MAP News Issue 456, Nov 24, 2018

 

GLOBAL – The November 27th Giving Tuesday is right around the corner! This annual day of giving provides us a great opportunity to begin the new year with a strong base… and this year there is a chance to make your impact even greater! This year Facebook and PayPal are teaming up to provide a $7 million matching fund for Giving Tuesday – that means that if you donate through our Facebook page after 5AM (PST) Tuesday, you will have a chance to double your donation to Mangrove Action Project! With rising global temperatures and sea levels, saving and restoring the world's mangrove forests is now more important than ever – both for the health of our planet, and the 200+ million people who call these ecosystems home. So on this #GivingTuesday, please consider donating to MAP to help spur much-needed action on our world’s vital mangrove forests. From all those at the Mangrove Action Project team, and from mangrove communities around the world, we say thank you!
Sincerely,
Alfredo Quarto & Dylan Skeffington
Co-Directors, the Mangrove Action Project
https://mangroveactionproject.org
 

AFRICA

MAP's CBEMR Training in the Saloum Delta

SENEGAL – Another fascinating mangrove rehabilitation teaching adventure, this time to Senegal, at the behest of Wetlands International, with MAP’s Alfredo Quarto and Jim Enright. The travel allowed us to see a small bit of normal life in Dakar and the countryside. Driving needs care as there were many animal-drawn vehicles on the road, and the ubiquitous white Peugeot 505 taxis, held together by poly-filler and hope. Week one was a mix of theoretical training and field trips. We covered the reasons for planting failures, mangrove benefits focusing more on the obscure features such as water cleaning, a lot of relevant mangrove biology and ecology, species zoning, measuring spot heights, the importance of hydrology and how CBEMR uses all of these factors to facilitate natural regeneration. With removal of mangrove stressors and improvements of hydrology and topography a bio-diverse ecosystem can be re-established. So saline there were salt crusts everywhere as well as saturated soils. Leaves covered in excreted salt and a layer of dust inhibiting photosynthesis. Tough conditions. READ MORE

ASIA

MAP staff member joins the 6th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum 2018

PHILIPPINES – The 6th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum involved global participation and almost 1,000 delegates attended from government, the academic and scientific community, businesses, civil society organizations and NGOs, international development partners, media and youth from over 60 countries, focusing on sharing and learning from each other in a bid to proactively address the need to enable resilience for all, and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. MAP representative Jaruwan (Ning) Enright was invited to be one of panelists in the session on Technology & Practices under Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in the auditorium. She was joined by Alex Rendell, a Thai celebrity and Thai actor who influences young people and the public to be interested in and support the environmental work in Thailand. The session highlighted green technology and infrastructure to help increasing the resilience of ecosystems. Sheshared Mangrove Action Project’s experiences and challenges using the practice of Community-based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) to show how it can increase ecosystems resilience by providing multiple services and reduce storm impacts on local livelihoods. READ MORE

Blue Carbon: An Underreported Climate Story

INDONESIA – “It’s sexy but underreported.” This is how Indonesian climate scientist, Daniel Murdiyarso, refers to the issue of blue carbon, or the carbon dioxide in coastal ecosystems. Indonesia has two major coastal blue carbon ecosystems: nearly 3 million hectares of mangroves and 300,000 hectares of seagrass meadows. Terrestrial climate and environmental issues, such as deforestation or the conservation of endangered animals, get far more play in the media. While public and media outrage over the cutting down of trees or the razing of orangutan habitats is justified, the reality is that mangroves can, per hectare, store more than five times the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by upland forests. This means that the clearing of mangroves emits five times more carbon dioxide than clearing a similar area of degraded forest or peatland, thus increasing carbon emissions and further exacerbating climate change. “On paper, if we handle the mangrove and peat problem, 80% of the problem is solved. But the problem is [that] it is not in the government agenda yet to include blue carbon in the process to reduce emissions,” says Murdiyarso, who is principal scientist for climate change, energy and low carbon development at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), based in Bogor. READ MORE

Rehabilitation of mangroves a boost for eco-system

MALAYSIA – Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Berhad (“LCTH”) in collaboration with Tanjung Piai Johor National Park spearheaded the rehabilitation of 1,000 mangroves in Tanjung Piai, a coastal mangrove area located at the southernmost tip of continental Asia managed by Johor National Parks Corporation. The half-day event mobilised almost 50 people, including state Health, Environment and Agriculture Committee chairman Dr Sahruddin Jamal, Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Berhad chief financial officer David Tan Gek Seng, Johor National Parks Corporation director Mustafa Kamal Abdullah, Tanjung Piai Johor National Park manager Norwati Abdul Wahab and staff of LCTH and Tanjung Piai Johor National Park. The event saw the planting of 1,000 mangrove seedlings along the coast of Tanjung Piai. The participants had the opportunity to experience hands-on mangrove planting and go on a tour around Tanjung Piai’s picturesque boardwalk. READ MORE

