He said firms should realise that money needs to be invested in high technology when building aquaculture farms.

Source:  Vietnam News 
/vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

via:  The FishSite 
thefishsite.com

=================================

The Philippines

7 May 2008

DENR to sue Napocor for cutting mangrove trees in Palawan

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is currently preparing to file charges against state-run National Power Corporation (Napocor) for the indiscriminate cutting of mangrove trees along a stretch of land in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan. 
 
This was disclosed Wednesday by Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, who said local DENR officials in Puerto Princesa are now gathering documents to strengthen their case against Napocor. 
 
“Mangrove trees should be continuously grown particularly now that we face the ill-effects of global warming. The recent tragedy in Myanmar where tens of thousands of people were killed by a super typhoon gives us more reason to take care of this resource. If we have enough mangrove trees that will protect us from the fury of super typhoons, we will avoid a similar fate. That is why it is important that big establishments, including Napocor, be made to understand the consequence if mangrove trees are cut indiscriminately,” Atienza said. 
 
According to reports received by Atienza’s office, a total of 196 bakawan trees with a diameter of 10 to 38 cm. were cut down by Napocor within its transmission right-of-way in Lucbuan village in Puerto Princesa. 
 
The cutting down of said trees is a violation of Napocor’s special land use permit, Atienza said.

 
Napocor has a special land use permit for a right-of-way (transmission line steel tower) with a tree-cutting permit No. 01-2008 signed by Atienza. It is set to expire on June 2011. 
 
The permit area is located within the forestland of Irawan to Langogan villages in Puerto Princesa City to Tinitian village in Roxas. It covers a stretch of 62.69 kilometers. 
 
The permit, however, does not allow the cutting of mangrove trees underneath the transmission line right-of-way but only of periodic mangrove tree pruning. 
 
“While we recognize the need for power generation to boost development, we are more than disheartened and cannot tolerate the violation made by Napocor in the permit granted to them by the department,” Atienza said. 
 
It was the community environment and natural resources office (CENRO) composite team, under the Kilos Agad Center in Sta Monica village, that spotted the clear cutting of bakawan with an approximate area of 1.20 hectares within the affected transmission line right of way.  
 
The 196 cut bakawan trees were further cut into smaller sizes resulting to a total of 1,102 pieces of assorted dimensions to facilitate its hauling to the designated Napocor temporary depository area at Lucbuan village. 
 
The CENRO composite team apprehended the 1,102 pieces of bakawan timber including a unit of power chainsaw registered under the PCSD with serial number 124790573 used in cutting the trees. 
 
The CENRO has instantly stopped/suspended the cutting operation of Napocor in the Lucbuan mangrove area section. It also required the forest officer assigned to explain in writing his failure to supervise the illegal cutting operation.

Source:  GMANews.TV  
gmanews.tv

==============================

Source:  Philippine Daily Inquirer inquirer.net

==============================

BFAR planting up to 6M mangrove saplings

11 May 2008 
 
MANILA, Philippines--The Bureau Of Fisheries And Aquatic Resources is set to plant at least six million mangrove saplings in a bid to rehabilitate 17 key coastal and watershed areas nationwide.

Through the national and regional Mangingisdang Direktor program, BFAR will start implementing on May 26 the mangrove and watershed rehabilitation project.

The Mangingisdang Direktor program was initiated four years ago. It aims to provide fisherfolk leaders a glimpse of the government’s regular operations by trading places with BFAR officials.

Under this program, fisherfolk leaders will perform all routinary functions of BFAR directors except those involving financial and policy related matters.

According to national Mangingisdang Direktor Milagros Chavez, her group would be undertaking this nationwide tree planting program in response to the threats posed by global warming.

"These threats would seriously affect the country, especially the coastal communities," Chavez said.

"In Taal Lake for instance, May is supposed to be the season for tawilis, a herring-like marine species. However, many fishermen had been complaining of minimal catch," Chavez added.

