Explore the winners of our 2024 Children’s Mangrove Art Contest!

Skip to main content
Back to posts

MAP News Issue 457, Dec. 8, 2018


Mangrove Action Project

The MAP News
457th Edition                                                     Dec. 8, 2018

FEATURE
 

From mitigating climate change, to protecting coastlines, food security, bio-diversity, and economic and social equality – mangroves offer important solutions for our planet!
Mangrove Giving
Over the past 26 years the Mangrove Action Project (MAP) has worked around the globe in giving a voice to mangroves, and in helping to conserve and restore these critical forest wetlands. The world today faces a number of challenges – ranging from climate change, to protecting coastlines from strengthening storms, ensuring food security, and economic and social equality. Luckily, mangroves provide unique solutions to these pressing issues! You may have read or heard recently about a report issued by the world’s leading climate scientists at the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warning us that urgent changes are needed to reverse the course of climate trends. Nearly 2.4 billion people live within 60 miles of the coast, and as temperatures and sea levels continue to rise these areas will be some of the most heavily impacted. Luckily, mangroves have been found to be incredible long-term carbon sinks, storing carbon in the plants themselves, but also (and more importantly) in the soils below for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. In the coming months, MAP will be pushing our successful ecology and community-based methods to the forefront of mangrove restoration efforts globally, and will continue engaging current and future generations in these crucial ecosystems. But we can only do so thanks to our amazing network of supporters! During this year-end giving season, we hope you’ll consider a tax-deductible donation to Mangrove Action Project. To make a donation, please visit our donations webpage.
READ MORE

AFRICA

Indigenous peoples and local communities are the best guardians of biodiversity
Indigenous Leaders
EGYPT – “Indigenous peoples and local communities embody humanity’s creative intelligence and wisdom in our care and love for Mother Earth. We are on the frontlines to protect the world’s remaining biodiversity, and many of our leaders have been killed defending human rights and the environment.” This was the key closing message of the of the caucus* of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) participating in the UN Biodiversity conference, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, 17-29 November 2018. The Biodiversity Conference combined the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP14), the highest governing body of the Convention, as well as the 9th meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COPMOP9) and the 3rd meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (COPMOP3). READ MORE

Joining up the dots to protect Forests, Climate and Rights – A Strategy Think-piece
Baka women
CONGO – As 80% of global biodiversity lie within the vast forest territories of indigenous peoples, these crises are closely linked.1 The threats to the successful conservation of forests, the associated impacts on our global climate and the cultural survival of indigenous peoples who call those forests home have their roots in the same problem: a failure to legally recognise and enforce the rights of indigenous peoples to care for their ancestral forest lands, thereby securing their lands and demonstrating sustainability is possible. FPP works at the nexus of these problems mobilising a diverse set of tools to tackle these linked crises. FPP’s approach is rooted in deep working relationships with indigenous peoples, connecting their struggles with national and global allies in the spheres of conservation, human rights, development and trade, and using tools such as strategic litigation, and legal and policy reform to reinforce this grass roots advocacy to generate transformative change. READ MORE

ASIA

Protecting our mangroves and coastal wetlands
Mangrove Plastic
MALAYSIA – During my recent field trips to various mangrove forests and islands on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, there were sightings of plastic litter in the mangroves and on the shores throughout the coast. Accumulated plastic litter can have major negative consequences on mangroves. For instance, they occupy ground space and create unnecessary competition — deterring seedlings to establish and grow, while suffocating and choking the faunal organisms. Plastic litter also affect tidal flushing, causing stress on the ecosystem with increased salinity and chemical deposits. Furthermore, plastic litter could also promote the spread of mosquito- and other pest- and water-related diseases, among others.Many mangrove forests are still perceived as the most convenient dumping sites, while some mangrove estuaries are suppressed by the impacts of leachate and overflow garbage from the nearby illegal landfills. It is crucial to note that coastal villages are directly affected by the daily flood and ebb tides. Critically, during spring tides (new moon and full moon), all low lying villages are flooded and the tides will wash away unmanaged litter when ebbing, and contribute further to the marine debris issue. READ MORE

