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MAP News Issue 462 – Feb. 16, 2019


Mangrove Action Project

The MAP News
462nd Edition                                                     Feb 16, 2019

FEATURE

5 reasons to protect mangrove forests for the future
5 Reasons to Protect Mangroves
GLOBAL – To the uninitiated, mangroves might appear to be merely coastal cousins of inland forests, but these rich ecosystems support the planet and people in unique ways, from providing breeding grounds for fish to carbon storage, to protection against flooding. Yet despite their importance, mangrove forests are under threat. Over a third have already disappeared, and in regions such as the Americas they are being cleared at a faster rate than tropical rainforests.  Much of that clearance is to reclaim land for agriculture, industrial development and infrastructure projects. In addition to climate change and pollution, there are also local threats. These include overharvesting of wood for fuel and construction, dams and irrigation that reduce the flow of water reaching the forests, and overfishing causing disruption to food chains and fish communities. READ MORE

AFRICA

Chicken Farm Community Joins Fight to Protect Mangrove
Chicken Farmers
LIBERIA – A group of community dwellers in Chicken Farm community, Jacob’s Town, outside Monrovia, has joined the fight to protect 35 percent of Liberia’s mangroves along the Mesurado river through sustainable use of the forest. The group of citizens, named “Chicken Farm Neighborhood Dwellers,” has called on the government and its international partners to do more to prevent flooding, sand mining, and the destruction of wildlife. The group also wants government to put an end to the massive destruction of mangroves along the Mesurado river. In a letter addressed to Nathaniel Blama, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), dated January 30, 2019, a copy of which is in the possession of this writer, the residents complained that some unknown individuals are aggressively destroying mangrove trees for the purpose of selling swampland and fetching wood. The community has repeatedly suffered from property damage as a result of flooding when the Mesurado river overflows. READ MORE

Lamu residents decry mangrove logging ban
Kenyan Coastal Community
KENYA – Cutting and trading of mangrove trees are now banned in Kenya, but Kenyans warn their houses and mosques may collapse. A ban on the cutting or trading of mangrove trees in Kenya has angered many across the island of Lamu. The government says the decision will help the environment, but residents argue they have no other material to construct and repair their buildings. Residents of Lamu are warning that this ban could lead to their homes and mosques collapsing. A section of Lamu's 300-year-old Jamia Mosque faces imminent collapse. The faithful are now forced to pray on just one side of the mosque. READ MORE

Marine conservation gives life to the ocean, boosts livelihoods
Kenyan Fisherwomen
KENYA – Amina Ahmed Mohammed has watched men prepare fishing gear and take to the waters in Lamu to fend for their families since she was a child. That was until the tide changed. Today, as men sail away to the deep oceans to catch fish, Amina leads her own band of women into the shallow edges of the ocean to catch octopus. And the way nature does it is so befitting to their roles that she has no qualms going about it. While the men take to the waters at the crack of dawn, Amina and her team have to wait for the tide to recede before they begin the long trudge to locate corals where octopus inhabit. Pate Women Group chairlady Arafa Aboud says 80 women are involved in replanting of mangroves. “We educate our children from mangrove products and we must ensure the forests thrive to benefit future generations,” she says. READ MORE

ASIA

Denmark funds mangrove reforestation in Rakhine
Myanmar Replanting
MYANMAR – A Five-year plan to replant mangrove forests is being undertaken on the Rakhine State coast with the help of the Danish government, a Forest Department official said. U Toe Aung of the department’s Mangrove Conservation Unit said the five-year project will focus on degraded mangrove forests in Myebon and Rambre townships. It started in June 2018 and will end in 2023.  According to the department, mangroves cover 76 percent of Rakhine’s coast, 29pc of the Ayeyarwady delta, and 98pc of Tanintharyi Region in 2015. But conservation experts said many mangroves are being destroyed to breed fish and prawns, and farmland. “Mangrove forests in Sittwe township are now prawn farms. We will replant mangroves in prawn farms that are no longer used,” U Toe Aung said. One problem is that mangroves, forest reserves and protected areas have not been clearly defined, and group-owned forests have not been established in Sittwe, he added. READ MORE

Farmers profit from breeding crabs amid mangroves
Crab Famer
VIETNAM – In early 2017, the association started the model in the district’s Nam Thai Commune after many of the households suffered losses from raising black tiger shrimp, fish and other kinds of crabs in mangrove forests which they were assigned to protect and harvest products.  Le Minh Khang, who was allocated 8ha of protective forestry land in Nam Thai in 1992, said after receiving the land, he used 70 per cent of the area to grow mangrove forests and the rest to breed black tiger shrimp, crabs and fish. In the first years, mangrove trees were small and water resources were clean, yielding profits from black tiger shrimp, crabs and fish. However, mangrove trees are now bigger and their fallen leaves pollute water resources, affecting the breeding of the aquatic species in the mangrove forest, according to Khang. READ MORE

