MAP NEWS Issue 403, Nov 12, 2016

MAP's EPIC film receives another award

CHINA – "Reducing the Risk of Disaster through Nature-Based Solutions: Mangroves" has received the Nominee's Award by the China Science Film and Video Association. This makes a total of 10 countries where it has or will be shown. The Honorary credential awarded jointly by the China Scientific Film and Video Association and the Shenzhen Association for Science and Technology named Mangrove Action Project’s entry as “Nominees Prize” in the 2016 China Dragon Awards. Besides being displayed at the IUCN HQ in Switzerland, it has been or will be shown at film festivals or conference in Australia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hawaii, Malaysia, and Thailand. The EPIC video has had over 1,600 views on the MAP YouTube site and the recent Thai version about 250 views. READ MORE

AFRICA

African Wetlands Project: A Win For the Climate and the People?

SENEGAL – In Senegal and other developing countries, multinational companies are investing in programs to restore mangrove forests and other wetlands that sequester carbon. But critics say these initiatives should not focus on global climate goals at the expense of the local people’s livelihoods. Standing calf-deep in the warm, brackish water of Senegal’s Saloum Delta, Saly Sarr points to a mass of ripples colored silver by the setting sun. “You see that movement?” she says. “The fish are coming out.” All around her, the spindly trunks of young mangrove trees poke through the water. Seven years ago, this area on the edge of the island of Niodior was a sandy wasteland ravaged by drought. Today, thanks to reforestation work done by Sarr and other women, it is covered in mangroves that shelter young fish from the midday sun and hold the soil in place as the tides wash in and out. READ MORE

Nations come together to save Kenya’s disappearing coastal forests
KENYA – Dense green foliage flanks the dusty, heavily potholed road in Witu Forest, a protected area on the Kenyan coast about 75 kilometers from the city of Lamu. Comprising native shrubs, grasses, and trees, the area has so far escaped the massive deforestation that has befallen much of northern Kenya’s coastal forests lining the country’s portion of the Horn of Africa. Nearby, patches of cleared and burned land await conversion to agricultural land and new settlements – a common theme in this part of East Africa. This area is part of a coastal forest belt near the Kenya-Somalia border is part of the Eastern Africa Coastal Forests ecoregion that stretches from southern Somalia through Kenya and Tanzania and most of Mozambique’s coast, ending at the Limpopo River. According to the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), the Kenyan portion covers an area of over 120,000 hectares, with mangroves comprising around 20,000 hectares. Considered one of Conservation International’s 35 “biodiversity hotspots,” the region is home to a wide variety of wildlife – many endemic, meaning they’re found nowhere else in the world. READ MORE

ASIA

Alternative Approach for the Conservation and Farming of the Endangered Sea Cucumber

THAILAND – Holothuria scabra (sandfish) is an edible sea cucumber inhabiting tropical Indo-Pacific seagrass meadows. It is now endangered (IUCN Redlist) because of overharvesting. This project tests a sustainable alternative to current harvesting and culturing practices. On Phra Thong Island, local communities have established protected areas in seagrass meadows where the harvesting of all animals is prohibited. We observed large adult Holothuria scabra in one such area, but they were few in number. Juveniles occurred outside protection and were sometimes abundant but small in size and so of little commercial value. It was proposed that those juveniles be harvested and reared to a commercial size while adult populations, which are easily over-exploited, remain protected.Previous attempts to raise sea cucumbers in pens have not been successful locally. However in a recent trial, juveniles were stocked into an abandoned fish pond where they grew to a marketable size at a rate of 1.2 g/day over 11 months without the addition of food. READ MORE

Keep It Green: Mangroves – a vital eco-system component

THAILAND – Coral reefs attract far more publicity than mangrove swamps. After all, coral is spectacularly beautiful, and affords protection to some of the world’s most spectacular fishes – clown fish, parrot fish, wrasse and literally hundreds of other species. From the air, mangrove swamps also look appealing, but close up are muddy and turbid with unsightly roots and often have a rank smell. Forget the aesthetics though. They are even more crucial to our marine environment than coral. Consider this. Shrimps are big business in Thailand: the country is the third largest exporter of seafood. Since the 1970s, the Thai government has promoted intensive shrimp production, especially in coastal areas. When descending to Phuket Airport, one passes over many shrimp farms. These rectangular ponds created in part by obliterating the stands of mangroves that once fringed the island’s eastern shoreline. READ MORE

