MAP News Issue 449 – August 18, 2018

 
Voting Now Open for Mangrove Photo Contest

USA – This July marked the 20th anniversary of World Mangrove Day, which is recognized by UNESCO as a time to celebrate and appreciate the many benefits that mangrove ecosystems provide, and to make commitments to protect them. To celebrate this important day, the Mangrove Action Project created an annual mangrove photography contest. This year they received stunning images of mangroves from around the world, featuring the special communities and wildlife that depend on them. All photos that were entered are part of a special online exhibition to help raise awareness of these coastal ecosystems. Now, it’s your turn to vote for your favorite photos! Explore the gallery and choose which photo you think should win the People’s Choice Award. Voting ends August 31, and winners will be announced in early September. READ MORE
 
AFRICA
 
Muddy waters: Exploring mangrove governance in Tanzania’s Rufiji Delta

KENYA – When it comes to governance and management, mangrove forests around the world are frequently left off the map. Occupying the murky boundaries between land and sea, they’ve often been devalued as pesky shrubs that muddy up the coastline and get in the way of beach going. But millions of people rely on mangrove ecosystems for their food and income, as well as protection of their homes and farmland from high tides and storm surges. For example, a recent case study by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) shows that in the Rufiji Delta in Tanzania, local residents harvest mangrove wood for posts and poles, fuelwood and charcoal, and use the fruits and roots for medicinal purposes. Many species of fish also use the mangroves to breed, and villagers catch these fish to eat and sell. In recent years, the high value of mangroves for carbon sequestration and biodiversity preservation in the context of climate change has also come to the attention of scientists, conservationists and concerned citizens across the globe. Yet most research so far has emphasized the biophysical and ecological elements of these environments, rather than the people and policymakers whose actions ­– and inactions – have an impact on forests from day to day. READ MORE
 
ASIA
 
Support makes coastal communities strong

THAILAND – Along with my colleague Em from the MAP-Asia team and together with 8 Community Restoration Network representatives from across Thailand, we celebrated Mangrove Action Day on the 26th of July by learning and sharing experiences on community-based mangrove conservation and restoration at Pred Nai. Our Community Restoration Network members gained valuable knowledge from the Pred Nai Community who have over 30 years of experience in participatory mangrove management. One outstanding concern made by Uncle Yai, one of the conservation leaders at Pred Nai, was how to transfer their conservation awareness to the Pred Nai youths so what they’ve achieved is not lost. READ MORE

Rapidly-depleting Patuakhali mangrove forests endangering lives

BANGLADESH – Un-checked tree-felling is rapidly depleting the “Green Wall”—the mangrove forest that protected the people of the coastal district from the devastation of Cyclone Sidr.  Lack of effective conservation efforts is also contributing to the crisis, reports UNB.During a recent visit to the coastal area of Kalapara, the correspondent found an eight-km area on both sides of Madhukhali Lake under Mithaganj union a barren land though it was once filled with many century-old trees. Locals alleged that some influential people recently cut down many century-old trees from the area to make some quick buck. They said the role of Forest Department found mysterious as they are claiming that the forest adjacent Madhumati lake does not belong to the department though it took actions when anyone found involved in tree felling in the area over the last 50 years. Abdul Jabbar, a resident of Purba-Madhukhali village, said, ‘He would have lost his houses attack and other assets to tidal surge had there been no mangrove forest along the embankment near the lake.’ READ MORE
 
Indian Mangrove Microbiome Reveals Trove of Antibiotic and Heavy Metal Resistance Genes

INDIA – Mangroves are trees with high tolerance to saline environments. Hence, they flourish in coastal or brackish areas where most trees fail to grow. As a result, mangroves play a pivotal role in preserving the coastal ecosystem by acting as a physical barrier in the shoreline to prevent erosion. In addition, they have several benefits such as biodiversity, livelihood to the rural communities and water management. Mangroves cover up to 152,000 km2 globally. However, their range is decreasing due to pollution, urbanization and other human activities. There is an increasing urgency to understand the structural and functional architecture that underlies the mangrove ecosystem, and the microbial community is an important component that remains unexplored. Research teams have found a high prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes as well as heavy metal resistance genes in the Keralan Mangrove microbiome as compared to the Brazilian and Saudi Arabian mangrove microbial ecosystems. READ MORE
 
Global Environment Facility conservation project in Myanmar violates indigenous rights

MYANMAR – On 16 July, 2018 the Conservation Alliance Tanawthari (CAT) submitted a formal complaint concerning the violation of Karen indigenous peoples’ right to Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Ridge to Reef conservation project in Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar. This enormous conservation project threatens the land and resource rights of thousands of Karen indigenous people. An inception workshop is planned for Ridge to Reef on 17 July, but local indigenous communities have not been consulted. CAT is calling for GEF to suspend Ridge to Reef until a comprehensive FPIC process is carried out with all communities who will be affected by the project. “Implementing Ridge to Reef without FPIC is a serious violation of indigenous peoples’ rights and GEF safeguards,” said CAT coordinator Naw Eh Htee Wah. READ MORE
 