Mangrove ecosystem's importance not understood
Malaysian Forest 
MALAYSIA – Mangroves can be found in 118 countries in the world, representing one per cent of the tropical forest worldwide, and less than 0.4 per cent of the world forests. Mangrove swamps provide a very important ecosystem to both human life and the diversity of life that inhabits it. Unfortunately, not many are aware of the importance of the mangrove ecosystem, causing them to be neglected, thus leading to the threat of its extinction. This is evident throughout Malaysia today in which mangroves are becoming increasingly threatened by various unhealthy human activities, such as reclamation of land for aquaculture, agriculture, industry or housing, coastal resort development, ports, roads, airports and oil exploration; widespread logging; and pollution. It was recently reported that the sole surviving mangrove forest on government land located in the middle of Pekan Baru Batu Maung and adjacent to the Bayan Lepas Industrial Park was being threatened by irresponsible dumping of construction and industrial wastes. READ MORE

Malaysian Federal Government supports indigenous peoples’ rights
Malaysian Orang
MALAYSIA – In what seems to mark a significant shift in government policy, the Malaysian Government has sued the State Government of Kelantan for its alleged failure to protect Orang Asli rights to their lands in violation of the Constitution. The Orang Asli (‘original peoples’) are the indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. Orang Asli spokespersons have been reported to welcome the decision but have called for legal reforms to secure their customary rights through statutory law. During the British colonial period, the so called ‘aboriginal peoples’ of the Malay Peninsula were tolerated but their rights were never formally recognised. The British sought to encourage the Orang Asli, who lived by hunting and gathering and small-scale shifting cultivation mainly in the forested uplands, to settle down. Small reserves set up for their settlements were gazetted but legally remained Crown lands. READ MORE

AMERICA

Appeals court clears way for landowner to drill exploratory oil well in Everglades
Appeals for Everglades
USA – Overturning a decision by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, an appeals court Tuesday ordered the state to issue a permit to a major Broward County landowner who wants to drill an exploratory oil well in the Everglades. A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled the department improperly rejected a recommended order by an administrative law judge, who said in 2017 a permit should be approved for Kanter Real Estate LLC. The 14-page ruling Tuesday said, in part, that Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Noah Valenstein improperly rejected “factual findings” by Administrative Law Judge E. Gary Early. Those findings included that the site targeted for exploratory drilling was environmentally degraded and was isolated from surface water and groundwater. READ MORE

Submissions requested to Wildlife Conservation Film Festival
WCFF Film Festival
USA – Join us for the 9 year anniversary of the WCFF from October 17-27, 2019 in New York, NY. Over 100 documentary films representing many nations will be screened. In attendance will be international filmmakers and scientists. Interested in submitting a film for the 2019 Festival? Contact: info@wcff.org to request a film entry application. Take part in the only film festival on the globe dedicated to wildlife conservation. Our mission is to inform, engage and inspire audiences about the need for and importance of the protection of global biodiversity. READ MORE

OCEANA

FIGHTING GLOBAL WARMING WITH BLUE CARBON
underwater-mangroves.jpg
AUSTRALIA – Breathe deeply. All that lovely oxygen you’re getting right now was recycled somewhere by plants (and plankton). But it’s not just the land-based plants responsible for restoring Earth’s oxygen supply—marine plants also play an important role. Mangroves, seagrasses and inhabitants of salt marshes are just some of the plants responsible for creating something called blue carbon. But this important part of underwater ecology looks more brown and green than a pretty aqua hue. It works like this: marine plants capture carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, just like their terrestrial siblings. The plants transform the carbon into carbohydrates, which are then used by the plant to grow stems, leaves and flowers. When the plant dies, the carbon locked in its tissues is trapped, stored underground. Mat Vanderklift, a marine ecologist at CSIRO, says because this trapped carbon is waterlogged, very little oxygen gets to it and it cannot decompose. The carbon can remain trapped much more efficiently than land-based carbon traps, like trees. READ MORE

LAST WORD

Hello Alfredo & team, 

On behalf of Save Maldives team and other activists and movements working towards
environmental protection and conservation in the Maldives, we would like to extend our
gratitude for your continued support to our efforts and work.

Since you have mentioned the effectiveness of letter writing in previous emails, I would like to know that it had a huge impact. 