How mangrove forests can rebound – and it’s thanks to climate change

PHILIPPINES – Humans have become adept at destroying natural habitats. Indeed, we’re so good at it we’ve changed the very makeup and climate of our planet. But there may be signs the natural world is fighting back by protecting itself against rising temperatures and changing weather patterns, and we face the tantalising prospect of helping this process. A recent study found that mangrove forests could be adapting to climate change by growing beyond their usual range. The risk of several days of continuous frost, which previously kept these trees in tropical and subtropical areas near the equator, is continuously shifting towards the poles. As average global temperatures rise, mangroves are able to increase their growth and expand their range beyond the equator. READ MORE

Lack of land to compensate for mangroves affects major projects

INDIA – Lack of land to plant the mangroves as compensation, since mangrove land utilisation for public interest projects, has affected the work of two major projects; Versova-Bandra Sea Link (VBSL) and Thane Creek bridge project. The high court recently rejected The Maharashtra State Road Development Corpora-tion (MSRDC), which is implementing both the projects, proposal to cut mangroves in the Juhu area for VBSL. Thus, despite awarding the letter of acceptance (LOA) to contractors to start the work, the piling works has not yet commenced. Joint consortium of Reliance Infrastructure and Astaldi received the LOA to commence work for VBSL in September this year. “We had proposed to plant mangroves in a land identified at Jalna, but court declared that the land is not suitable for mangrove plantation and turned down the proposal. Also, since the project is in Mumbai, the court directed to find a place in Mumbai itself,” said a senior official from MSRDC. The official further added, “We have identified a land at Charkop, once the land is approved by high court, only then the civil work can be started.” READ MORE

OCEANA

Bougainville move to highlight importance of mangroves

NEW ZEALAND – It is driven by NGO, Tulele Peisa, which said trhere was widespread destruction of Bougainville’s mangroves and it wants people to recognise the importance of protecting the coastal vegetation. The mangroves are under threat from development and people using them for firewood. Tulele Peisa has been working around the low lying Carterets and says it understands the importance of mangroves in protecting coastlines. Its leader Ursula Rakova said they had been working with the Bougainville Department of Primary Industry to change attitudes to mangroves. READ MORE

GLOBAL

Rally held in London on Global Day of Solidarity to Save the Sundarbans

UK – On Saturday, the 10th November, London saw a vibrant rally by London’s climate activists at Altab Ali Park on the Global Day of Solidarity to Save the Sundarbans. In response to the National Committee to Protect Oil Gas and Mineral Resources in Bangladesh (NCBD)’s call to observe a worldwide solidarity to save the world’s largest mangrove forest, the UK branch of NCBD has organised a powerful rally which was joined by grassroots and community climate organisations. Speakers attending the rally called on Bangladesh and Indian governments to scrap Rampal coal-power plant urgently and to halt climate change in Bangladesh and across South Asia. Presided by a veteran Bangladeshi community leader and medical professional Dr Rafikul Hasan Jinnah and moderated by the general secretary of the UK branch of NCBD, Akhter Sobhan Masroor, the rally was outraged about the joint project of the Power Development Board (PDB) of Bangladesh and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India for 1320 Megawatt Rampal coal-fired plant because it is a deadly threat to the environment and livelihood of the Sundarbans. READ MORE

Oceans Are Losing a Football Field of Seagrass Every 30 Minutes

UK – Seagrasses are flowering marine plants that live in shallow coastal waters almost everywhere in the world. The more than 70 species of seagrass provide an important habitat for thousands of ocean animals, from tiny invertebrates, crabs and turtles to large fish and birds. Equally if not more important, seagrasses also are natural carbon sinks — even more effective at soaking up heat-trapping carbon pollution than forests on land. They soak up carbon in their leaves, and when they die, they decompose far more slowly than terrestrial plants, so that carbon remains buried for hundreds of years. “Seagrasses are the ultimate natural carbon sink,” said Richard K.F. Unsworth, a lecturer in marine biology at Swansea University in the UK. “In healthy seas, seagrasses are so productive you can see oxygen rapidly bubbling through the water column as they photosynthesize on a sunny day.”READ MORE

UN Environment convenes world’s insurers to assess intensifying climate change impacts

EUROPE – UN Environment’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) announced today a partnership with 16 of the world’s largest insurers—representing around 10% of world premium and USD 5 trillion in assets under management—to develop a new generation of risk assessment tools designed to enable the insurance industry to better understand the impacts of climate change on their business. This understanding is vital for an industry whose core business is to manage risk. The pilot group will develop analytical tools that they will use to pioneer insurance industry climate risk disclosures that are in line with the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). This will require them to make use of the latest climate science, including some of the most advanced, forward-looking climate scenarios available. READ MORE