It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
 
—Mahatma Gandhi

FEATURED STORY

Rampal power plant: A project of deception and mass destruction

BANGLADESH – Thousands of people, young and old, women and men, recently embarked on a 400 km 5 days long march from Dhaka, the capital city, to Digraj a place in Rampal, the extended Sundarbans area, in South west Bangladesh. The march took place on the 24^th of September, 2013. Organised by the ‘National Committee to Protect Oil Gas Mineral Resources Port and Power’, the main demand for this long march is to cancel ‘Rampal coal fired power plant’ and stop all activities that would destroy the Sundarban. Officials of the march say if implemented, the power plant would destroy the largest mangrove forest in the world. Sign The Petition to Stop This Project SIGN HERE Why are people around the country so sensitive, and why they are coming forward to resist this? The name Sundarbans সুন্দরবন is a combination of two Bangla words, Sundar and Bans. Sundar means beautiful and Bans means forests. So, in English, Sundarbans means the beautiful forests. Yes, it is. Not only beautiful in all senses, it is extraordinarily rich in biodiversity, single largest mangrove forest in the world. UNESCO declared it as world heritage site. This has also been a huge natural safeguard against frequent cyclone, storm and other natural disasters in the country. Sidr, Aila, Mohasen were recent ones. Our living memory shows that in every natural disaster, the Sundarban saves lives of hundreds of thousands human beings, their properties, and other non-human lives READ MORE
 
AFRICA
 
Mangroves bring wildlife back to Senegal coast
SENEGAL – Crabs scuttle among mangrove roots in a dense riverbank forest in southern Senegal, where a major reforestation project is reviving wildlife and boosting the west African country's lukewarm economy. "Everything you see here has been replanted. Before 2006, there wasn't a single tree," said Senegalese environmental activist and government minister Haidar El Ali in Tobor, a village near Ziguinchor, the main city of the Casamance region. He gestured toward mangroves tied to stilts bordering the Casamance river, planted by his Oceanium environmental organisation to boost an area that experts said was severely depleted by deforestation, drought and increased salt levels in the water. Alongside the road leading to the neighbouring Marsassoum valley, and around the paddy fields used in the centuries-old activity of rice cultivation, various mangrove species are abundant. READ MORE

Mangrove ecosystem course for the Western Indian Ocean region
KENYA – Registration is now open. We invite applications for a new training course on Mangrove Ecosystems for the countries of the the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) Region. In an effort to expand the geographical reach of the successful UNU-INWEH supported training course on mangrove ecosystems held in India every year since 2004, the course is now being piloted in Kenya this fall to ~20 participants from the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) Region. Together with partners from Kenya, UNU-INWEH has succeeded in securing a grant from the Western Indian Ocean Marine Sciences Association (WIOMSA) through its Marine Science for Management (MASMA) programme to conduct this 11 day regional training course at the University of Nairobi field research facility in Diani, Kenya (2-12 December 2013). Please go to the website to apply.
 
Wetlands International Embarks On Mangrove Replanting in Kiang West
GAMBIA – Wetlands International Africa recently planted mangroves in Sandeng and Bondali Tenda in Kiang West, Lower River Region. The initiative was meant to restore ecosystems, fight against encroachment of the river and increase livelihoods of populations. The two-day intensive mangrove planting exercise, held at the river boundary sides of the villages, was actively participated in by youth in the villages. The Canary Current Land Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) project was funded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and implemented by Wetlands International Africa and International Union for Conservation of Nature. Speaking at the exercise, Pape Diomaye Thiare, Wetlands International Africa's communication officer and media coordinator, thanked the communities of both villages for their active participation in the exercise. READ MORE
 
Governing Africa's Mangroves – a Sustainable Future
SOUTH AFRICA – Despite their widely recognised socioeconomic and ecological value, mangroves are among the world's most threatened vegetation types. More than a fifth of the world's mangroves have been lost over the past 30 years alone, and many surviving forests are degraded. Safeguarding them will require urgent interventions aimed at ensuring that their vital ecosystem services and non-market benefits are adequately incorporated in policy and development choices. Given Africa's extractive boom, countries need to fully understand the consequences of natural resource exploitation for their fragile ecosystems, in order to minimise negative impacts and avoid poor trade-offs. Policy-makers and planners must realise that mangroves need to be restored, protected, and managed. This will require more effective management tools and interventions, as well as mechanisms for minimising the tensions between extractive development and the conservation of mangrove forests. VIEW SOURCE
 
Bodo Community Rejects Shell's N7.5 Billion Compensation Offer
NIGERIA – About 11,000 fishermen and others from Bodo community, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers, who lost incomes when a pipeline belonging to shell burst in 2008 have rejected a £30 million (about N7.5 billion) or around £1,100 compensation offer for each person affected by the oil spill. Martyn Day, a partner with the UK law firm Leigh Day who represented the Bodo people during the negotiation, told British newspaper, The Guardian that Shell's offer was rejected unanimously at a large public meeting in Bodo. "The amount offered for most claimants equated to two to three years' net lost earnings whereas the Bodo creek has already been out of action for five years and it may well be another 20-25 before it is up and running properly again. I was not at all surprised to see the community walked out of the talks once they heard what Shell were offering." READ MORE
 