To address these concerns, Chavez said they will plant trees in coastal and watershed areas since these could help protect the shoreline from destructive effects of natural calamities and of soil erosion due to prolonged rainfall.

She added that watershed areas would be planted with saplings appropriate to an area's soil conditions and temperature.

Chavez, along with 16 other program regional directors, will man the BFAR offices for the whole month in celebration of the Farmers and Fisherfolks month.

Source:  Philippine Daily Inquirer business.inquirer.net

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S. ASIA

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Bangladesh

10 May 2008

ndependent-bangladesh.com

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12 May 2008

New video on shrimp farming in Bangladesh "Voices from Paikgacha"

Gazi Mahtab Hassan and Katrin Aidnell, at the Swedish Swallows, have made a short installation movie about the people who live around the shrimp farms in Khulna, Bangladesh. The movie is made to run in the background of an upcoming photo exhibition about the shrimp industry in Bangladesh. The photos will be exhibit in Sweden and Dhaka and hopefully in some other cities/countries around the world. 
 
The movie can be screened at You Tube, see link below. If you can't access the link, go to www.youtube.com and search for "Voices from Paikgacha." 
 
Youtube Watch Video 
 
The movie is also available in high resolution DVD and AVI format. I will bring some copies to the meeting in Bergen. 
 
Submitted by: Katrin Aidnell 
Environmental Officer 
The Swedish Swallows 
Post Box 5020 
New Market P.O. 
Dhaka 1205 
Bangladesh 
Phone: +880 (0)2 86 137 17 
Mobile: +880 (0)171 30 15 641 
www.svalorna.org

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23 May 2008

PRESS RELEASE: Parties to the CBD must promote sustainable use to achieve biological diversity 
 
Bonn, Germany. The findings of two new reports launched today at the Convention on Biological Diversity emphatically demonstrate that global biodiversity will continue to be lost if Protected Areas fail to recognise and respect the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. The research, conducted in the largest mangrove forest in the world, conversely shows that customary use is fully compatible with conservation and sustainability. 
 
The research finds that the policy of government-controlled protection in The Sundarbans, Bangladesh has led to both increased vulnerability of forest biodiversity and greater poverty of its indigenous peoples and local communities. The damning report Deserting the Sundarbans (1) demonstrates the impact of neglecting to involve indigenous and local communities in governance and of shutting them out of the richly biologically diverse areas that they have used for hundreds of years, and upon which their livelihoods depend. 
 
Deserting the Sundarbans makes clear that the ADB-GEF-Netherlands funded Sundarbans Biodiversity Conservation Project abjectly failed in its aim to conserve biological diversity or reduce poverty, despite costing US$77.3m. The project was abandoned after just four years by the ADB. Reasons include a failure to:  
•   understand the profound interdependence of forest, its wildlife and its human inhabitants, the traditional resource users (2) 
•   accomplish transparency or local community involvement at any level in direct contravention of its funders' policies 
•    take into account traditional knowledge and its key role in the conservation of this vast forest 
 
Resuscitating the Sundarbans (3) demonstrates that the cultural practices, value systems and customary uses of the indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) directly contribute to sustainable use and conservation. When implementing the expanded Programme of Work on Protected Areas the Parties should prioritise: 
•     community governance: indigenous peoples and local communities are the guardians of our biological diversity 
•    Legal reform: policies and laws that promote and support customary use of natural resources and related cultural practices of IPLCs 
•      Guaranteed land rights: indigenous territories provide the material and spiritual foundation for traditional knowledge and customary tenure over and use of biological resources 
• Right of free, prior and informed consent: for all development and conservation initiatives, including actions taken to implement CBD 
 
Jakir Hossein, Head of Programmes, Unnayan Onneshan said: `In the forest of The Sundarbans the approach of exclusive state protection did not achieve either biodiversity conservation or the security of livelihoods. Our research clearly shows that it is community governance that will achieve this. The forest peoples know best how to protect forests and its resources and their traditional cultural practices of resource harvesting are well tuned to conservation and sustainable utilisation.' 
 
