MAP News Issue 420, July 8 2017

Mangrove Action Day is July 26
Let us know your plans

GLOBAL – Mangrove Action Project (MAP) has been working since 1992 (25 years!) to halt the rampant destruction of the earth’s mangrove forest wetlands that are threatened by unsustainable development. Such industries as charcoal and petroleum production, tourism and urban expansion, golf courses and marinas are all threats to mangrove forests today. Still, the largest threat stems from industrial shrimp aquaculture production, which is the largest contributor to current mangrove loss. In the past 100 years, over half the world’s mangrove forests have been lost to such short-sighted development pressures. Today, only around 15 million ha of the estimated original 36 million ha of mangroves still exist, while much of the remaining mangroves are degraded and in poor health. Mangroves also protect coastal communities from hurricane force winds and wave surges. For these reasons and more, in 2003, MAP joined other organizations from the global South to promote July 26th as Mangrove Action Day. We ask that you and/or your organizations please join us all in a global protest against the ongoing losses of the mangrove forest ecosystems and the local communities that depend upon the mangroves for their lives and livelihoods. Please send MAP your regional or local plans for actions that are meant to commemorate this international Day for the Mangroves! MAP would like to again share your plans and ideas with our global network. We look forward to hearing from you soon in this regard! READ MORE

AFRICA

Alarm as mangrove forests at the Kenyan Coast rapidly disappear

KENYA – Mombasa is becoming hotter due to the depletion of mangrove forests, a vital ally in the fight against climate change, with the situation along the Kenyan coast projected to get worse with time. A recent study carried out at Tudor Creek – the water body separating Mombasa Island from the mainland – shows that more than 80 per cent of mangroves along the Indian Ocean coast in the area have been wiped out. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) assistant director of wetlands and marine conservation, Dr Mohamed Omar, says urgent intervention is required to conserve the disappearing forests. “From the 1960s, the mangrove cover at the creek to date has diminished by 80 per cent if not more. This is a very serious situation because we foresee a situation without mangroves in Mombasa especially within Tudor Creek,” warned Dr Omar at the launch of the National Mangrove Ecosystem Management Plan in Mombasa. Mangrove forests are key to regulating climate at the coast since they capture carbon dioxide from the environment at a rate that's five times more efficient than other forests. Apart from their central role in fighting climate change, they also help support tourism and fishing sectors as they play host to a variety of fish and wildlife species. “We are losing the battle against climate change due to the status of the mangroves…that is why Mombasa is getting hotter,” he noted. READ MORE

ASIA

Endangered mangrove species found in West Kalimantan

INDONESIA – A Kalimantan-based environmental institution has released findings of an endangered mangrove species discovered within the coastal landscape of Padang Tikar and Dabung in Kubu Raya regency, West Kalimantan. “The finding of this tumuk putih species, or Bruguiera hainesii, is the first in Indonesia. This type of mangrove previously only existed in Malaysia, Singapore and Papua New Guinea,” said Denni Nurdwiansyah, the program manager of Friends of Coastal Communities (Sampan) Kalimantan as quoted by Antara news agency. Denni said the species is listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species’s critically endangered category. The species has a population of around 203 trees, 80 of which are found in Malaysia, three in Singapore and 120 in Papua New Guinea. The community's mangrove specialist Bekti Saputro said the finding indicated that the mangrove ecosystem in Padang Tikar is still healthy and well-preserved. READ MORE

A workshop on Lessons Learned using Community based Ecological Mangrove Restoration

THAILAND – The Mangrove Action Project (MAP) in collaboration with the Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC) and Raks Thai Foundation (CARE-Thailand) organized a two days workshop on “Lessons Learned from Community based Ecological Mangrove Restoration” which was held in Krabi on July 1-2, 2017.  There were 24 participants, including seven staff, and seventeen representatives from the CBEMR community network from the villages of Thale Nok, Ranong Province, Tha-sanook, Phang Nga, Nai Nang, Koh Klang and Thung Yor, Krabi Province and Bang Khang Khao and Leam Makham, Trang Province.  The workshop was facilitated by two resource persons from RECOFTC and two from Raks Thai Foundation. MAP has been working on mangrove restoration utilizing the CBEMR method with mangrove communities on the Andaman Coast (Ranong, Phang Nga, Krabi and Trang provinces) since 2009 under a number of different implementing projects.  CBEMR uses hydrological restoration to support the natural regeneration of mangroves in former shrimp ponds and degraded mangroves. READ MORE