ASIA
 
Malaysia aquaculture sector struggles for land

MALAYSIA – Expansion of Malaysian aquaculture continues to be crimped by demand for land for palm oil and rubber production, according to a senior fisheries officer in Kuala Lumpur. “Malaysia wants to increase domestic shrimp output and also increase the value-add of our aquatic products,” said Ahmad Iskandar, senior marketing officer at the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia. “But pond space is really at a premium given the continued growth of the palm oil industry.” The palm industry is also competing for an increasingly scarce supply of cheap labor from Thailand and Indonesia (drying up as migrants have more opportunities nearer to home) according to Iskandar. READ MORE
 
Urgent Clarity Needed as 4-Year Thailand Migrant NV Deadline Expires
THAILAND – There are an estimated 3 million foreign migrant workers in Thailand, over 80% originating from Myanmar. Since the late 1980s, these workers have irregularly crossed borders to work in mostly dirty, dangerous and demanding jobs in Thailand thereby significantly contributing to Thailand’s economy and providing billions of dollars in remittances to support relatives in origin countries. These workers continue to face significant exploitation and confusing piecemeal government migration policies. According to the 2003 Memorandum of Undrestanding signed between Thailand and Myanmar, after migrants from Myanmar have remained in Thailand for 4 years they must return home for 3 years before becoming eligible to return to Thailand. This policy has never been realistic both for workers, employers and Thai and Myanmar governments and their respective economies. Workers need to remain in Thailand to support their families in Myanmar; employers don’t want to lose their trained workers at times of labour shortage; and Myanmar is not ready to receive back migrants to develop its opening economy. READ MORE
 
EJF issues new human rights abuses report
THAILAND – The nonprofit advocacy group Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has issued a new report on human rights abuses in the Thai seafood industry, this time focusing on workers in shrimp processing. The EJF made headlines in May, when it released a report, “Sold to the Sea,” http://www.seafoodsource.com/newsarticledetail.aspx?id=20832 detailing human trafficking, forced labor, imprisonment and murder of workers on Thai fishing vessels. Now, the group has introduced a new report, “The Hidden Cost: Human Rights Abuses in Thailand’s Shrimp Industry,” which looks at the shrimp processing industry. The report alleges human trafficking of migrant workers, withholding of pay, forced detention, bonded labor and other abuses. The report includes interviews with five former workers at a pre-processing factory owned by a captain in the Royal Thai Police. The workers described being forced into 16-hour shifts, with many workers, including children, peeling shrimp and extracting excrement until 8 p.m. daily. READ MORE
 
Shrimp industry hit by EMS disease
MALAYSIA – Local shrimp farmers are being adversely affected by large-scale losses of their products due to a disease called “Early Mortality Syndrome” (EMS), says an industry expert. The disease has caused high mortality rates of cultivated shrimp in China, Vietnam and Thailand for the past two years. The problem has also affected Malaysia, said the industry expert Shamar Kamarudin. He said EMS or Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Syndrome (AHPNS) comes from bacteria and delays shrimp growth that prevents it from reaching maturity. “It simply means the shrimp will be undersized and eventually they cannot be harvested. “The disease can infect shrimp through virus carriers such as wild shrimps, crabs and the shrimp seeds itself,” he said in an interview here yesterday. In the latest case, he said an EMS case was detected in July in Johor, where 100% of all shrimps in seven ponds died due to infection. READ MORE
 
Vietnam shrimp exports continue growth trend
VIETNAM – According to Vietnam Customs, in the first 8 months of 2013, Vietnam shrimp exports reached USD 1.73 billion (EUR 1.3 billion), up 22 percent from the same period in 2012. Since the second quarter of 2013, shrimp exports have recovered and reported continuous growth on par with that of the same month of last year. In August this year, value of shrimp exports reached USD 335 million (EUR 348 m illion), marking the sharpest growth of 65.5 percent. Shipment of whiteleg shrimp increased three-fold compared to the same month of 2012. Through August, whiteleg shrimp exports rose by 71 percent compared to the same time last year while exports of black tiger shrimp increased 2.7 percent. So far this year, shrimp exports accounted for 41.6 percent of Vietnam’s total seafood export value thanks to higher global price and shorter shrimp supply. In January to August of 2013, the increase in shrimp exports compensated for the decrease in other seafood exports including pangasius and tuna, and contributed to push the total seafood exports to reach USD 4.16 billion (EUR 3 billion), an 4.3 percent increase over last year READ MORE
 
MAP's newest volunteer intern "digging the life" of an environmentalist