Maurizio Ferrari, Environmental Governance Coordinator, Forest Peoples Programme said: `Under international treaties like the Convention on Biological Diversity, Governments have obligations to conserve biological diversity and to protect indigenous peoples' rights. If rights are protected first, conservation will follow. The Parties to the CBD must give priority to the implementation of Programme Element 2 of the Programme of Work on Protected Areas, related to Governance, Participation, Equity and Benefit Sharing and on the implementation of Articles 8(j) and 10(c).'(4) 
 
Ends 
 
Notes: 
Both reports will be discussed in detail at a Side-Event at COP9 on Friday 23 May 2008. The event will focus on what progress has been achieved so far in the implementation of the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas. There will be speakers from Bangladesh, Suriname, Cameroon and Thailand. 
Time: 6.15pm 
Venue: Room 1.130 Environment (BMU) 
 
Please contact info@unnayan.org for copies of the reports or download them at unnayan.org unnayan.org 
 
Further notes: 
(1)       `Deserting the Sundarbans: Local Peoples' Perspective on ADB-GEF-Netherlands Funded Sundarbans Biodiversity Conservation Project' (Jakir Hossain, Kushal Roy) 
(2) The local communities of resource users include bawalis (woodcutters), mouals (honey collectors), golpata (leaf) collectors, jele (fishers), chunery (snail and oyster collectors) 
(3)     `Resuscitating the Sundarbans: Customary Use of Biodiversity & Traditional Cultural Practices in Bangladesh (Dewan Muhammed Humayun Kabir, Jakir Hossain) April 2008 
(4)   Article 8(j) of the CBD encourages states to, `…respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities…' Article 10(c) of the CBD encourages states `…to protect and encourage customary use of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation or sustainable use requirements…' 
(5)    Unnayan Onneshan is a centre for research and action on development based in Bangladesh. 
(6)      Forest Peoples Programme is a UK based NGO that supports forest peoples globally to secure their rights, build up their own organisations and negotiate with governments and companies as to how economic development and conservation is best achieved on their lands. www.forestpeoples.org  
 
For further information please contact: 
Jakir Hossain, Head of Programmes, Unnayan Onneshan 
Telephone: 00 49 (0)15771654462 Email: jhossain@unnayan.org 
Maurizio Ferrari, Environmental Governance Coordinator, Forest 
Peoples Programme 
Telephone: 00 44 (0)7733478307 Email: Maurizio@forestpeoples.org 
Amarantha Pike, Communications Officer, Forest Peoples Programme 
Tel: 00 44 (0)7791691485 Email: amarantha@forestpeoples.org

==============================

India

8 May 2008

Deforestation making Mumbai cyclone-prone

by Tejas Mehta

 

Cyclone Nargis, one of the worst tropical storms to have hit Myanmar with more than one lakh people feared dead. The threat is not far away from India and can be real for our cities. 
 
The head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations partly blamed the destruction of mangrove forests in Myanmar that served as a buffer from the sea. Now in India, environmentalists say, Mumbai faces a similar danger as the city has lost considerable mangrove cover. 
 
''If a cyclone that hit Myanmar, hits Mumbai, the city faces far more danger because we have cut a lot of mangroves,'' said Dr Goldin Quadros, education officer, World Wild Life Fund. 
 
In fact, experts say that over the last 30 years, Mumbai has lost of over 50 per cent of this unique eco-system. In 1975, the city had a cover of 50 sq kms of mangroves. Today, merely half of them are left.  
 
Environmentalists allege that the politican-builder lobby systematically destroyed the mangroves. 
 
''They don't allow the water to enter and gradually they begin dumping rubble around the mangrove, killing it and then they declare the land arid,'' said Dr Quadros. 
 
But though urban planners agree a balance needs to be struck, they say the paucity of land in Mumbai is putting greater pressure on the environment.  
 
''A lot of exaggeration is being done and developers are therefore being considered anti-development. But if you want Mumbai to be the financial capital of South East Asia, you cannot stop development,'' said Rajiv Mishra, urban planner, IAG Consultants. 
 