Climate change impact: Sunderbans steadily losing its famed mangroves

BANGLADESH – In a development that will ring alarm bells for both environmentalists and policy makers, the mangrove forest cover in the Indian Sunderbans has been depleting alarmingly over the past few decades. Mangrove Forest Cover Changes in Indian Sundarban (1986-2012) Using Remote Sensing and GIS, a publication by the School of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University, reveals that from 1986 to 2012, 124.418 sq. km. mangrove forest cover has been lost. The total forest cover of the Indian Sunderbans as assessed by remote sensing studies for the year 1986 was about 2,246.839 sq. km., which gradually declined by 2,201.41 sq. km. in 1996, then down to 2168.914 sq km in 2001 and to 2122.421 sq km in 2012. The loss in the mangrove forest in the Indian Sunderbans is about 5.5 %. READ MORE

Where once were mangroves, Javan villages struggle to beat back the sea

INDONESIA – A mangrove forest once surrounded this village on Java’s northern coast. That was before the woods were clear-cut to make way for shrimp and fish farms. The new industry improved the local economy; residents could finally afford the pilgrimage to Mecca. The bounty days were soon to vanish. The mangroves’ decline exposed Mangunharjo to massive erosion. In less than a decade, it wiped away the fishponds and almost sank the village. Local resident Sururi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, remembers when the sea invaded the land, turning the aquafarms into a muddy lagoon. The shoreline, once 1,500 meters from their homes, the mosque, the school, advanced to within a third of that. In a desperate fight against the march of the sea, Sururi planted mangroves, hoping to stop the erosion and save the village. Step by step, with the support of volunteers and the entire village pitching in, they reclaimed 200 meters (656 feet). READ MORE

Fisheries university plans mangrove tourism project

INDIA – Tourists and students may soon get to observe the city’s threatened mangrove ecosystem from tree-top huts and bamboo walkways. Hoping to increase awareness about mangroves, the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) is set to launch a mangrove tourism centre on its Puthuvype campus this year. The proposed Mangrove Demonstration and Tourism Centre, which is pending approval from the State government, will be developed at a cost of ₹27 lakh in 10 acres of mangrove forest at the university’s existing Fisheries Station and Mangrove Research Centre at Puthuvype. The project will include bamboo walkways and bridges across the canal system with resting spots powered with solar lighting. Display boards will be arranged throughout the centre with photographs of local fauna and flora detailing biological information. Guests will be able to sit in tree-top huts equipped with basic facilities and watch the ecosystem’s nocturnal fauna including birds such as night herons and mammals such as otters. READ MORE

AMERICAS

How Can Mangrove Restoration Be Successful?

CANADA – My first introduction to mangroves occurred in Vietnam in 2007, when my mother and I toured the Mekong river. In 2009, I volunteered for an organization in Honduras and was once again struck by the beauty of the mangrove ecosystems. Little did I know that I would be working in the Honduran mangroves three years later. As I coordinated a community resilience and mangrove restoration program in Honduras for Falls Brook Centre, we were confronted with environmental difficulties at one of our project sites that went beyond my knowledge and expertise. Looking for mangrove expertise, I made contact with Alfredo Quarto, Co-Executive Director of the Mangrove Action Project, in 2014. The Mangrove Action Project (MAP) aims to, among other things, implement a successful method of mangrove restoration. The results were great. Mangroves began to thrive and regenerate naturally. Black and white mangroves predominated. Two and a half years later, mangroves are approximately 4 m high! The ecosystem is healthier. Crabs, birds and fishes are observed in the site. READ MORE

Treasure in the Mangroves

USA – According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, Florida is home to an estimated 469,000 acres of mangrove forests and this halophyte’s ecological importance simply cannot be overstated. Aside from trapping and cycling organic materials and nutrients from the water, mangroves provide a protected nursery environment for a variety of fish, crustaceans and shellfish and are a favored food site for many marine species as well. Above the water’s surface, mangrove branches serve as rookeries for coastal birds from roseate spoonbills to brown pelicans. All of these characteristics make a mangrove forest an ideal spot to spend a day exploring the wonders of our region’s coastal environments, as Williams tells us in this week’s essay. READ MORE

 

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NOTES FROM OUR VOLUNTEERS

Mangrove to Seagrass, a journey into Thailand’s coastal ecosystems
By David Matyas, MAP Volunteer Intern
THAILAND – During a two month immersion into the mangrove world as a volunteer with the Mangrove Action Project in Trang, southern Thailand I learned there are more than 60 species, they livelihoods for local communities, play a role in coastal protection, and have been greatly reduced in Thailand, mainly due to shrimp farming … It is indeed a unique ecosystem which has had so much research on a whole range of different kinds of issues and many books have been written about this magnificent forest. Some people have even devoted their entire life to protecting it. Personally, I needed time to step back and explore something else. Dr. Barry Bendell monitors seagrass on Koh Phra Thong an island off the coast of Phang-nga Province, Thailand. He is one of MAP’s volunteer scientific advisors, which is how I got in touch with him. READ MORE

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