For example, our friend working as the National Coordinator for Mangroves for the Future (MFF) the Maldives reported that the letter from MAP with concern for Kulhudhuffushi mangroves was discussed in a meeting of the National Coordination Body. It was widely covered by the media and garnered attention on social media and led to subsequent discussions on these platforms as well. READ MORE

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ACTION ALERT

Halt further destruction of primary mangrove forests in the Maldives. We are urging you to write letters to the recently elected president of the Maldives and his environmental minister View Sample letter

Save Pulau Kukup National Park – second largest mangrove island in the world. Sign The Petition

Video: Mangroves for the Future – A look bacK. As the latest phase of Mangroves for the Future (MFF) draws to a close, this video highlights some of the project’s most successful initiatives – from local women supporting national park management in Viet Nam to an island in the Maldives that has become a model for waste management, and everything in between. View Here

Making the case for Emergency Climate Change Action

Mapping Mangroves
Counting Mangroves

Poet
Placencia mangrove workshop teacher's poem

Volunteer with MAP – LEARN MORE

Watch Children's Mangrove Art Calendar Promo 2019 Click Here

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MAP 2019 Children’s Calendar available now  CLICK HERE

You can help ensure that the knowledge and skills needed to conserve and restore mangroves is preserved in coastal communities READ MORE

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MANGROVE ISSUES 

Want to learn more about mangroves?mangrove-action-project-presentation-1-1024.jpg?cb=1424228039
Our short presentation will give you a better understanding of the issues we are working to solve. WATCH PRESENTATION

What is CBEMR? Easy to follow fact sheet – CLICK HERE

What is EPIC? – The Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities (EPIC) project:  the role of ecosystems as protective barriers against climate induced hazards

MANGROVES APP AVAILABLE
A pictorial field guide for easy identification of various mangrove species and learning about the mangroves ecosystem. CLICK HERE

View MAP’s uploaded Videos at MAPmangrover’sChannel
Question Your Shrimp Consumer/Markets Campaign!  
WATCH VIDEO

Mangrove Restoration in Asia – Watch Short Video

The Value of Mangrove Forests View Video

CBEMR Experience Exchange MAP 2017 English Subtitles
VIEW THE VIDEO

Mangroves: Guidebook to Malaysia – Click Here
 
Mangrove rehabilitation in Asia – Local Action and cross-border Transfer of Knowledge for the Conservation of Climate, Forests and Biodiversity VIEW VIDEOS HERE

SHARE MAP'S VISION 
CLICK HERE to watch short introductory video. Together we can work "at the roots of the sea".
Our short documentary, Reducing the Risk of Disaster through Nature-Based Solutions : Mangroves
EPIC-Film 2
 
Exclusive Interview with Alfredo Quarto, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Mangrove Action Project – See more
 

Marvellous Mangroves Curriculum

The Marvellous Mangroves Education Forum is an online hub for those utilizing the Marvellous Mangroves (MM) Curriculum. It gives students, teachers and anyone interested in mangroves, the opportunity to learn and share ideas themed around the curriculum, to connect and communicate with others around the globe whilst exploring mangroves from your computer or on the go. VISIT

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The award-winning Marvellous Mangroves (MM) curriculum educates children on the importance of mangroves and their ecological functions, teaching them about modern challenges and mechanisms for sustainability. VIEW VIDEO

Marvellous-Mangroves-Myths-and-Legends-Promo
MAP Education Director Martin Keeley’s most recent book is Marvellous Mangroves: Myths and Legends, a compilation of stories from “Mangrove Peoples”—those who live on shorelines where mangroves thrive—from around the world. READ MORE

Marvellous Mangroves Curriculum in Bangladesh – WATCH VIDEO
MARVELLOUS MANGROVES IN BRAZIL
En Portuges

MAP%20Curriculum%20Video
Marvellous Mangroves – A Curriculum-Based Teachers Guide.

FOR MORE ON MAPs AWARD WINNING CHINA MANGROVE CURRICULUM VISIT
Education in the Mangroves - China
VIMEO SHOW
VISIT OUR "MM" WEBPAGE

Check out our presentation for more details on Marvellous Mangroves

Read this 10 page history of the development of MAP’s educational curriculum VIEW DOCUMENT
 
Article in Canada's Green Teacher Magazine – Read More


FREE MAP Mangrove e-cards CLICK HERE
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MAP’s e-Cards offer you a unique way to spread the word about MAP’s good works, while sharing beautiful photographs of the mangroves

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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

Green Planet Fundraising Assists MAP – LEARN MORE


 Volunteer Opportunities with Mangrove Action Project CLICK HERE

"Question Your Shrimp" Campaign

Question Your Shrimp- Don't Buy or Sell Imported Tropical Shrimp! Sign the Petition

Learn more about the affects of the shrimp industry on mangroves by visiting our blog
Editor’s Note: Mangrove Action Project’s Executive Director, Alfredo Quarto was interviewed about shrimp by Green Acre Radio’s Martha Baskin
LISTEN TO INTERVIEW

Information sheds clear light on shrimp-mangrove connection
Question Your Shrimp
SEE DETAILS MANGROVE/SHRIMP

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Help Mangrove Action Project through your recycled E-Waste.  List of Accepted E-waste Items:
Injet Cartidges, Cell Phones, Pagers, GPS, Radar Detectors, Mobile Hot Spots, Calculators, eBook Readers, iPods/MP3 players, Digital/Video Cameras/Camcorders, PDAs, iPads/Tablets/Laptops, Video Game Consoles, Handheld Video Games
Visit the Mangrove Action Project recycle website Click on the recycle button then click on the Download Shipping Label, and follow the instructions.
 
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