''When it comes to a land parcel for development, the model that Mumbai has adopted is that of land sharing. You've got to give up something to get something. There is no clear thumb rule which says you've to destroy so much of environment to get so much of development,'' he added.

 

Source:  NDTV.com

ndtv.com

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14 May 2008

Govt plan may alter coastline

By Chetan Chauhan

A new draft government notification on coastal management allows development of greenfield airports in ecologically sensitive areas like mangroves, coral reefs and turtle nesting grounds, subject to environmental clearance. 

The environment ministry draft notification on Coastal Zone Management (CZM) to be finalised in the next six months has environmentalists up in arms. “This notification makes construction of a new greenfield airports like the one proposed at Navi Mumbai possible,” said Debi Goenka of the Conservation Action Trust, a Mumbai-based NGO.

What has surprised environmentalists is the way the environment ministry inserted allowing greenfield airports in the draft notification. In the notification issued on May 1, there was no mention of allowing greenfield airports. But, an amendment notification was issued on May 9 to include them in the development activities to be allowed on India’s coastline.

“The government wants to help private developers at the cost of environment,” Goenka alleged.

In the much-diluted version of existing CMZ notification of 1991, the new draft notification intends to open India's entire coastline to economic activity. With this, the environment ministry seems to have accepted recommendations of a Planning Commission report on service sector that wanted relaxation in the environment norms to protect falling earnings of the Indian shipping industry. 

The draft CMZ guidelines are constituted to strengthen India's 7,600-km coastline after the 2004 Tsunami and check CMZ violations. 

Environmentalists say the draft notification, if implemented, would regularise all violations of the 1991 notification. It can happen with the draft guidelines recommending status quo for existing structures close to the coast. Moreover, the draft suggests having separate setback lines for different coastal regions depending on geomorphology, horizontal shoreline shift and elevation level of the sea. Till now, India has had a uniform setback line, where limited commercial activity is allowed, of 500 metres for ecologically sensitive areas and 200 metres for other coastal areas.

The ministry has termed the uniform vulnerability line outdated. Ministry officials, however, admitted such a line could be a major headache. Environmentalists say monitoring differential setbacks would be a tough task for the environment ministry. 

Source: Hindustan Times 
hindustantimes.com

via www.icsf.net 
 
==============================

Pakistan

10 May 2008

VIEW: Cyclone Nargis

by Saleem H Ali

The probability of a super-cyclone hitting Karachi in the next decade is growing and we all need to be better prepared lest we suffer the fate of Burma. Lessons learned from the earthquake relief effort are applicable here as well but the scale of devastation in a cyclone can often be far worse than an earthquake 
 
After years of languishing under despotism, the people of Burma (or Myanmar as the military junta prefers to call the country) were hit with more misfortune. Defying its floral name, “Cyclone Nargis” thrashed the beleaguered country with winds in excess of 250 kilometres per hour last week and has left more than 23,000 people dead and an additional 50,000 or more missing.  
 
The full loss of life may exceed the deadly Kashmir earthquake of 2005 which is estimated to have caused 76,000 deaths. A confluence of problems beset the country and made it vulnerable to this kind of cataclysmic natural disaster. 
 
Burma’s rulers have consolidated their power through marginalising much of the population, particularly in rural areas, relegating villagers to lives of abject poverty. The Irrawady Delta and surrounding areas once had rich mangrove forests that acted as a natural buffer.  
 
They have been wantonly deforested for firewood or for commercial shrimp farming. Storm surges that are often the most catastrophic aspect of cyclones and similar in scope to a tsunami are slowed in force and ferocity by mangroves.  
 
Even Burma’s own minister for relief and resettlement, Maung Maung Swe, has blamed more deaths on the cyclone’s storm surge rather than the winds themselves. Hence the impact of environmental devastation on crisis management cannot be underestimated. 
 
