Keep MAP growing with your help
Dear Friend of the Mangroves, 12/24/16
Yes, it’s the end of the year, and of course this is an appeal for your generous support for Mangrove Action Project! Since its inception in March 1992 (almost 25 years ago!), MAP has been actively engaged in conserving and restoring the mangroves and people who depend on these unique and vitally important coastal ecosystems. With projects in Asia, Latin America and Africa, in collaboration with our local partners throughout the Global South, MAP has been building capacity of communities to protect and conserve these highly valued “roots of the sea” – the mangrove wetlands. Via our ongoing programs, we are striving to ensure that mangroves will remain to benefit the lives of future generations.
In 2016, MAP continued to promote the vital role that mangroves play in carbon sequestration and long-term carbon storage; as coastal buffers against hurricanes, storm surges and tsunamis; and as critical nurseries for a cornucopia of marine life that depend on the mangroves.
MAP furthered its Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) program in Thailand and Central America. Working closely with local organizations and communities, MAP’s CBEMR program aims to slow the rate of mangrove deforestation, improve biodiversity and provide ecological security by providing coastal communities with a series of practical and localized education and training workshops. Early next year MAP will be bringing CBEMR training to Burma, and there is growing interest in CBEMR in several other countries in W. Africa and Latin America.
MAP’s Marvelous Mangroves Curriculum continues its focus on mangrove environmental education for primary school children. This program aims to educate future generations of mangrove stewards and decision makers about the critical importance of mangrove habitats. MAP’s Education Director Martin Keeley has thus far introduced the Curriculum into Cayman Islands, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Colombia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Australia. Martin recently took the Curriculum to Suriname, with further plans to bring this to Guadalupe, Haiti, India and Kenya in 2017.
The Question Your Shrimp (QYS) Public Awareness/ Markets Campaign is still a vital part of MAP’s global campaign. A leading cause of mangrove deforestation still stems from the shrimp farm industry. With this in mind, the QYS project attempts to reduce mangrove loss by reducing demand in the northern hemisphere for farmed tropical shrimp.
Networking remains an important function of MAP, and our world-renowned biweekly electronic MAP News has now been publishing mangrove-related news for over 20 years. Over the years many environmental NGOs and mangrove ecologists have commended MAP for its newsletter’s informative and thought provoking content. MAP News continues to act as a key vehicle for MAP’s networking and advocacy work to defend the world’s mangroves.
AND, of course, we must mention MAP’s 2017 Children’s Mangrove Art Calendar is in its 16th year of production! This year’s calendar is one of our most beautiful editions, and we are again offering the calendar as a gift for those donating $35 or more to MAP. Or, you can also purchase a calendar for $14, including postage. Please send checks to MAP, 606 Maynard Ave. S Ste. 102, Seattle, WA 98104, USA, or go online to MAP’s website to use PayPal to donate to MAP by credit card.
Again, thanks so much for your support for MAP!
For the Mangroves and the Mangrove Communities!
Alfredo Quarto,
Co-Director/ Co-Founder
Mangrove Action Project
PLEASE ORDER YOUR 2017 MAP CHILDRENS MANGROVE ART CALENDAR NOW! www.mangroveactionproject/org