After Dedicating 16 Years of His Life to Mangroves, Man Has Helped to Plant 2 Million Trees
Douglas-Thisera-the-Mangrove-Master-Great-Big-Story
SRI LANKA – Mangrove trees are an essential source of resources for humans and animals alike – and despite how deforestation has put the trees in a precarious position, one man has dedicated his entire life to protecting them. Douglas Thisera, also known as the “Mangrove Master”, has planted over 2 million mangrove saplings across his home country of Sri Lanka in a bid to preserve the precious foliage. “I love mangrove forests very much,” Thisera told Great Big Story. “I can compare my attachment to mangroves like the connection between a tree and its bark.” Though Thisera has been working in conservation since 1992, he has spent the last 16 years planting the saplings and organizing community projects to protect mangrove forests from being torn down for industrialization purposes.READ MORE

By 2021, mobile app will send alerts if mangroves destroyed
Mangrove Mobile App
INDIA – Debris mafia and land encroachers may want to think twice before destroying mangroves as the state forest department’s cell is all set to get phone alerts through an app whenever miscreants damage any green cover. The app, to be developed by Indian Institute and Space Science and Technology (IIST)—a unit of Indian Space Research Organisation, will generate alerts even if a minor change is detected in the state’s mangroves cover. Even a 2sqm destruction or degradation of mangroves will be detected with the help of satellites. The IIST commenced work on the satellite-mapping project in April and is expected to complete it by 2021. In the meantime, IIST has already begun sharing satellite images with the mangrove cell. “We are using ground and satellite data to perfect a model for monitoring mangroves. The app, which will be developed in the later stages, will be provided to select officials. It will also receive complaints and mangrove destruction pictures sent by citizens,” said an official. “Past baseline maps and imagery are being used. The satellite will monitor changes and every time a change is detected, if it is negative, an alert will be generated. The project will cost us Rs 70 lakh,” said the official. READ MORE

Indigenous peoples in West Papua call for halt of harmful ‘development activities’ on their customary lands
32ef5def-1e69-4687-9dac-4c842a9c9627.jpg?itok=Pan6bU6X
INDONESIA – “Currently, we, the indigenous people, traditional villagers and forest people, and the places where we are living are under pressure and face sustained injustice and social tension due to large-scale “development’ activities conducted by plantation and commercial logging companies.” After travelling to Jakarta to meet with religious leaders, and representatives from the environmental and forest ministry, the affected communities from West Papua took part in a demonstration. At present, indigenous communities, villages and customary forests in Papua are experiencing pressure, injustice and social tensions from development activities carried out by large scale plantation companies and commercial logging. READ MORE

AMERICAS

Experts Seek to Conserve and Restore Mangroves in the Country
Mangroves-in-Costa-Rica
COSTA RICA – The International Workshop for Exchange of Experiences in Mangrove Conservation and Restoration was held in the country for the framework of the Project Restoration, Conservation and Sustainable Management of the Mangroves of Costa Rica, Benin Against Climate Change, and the Costa Rica-Benin Mangrove Project. This was the 4th workshop to be held in Costa Rica this year since previously the national experiences have been known and from countries such as Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador. The workshop allowed the exchange of knowledge and experiences related to conservation, mangrove restoration, models of community participation and environmental education related to these ecosystems, which will include the participation of national and international experts, government institutions, civic organizations, and community groups. In addition, it allows the monitoring of the results of the national initiatives previously identified by the project Global Environment Facility (GEF) mangroves and the coordination of the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), to work towards the goal of establishing a protocol national for the rehabilitation of mangroves.READ MORE

Finding A Future in the Forest
Alma Delia Salgado
MEXICO -One of the largest remaining tropical rainforests in the Americas stretches across the Mexican states of Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Campeche, and reaches down into Guatemala and Belize. The forests are home to an innumerable number of species, from jaguars and mahogany trees, to plants, insects and animals still yet to be named and classified by modern science. In some places, the landscape is dotted with cenotes, caves hollowed out from limestone, that fill with dazzlingly aqua waters. People living in this region have been stewards of the forest for generations. But when she was younger, Alma Delia Salgado didn’t think she could stay in her small hometown, Nueva Vida, in the state of Campeche. She planned to move away to find work, perhaps to a big city or maybe the United States. This is a common dilemma facing young people around the world, who find few opportunities in rural regions. But for the forest communities of the Yucatan Peninsula, the departure of an entire generation could spell disaster for an ecosystem — and global climate change. READ MORE