Pakistanis should remember the autumn of 1970 when an enormous cyclone hit present-day Bangladesh and the same level of deforestation in the Sunderban mangroves at the time led to a mind-boggling half-a-million deaths.  
 
A year later, Bangladesh became an independent country and to their credit have since then learned the lessons of this devastation. The Sunderbans have been allowed to re-grow with conservation efforts. And despite a rise in population, the severity of casualties in such cyclones has been greatly reduced in the Ganges delta region because the Sunderbans have gone through a major conservation campaign since 1970. The area has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and the Bangladeshi and Indian governments have committed to their conservation through the establishment of protected areas. While there are some continuing concerns about illegal harvesting activities, the situation is certainly far improved in many ways with regard to conservation measures. 
 
Pakistan has so far been spared many serious cyclones that scour the Indian Ocean but with impending climate change, it is quite plausible that more storms will occur in the Western arm of the ocean that we call the Arabian Sea.  
 
In 2007, the citizens of Oman were shocked to be hit by a cyclone in June of 2007 which caused considerable damage to the petrochemical infrastructure of the country. Cyclone Gonu spared Karachi but a cursory look at the map will show that this was a close call for our coastal city and environs that house more than 20 million residents.  
 
Pakistan’s mangroves in the Indus delta deserve care for conservation as well. Estimates from the government show that mangroves cover approximately 129,000 ha in the Indus Delta and about 3,000 ha on the Balochistan Coast in the Miani Hor, Kalmat Khor, and Gawatar Bay areas. The Worldwide Fund for Nature and numerous other conservation organisations are trying their best to conserve these areas but the new government should be prepared for crisis management of a cyclonic scale in years to come. 
 
The probability of a super-cyclone hitting Karachi in the next decade is growing and we all need to be better prepared lest we suffer the fate of Burma. Lessons learned from the earthquake relief effort are applicable here as well but the scale of devastation in a cyclone can often be far worse than an earthquake in urban areas such as Karachi because the impact area can span more than five hundred miles whereas earthquakes are highly localised.  
 
The good news is that we usually have some warnings about the onset of such storms of at least a few days through satellite imaging. However, a lack of preparedness in the face of Hurricane Katrina in the United States showed that even a developed country without appropriate planning can face enormous challenges. (Cyclonic storms in the Atlantic are called hurricanes and in the South Pacific are called Typhoons but they are all essentially the same kind of storms.)  
 
Almost three years after the storm hit New Orleans, much of the city is still in ruins. Burma will take years to recover from the storm as well and deserves the help of the international community.  
 
This may also be a time for alerting the world to the grave inequalities in the country, just as Katrina was a wake-up call for the world to see the plight of impoverished African-Americans in Louisiana. Regardless of one’s political persuasion, cyclones are times of reflection about how helpless we humans are in the face of nature’s fury despite all our technologies. They also act as an awesome and awful reminder that environmental concerns are not just a luxury issue but rather permeate every aspect of human security. 
 
Dr Saleem H Ali is associate dean for graduate education at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and on the adjunct faculty of Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. Email: saleem@alum.mit.edu

Source:  Daily Times (Pakistan) 
dailytimes.com.pk

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E. ASIA

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China

Editor’s Note: Additional data tables can be found from the original source, link below.

20 May 2008

The USA: A Significant Market for the Chinese Seafood Industry

The USA is a significant market for the Chinese seafood industry accounting for around 15-20% of all seafood exports from China annually.

Due to its significance, any changes in export trends impact on the industry within China as around 800 processing plants and companies have been registered by the Chinese authorities to export to the US market. This paper reviews the first quarter of 2007 and 2008 to see to what extent the US action to automatically detain 5 species (farmed catfish (basa, pangasius), shrimp, dace, and eel) exported from China effective since June last year has affected Chinese exports to the US market.

Chinese exports to USA decreased in the first quarter of 2008

Figures from Chinese customs (table 1 below) indicate that in the first quarter of 2008, Chinese seafood exports to the US market decreased by 12% in value and by 17% in volume compared with the same period in 2007. This is the first time that Chinese seafood exports to the US market are showing a negative growth trend. The continuing impact of US restrictions concerning Chinese seafood products is said to be the main reason behind this export decline.