Integrating community-based adaptation into afforestation and reforestation programmes in Bangladesh

BANGLADESH – The National Adaptation Plan of Actions and Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan have identified coastal afforestation with local community participants as a key adaptation priority for coastal areas. Efforts will focus on expanding the quality and the coverage of the coastal afforestation programme, providing the community with climate-resilient livelihoods and an incentive to become protectors of the forest. Bangladesh is on the way to achieve the status of middle-income country by 2021. However, climate risks have the potential to delay the achievement. The county is frequently subjected to cyclones, floods, extreme weather events, and storm surges. It affects the lives and livelihoods of one fourth of country’s coastal population READ MORE
 
AMERICAS
 
Dramatic mangrove loss in Quintana Roo

MEXICO – “The loss of mangrove in Quintana Roo is “dramatic”. In 20 years, 7,000 hectares of this ecosystem have disappeared  in the state, due to tourism development and this number will increase, especially in the area of ​​the municipality Lázaro Cárdenas, where construction projects are destroying this important natural habitat for many species”, said Jorge Herrera Silveira, researcher at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav), in the framework of the presentation of the rehabilitation project of the Nichupté Mangrove Flora and Fauna Protection Area. Currently, Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán occupy the first, second and third place, respectively, in mangrove area. But the state with the most loss of mangrove is Quintana Roo,” the scientist said. The 7,000 hectares of destroyed mangrove represent around 20% of the total extension that the state of Quintana Roo had before it was turned into a tourist destination, and even so it occupies the second place at a national level in this type of vegetation. READ MORE
 
Domino-effect of climate events could move Earth into a ‘hothouse’ state

USA – A domino-like cascade of melting ice, warming seas, shifting currents and dying forests could tilt the Earth into a “hothouse” state beyond which human efforts to reduce emissions will be increasingly futile, a group of leading climate scientists has warned. This grim prospect is sketched out in a journal paper that considers the combined consequences of 10 climate change processes, including the release of methane trapped in Siberian permafrost and the impact of melting ice in Greenland on the Antarctic. The authors of the essay, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stress their analysis is not conclusive, but warn the Paris commitment to keep warming at 2C above pre-industrial levels may not be enough to “park” the planet’s climate at a stable temperature. They warn that the hothouse trajectory “would almost certainly flood deltaic environments, increase the risk of damage from coastal storms, and eliminate coral reefs (and all of the benefits that they provide for societies) by the end of this century or earlier.” READ MORE
 
Mangroves grow slowly. In Miami, replacing them takes even longer

USA – A mangrove can take forever to grow. But getting governments to agree on how to replant trees illegally chopped down by city workers at Miami’s historic marine stadium? That really takes time Three years after a county environmental inspector stumbled upon a moonscape of mangrove stumps as the city prepared for the arrival of the popular Miami International Boat Show, not a single tree has been replanted. Plenty of emails have been exchanged, and more than 300,000 visitors welcomed since to three boat shows and a powerboat race. But the grindingly slow approval of plans and exchange of permits have left the Virginia Key site, at the center of controversial restoration efforts, missing the protective armor of about 300 trees “We’re in the middle of another hurricane season and we should be concerned about these things,” said Key Biscayne Mayor Mayra Peña Lindsay, who fought plans to relocate the busy boat show to the fragile key. “We can all do better.” READ MORE
 
Volunteers plant, study red mangrove propagules

USA – In its fourth year, Mangrove Mania expects to plant an additional 10,000 mature red mangrove Rhizophora mangle propagules along Lee County shorelines this fall. The soft, sandy banks have been eroded due to power boat wakes and the invasion of invasive exotics. Red mangrove propagules will help establish a fringing mangrove forest and will provide some stabilization to the shoreline. Approximately six months after the planting, a group of volunteer students will venture back to the treatment site to conduct a field study of the growth and health condition of the young mangrove trees. Armed with meter sticks and clipboards, volunteers will measure terminal shoot growth of the seedlings in multiple research plots. Metal identification tags will be placed on several of these trees for future monitoring. In prior years, students found that approximately 80 percent of the propagules that survived six months along the canals had grown an average of 25 centimeters. READ MORE
 
EUROPE

Why Mangroves Matter

U.K. – Called the “rainforests by the sea,” coastal mangroves are among the most threatened ecosystems on earth. Current estimates indicate that up to 67% of mangroves have been lost to date, and nearly all unprotected mangroves could perish over the next 100 years. It was International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem on July 26th, and we get a 101 on the priceless benefits of mangrove forests from Dr. Ahmad Aldrie Amir, a Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow at the Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the coordinator of the Malaysian Mangrove Research Alliance and Network (MyMangrove). LISTEN HERE