OCEANA

Can Killer Robots Help Save the Great Barrier Reef?
Robots for Coral
AUSTRALIA – I spot one on a clear September morning, while swimming through the lukewarm waters around the Great Barrier Reef. A striking starfish, the color of cabernet and sporting more than a dozen arms, hugs the side of a gently curving ridge of coral. It looks lovely and dangerous, and not just because I know the long spines covering it are lacquered with venom. This creature, located a two-hour boat ride from Townsville, off Australia’s northeast coast, is known as the crown-of-thorns starfish. While it’s the first one I have ever seen, it’s far from alone. Since 2010, a plague of them, numbering somewhere in the millions, has been methodically consuming the Great Barrier Reef, representing yet another in a series of existential threats to a coral reef system already wounded by intense hurricanes and weakened by bouts of exceptionally warm waters. Nor is this the first outbreak. READ MORE

LAST WORD

BECCS and many fake “sustainable biofuel” projects continue to misinform about their net impacts using false carbon accounting.
Some examples are given in this New York Times article, which unfortunately fails to discuss solutions:
Palm Oil Borneo Climate Catastrophe
Last year, when the deforested peatlands cleared for oil palm burned in forest fires, Indonesia was briefly the world’s largest CO2 emitter, even more than China or the US!
Indonesia has the world’s largest mangroves, and around half of them have been destroyed.
Most have been destroyed with international “development” funds, in order to create shrimp ponds, around half of which have been abandoned due to disease.
Indonesia now protects mangroves, but the north coast of Java, which used to be mangroves, are now water, causing flooding inland due to sea level rise.
If they were regenerated, Indonesia could be the world’s largest and most cost-effective carbon sink.
The Biorock method, originally developed for coral reef and coastal fisheries regeneration, greatly increases marine plant above and below ground production, and increases carbon storage in sediments.
Willie Smits, Biorock Indonesia, the Mangrove Action Project, and Indonesian mangrove researchers are trying to find funding to use Biorock restoration methods to restore Borneo mangroves that were illegally clearcut for palm oil plantations, whose peat carbon is now oxidizing and turning into CO2 as the result of deforestation and drainage.
Our goal is to turn this devastated area into an orangutan sanctuary, a carbon sink, and a producer of truly sustainable biofuels.
These will be produced from sustainable tapping of the flower stalks of Nypa fruticans palm, endemic to these swamps, which unlike sugar cane, does not need to be cut down or fertilized to produce biofuels.

Thomas J. F. Goreau, PhD
President, Global Coral Reef Alliance
President, Biorock Technology Inc.
Coordinator, Soil Carbon Alliance
Coordinator, United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development Small Island Developing States Partnership in New Sustainable Technologies
37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
goreau@globalcoral.org
www.globalcoral.org
Skype: tomgoreau
Tel: (1) 617-864-4226

 


 

 
VOLUNTEER WITH MAP

 

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
ACTION ALERT

Making the case for Emergency Climate Change Action

Volunteer with MAP
Internships now available – LEARN MORE

Watch Children’s Mangrove Art Calendar Promo 2019 Click Here

2019_Calendar_CoverSPONSOR_MAP
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

WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
Follow and Join MAP!

 Twitter  Instagram  Facebook  Facebook-friend 2
 
Subscribe to MAP News


VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY
VOLUNTEER WITH MAP

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

hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEXCPYBEIoBSFryq4qpAwkIARUAAIhCGAE=&rs=AOn4CLAIPpVu7SHVoLtiNFvNN3tzQ9n8Yw
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
Mangrove-Roots-from-Below-Columbia-277x186
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

Donate to MAP via Paypal
Giving could never be easier
Donate.jpg
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

Sign the Consumer’s Pledge to avoid imported shrimp


Join MAP on Facebook

Not yet a MAP News subscriber?
Click here to subscribe.

Note to Our Readers:
We strive to keep active links in our newsletter. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, occasionally links to stories may become broken. If you find a link to a story is not functioning, please cut and paste the headline into your browser search bar. In most cases you should be able to locate the original story.



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.

 
download_shipping_label

 

Mangrove Action Project
Click here to view past newsletters
MAPNEWS_website