Analysis on a monthly basis indicates that for the three months from January to March, exports in both value and volume showed a decline in 2008 compared to 2007. In particular, exports for February i2008 witnessed a sharp reduction from 43 130 tonnes and US$148 million in 2007 down to 29 759 tonnes and US$110 million in 2008. This substantial reduction is partly due to the bad winter weather disaster experienced by China in February. It was reported that the bad weather has caused a loss of 870 000 tonnes of fish and fishery products in the south of China with tilapia, catfish and many other farmed species as the most affected categories.

However, analysis by species exported by China indicates that most species showed a continuing decline although the decline in exports of tilapia was modest at least in value terms at US$64 million (24 410 tonnes) in 2008 compared with US$65 million (27 574 tonnes) in 2007. The figures also suggest that the Chinese tilapia industry moves more and more to high value exports with average unit export values increasing. Provinces such as Hainan and Guangxi which are also major tilapia production areas in China and were not affected by the bad winter weather, still show a strong growth in tilapia exports. Shrimp, catfish and other aquacultured products experienced a substantial decrease and marine fish fillets (excluding tilapia fillets) which is the major export category also witnessed a decline.

Strong growth in imports of seafood from the USA

In contrast, imports from the US maintained a strong growth for the first quarter of 2008 reaching 55 888 tonnes and US$95 million, up by 21% in volume and by 25% in value compared with the same period in 2007. Frozen squid, frozen fish and fishmeal are the major product categories imported. Except for fishmeal which is imported for local aquaculture, the other products are mainly used for re-exports after processing in China.

Future development

Problems found in Chinese products such as seafood, pet food and toys, in the US market last year cast shadows over Chinese manufactured products which have had a significant negative impact on Chinese exports. These problems along with sometimes exaggerated media reports contributed to worldwide concerns over Chinese made products. As a result, the Chinese seafood industry is now experiencing its most difficult time in recent decades. Appreciation of the RMB against the US dollar, economic setbacks in the USA and the skyrocketing of fish production input prices have further intensified the situation.  
 
China is now undergoing a trade policy change which will shift priorities from exports and towards domestic consumption. Particularly with regard to sluggish consumption in rural areas, which cover 57% of the Chinese population, the Chinese government is now stimulating consumption through increasing investment, exemption of education fees for rural pupils, subsidizing medical care and life insurance etc. The writer believes that once this market has been activated, China may not need to export its seafood but rather to import seafood to meet this market demand. This, however, is a process which may need at least 10 or 20 years. It is worth pointing out that figures from Chinese customs indicate that China already imports more seafood than it exports, although about a third of imports is used for re-exports after processing.

Source:  TheFishSite News Desk 
thefishsite.com

==================================

21 May 2008

China's mangrove campaigner wins conservation award in Britain

LONDON (Xinhua) -- China's mangrove campaigner Liu Yi won the Whitley Award on Wednesday night for grassroots nature conservation.

The 26-year-old student, who is in his last year for his master's degree at Xiamen University in south China's Fujian Province, received the award on Wednesday night from HRH The Princess Royal (Princess Anne) at the Royal Geographical Society in London for his efforts in restoring and expanding the mangrove forests that protect coastal communities from sea surges and benefit biodiversity in the eastern coast of China.

Liu became the youngest ever recipient of a Whitley Award presented by the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) -- a charity in Britain which administers the international awards program and celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.

Edward Whitley, founder of the fund, said: "The aim of the Whitley Awards is to find and support the environmental leaders who are helping to build a future where nature and people co-exist in a way that benefits both. The example given by people like Liu Yi is an inspiration for us all."

As part of his prize, he receives a Whitley Award project grant of 30,000 pounds (some 60,000 U.S. dollars) donated by HSBC Private Bank, plus long-term support and the opportunity to seek further WFN f