50 more guns to protect mangroves and wildlife
THAILAND – The Sabah Forestry Department enforcement team is armed due to the constant risks they are facing while carrying out their duties, said its director Datuk Sam Mannan. He said that among the threats faced by his personnel came from the Philippines. He said the mangroves on the northern side of Sabah were often raided for the Tangal bark. “The Tangal bark is of no use in Malaysia but valuable in the Philippines. We have a lot of people who raid our mangrove on the northern side of Sabah,” he said during the launch of the second Sabah Ramsar Conference 2016 yesterday. Sam said these people were armed and had nothing to lose because if they went back empty handed, their own lives would be in peril. READ MORE

AMERICA

Editor’s Note – MAP’s Executive Director, Alfredo Quarto will be speaking at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate’s Oceans 2016 Conference.
Restoring Oceans, Restoring Climate Friday-Sunday, November 18-20, 2016

USA – In our past six conferences we introduced many positive and powerful climate solutions for varied lands across the world, and brought hope to the difficult global warming story we are living through. Now we’re tackling a new and challenging player: Oceans. Are oceans little more than huge heat and acid sinks, poised for massive upheaval? Or are there powerful positive contributions that oceans can make to reverse global warming? We will explore both the physical power and fragility of the oceans, the mystery and revelations about life on earth that the waters hold, and some of the remarkable regenerative solutions available to help address the climate crisis. READ MORE

Ghost Forests: How Rising Seas Are Killing Southern U.S. Woodlands

USA – A steady increase in sea levels is pushing saltwater into U.S. wetlands, killing trees from Florida to as far north as New Jersey. But with sea level projected to rise by as much as six feet this century, the destruction of coastal forests is expected to become a worsening problem worldwide. On a recent afternoon, University of Florida watershed ecologist David Kaplan and Ph.D. candidate Katie Glodzik hiked through the Withlacoochee Gulf Preserve, on the Big Bend coast of northwestern Florida. Not long ago, red cedar, live oaks, and cabbage palms grew in profusion on the raised “hammock island” forests set amid the preserve’s wetlands. But as the researchers walked through thigh-high marsh grass, the barren trunks of dead cedars were silhouetted against passing clouds. Dead snag cabbage palms stood like toothpicks snapped at the top. Other trees and shrubs, such as wax myrtle, had long been replaced by more salt-tolerant black needlerush marsh grass. Saltwater, flowing into this swampy, freshwater-dependent ecosystem as a result of rising sea levels, is turning these stands of hardwoods into “ghost forests” of dead and dying trees. READ MORE

EUROPE

Shrimp imports being injected with dangerous chemicals – just to add weight

UK – It seems that the more advanced human civilization becomes, the less we learn about what is and isn't good for our bodies. That's the only way to explain why many commercial food operations are so toxic and hazardous to our health. The UK's Daily Mail is reporting on a commercial shrimp operation in Vietnam where workers have been videotaped injecting them with disgusting gel-like substances in order to make them appear bigger and fresher before they are sold and exported. The video shows factory workers injecting tiger prawns (shrimp) in the head, tail and midsection with a gel substance to make them heavier before they are sold. Vietnam is the largest source of imported shrimp for many countries. The video footage was shot by a Vietnamese television station earlier this year. Since surfacing, it has gone viral online on social media sites like Facebook, with many people expressing disgust and outrage. READ MORE

WORLDWIDE

World on track to lose two-thirds of wild animals by 2020

GLOBAL – The number of wild animals living on Earth is set to fall by two-thirds by 2020, according to a new report, part of a mass extinction that is destroying the natural world upon which humanity depends. The analysis, the most comprehensive to date, indicates that animal populations plummeted by 58% between 1970 and 2012, with losses on track to reach 67% by 2020. Researchers from WWF and the Zoological Society of London compiled the report from scientific data and found that the destruction of wild habitats, hunting and pollution were to blame. The collapse of wildlife is, with climate change, the most striking sign of the Anthropocene, a proposed new geological era in which humans dominate the planet. READ MORE

LAST WORD

Hope you are doing well.

Thanks for your kind continued cooperation.

Hope you aware about our ongoing Project on livelihood improvement for honey collectors through coast watershed conservation around the Sundarbans in Bangladesh which is supported by grant assistance for grassroots projects of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and partnership with Japan Environmental Education Forum (JEEF).

Under the project we developed few of Sundarbans Mangrove Biodiversity conservation materials for Honey collectors, students-teachers and communities.

If you are interested more about our project please always feel free to ask us. We are always happy to cooperate you.

Take care,

Best wishes,

Maksud
Md. Maksudur Rahman
Chief Executive
Bangladesh Environment and
Development Society (BEDS)
House No. 03, Road No 20
Nirala R/A, Khulna- 9100, Bangladesh
Tel: + 88 041 721123
Mob: + 88-01712 868004
email: <info@bedsbd.org> <bedsbd@gmail.com>
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bedsbd.org
Skype name: beds20111
Webpage: www.bedsbd.org