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

FEATURED STORY
Former MAP-Asia Intern Joins 1st Mangrove Training Course for the Western Indian Ocean Region
 
KENYA – From the 2nd to the 10th of December the First International Mangrove Training on Biodiversity and Ecosystem in the Western Indian Ocean Region took place at the University of Nairobi’s Moana Research Station for Marine Studies, in Diani, Mombassa, Kenya.  The training was attended by more than 20 participants from 10 different countries. The team of trainers were also international, including Professor Kathiresan, Director of the Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, at Annamalai University, India; Hanneke Van Lavieren from the UNU-INWEH; and Dr. Cairo from the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI). The objective of the training course was to build the capacity of mangrove practitioners and managers throughout the region, as mangroves are under huge pressures from human over-exploitation. Students were asked to give presentations about mangroves in their respective countries to raise awareness that the problems faced by mangroves in the Western Indian Ocean region are all very similar. READ MORE
 
ASIA
 
Mangroves, nature’s shield against typhoons and tsunami
 
PHILIPPINES – Following typhoon Haiyan, the Philippines’ Department for Environment and Natural Resources has earmarked around US$8m to fund efforts to replant much of the affected coastal zone with mangrove forests. Reforesting these coasts with 19m trees, particularly the extensively damaged islands of Leyte and Samar, is a key part of bolstering the first line of defence against future storms. Reports suggest up to 80% of the money is likely to be channelled to residents to engage them in tree planting activities as part of the country’s cash-for-work program. Why trees and not, say, concrete? Mangrove forests grow along the coast in fine, salty sediments across the tropics and sub-tropics. Recent research has revealed that mangroves, along with salt marshes and other wetlands, can sequester carbon much more permanently and effectively than terrestrial forests, offering an important means to mitigate global climate change. READ MORE
 
City task force mum on mangrove destruction
INDIA – Mangroves are being burnt, destroyed and encroached upon in various parts of the city. But Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) Task Force for Navi Mumbai, comprising top civic, police and government officials, is sitting idle on the notification issued by the state environment department to safeguard mangroves from being further butchered. This inaction is pushing the satellite city into eco-sensitive zone. It is learnt that the task force has never met since its formation on November 22, 2011, to decide the fate of the mangroves. Taking note of the large-scale violation of coastal corridor and following complaints from residents, MCZMA was forced to constitute a task force for Navi Mumbai. But rampant destruction of mangroves continues unabated. READ MORE
 
Action sought against mangrove charcoal-making
PHILIPPINES – Officials of Barangay Balaring in Silay City have referred to the Negros Occidental Provincial Environment Management Office (Pemo) the mangrove charcoal-making activities in their village. The barangay officials discovered about three tons of cut mangroves believed to be processed into charcoal as they also discovered charcoal pits and other materials for charcoal making. Village chief Remy Roldan in a TV interview said they want charcoal- making using mangroves to be stopped because they know how important mangroves are to prevent flooding. In fact, mangroves shielded Sagay City’s coastlines when Typhoon Yolanda hit the area. Roldan said they already have suspects but he refused to divulged their identities. He said they will check other areas if the same illegal activities are also taking place. VIEW SOURCE
 
Land sharks sneakily filling up lake, choking mangroves
INDIA – Land-grabbers have been steadily and stealthily filling up a large salt water lake to the south of Palm Beach road in Navi Mumbai, said residents and environmentalists who fear both the lake and the mangroves lining it will be killed. They want a tarred road providing access to the area to be closed off, as it is not being used by anyone but those who are filling up the lake. Already, they say, 20 per cent of the lake, which extends over 580 metres in length and is over 368 metres wide, is gone. The site in question lies on the left side of Palm beach road as one drives from NRI complex towards Vashi. The huge salt water lake is gradually being filled up, with heaps of mud dumped on its periphery. READ MORE
 
AFRICA
 
Longing for a carbon project
MADAGASCAR – For Mamelo Honko, a community based association for mangrove protection in Ambondrolava, southwest Madagascar, International Mangrove Day (held on July 26th) is one of the rare occasions to share publicly their efforts and plans with government officials and partner organisations. Mamelo Honko, meaning “to give life to the mangrove”, was founded in 2010 and engages with a number of support partners. They organised the mangrove day festivities with their long-time partner, the Belgian NGO Honko Mangrove Conservation and Education. To maintain these conservation efforts, the Mamelo Honko Association, along with the NGO Honko, has undertaken various activities to create alternative sources of income for their communities. These include a mud crab farming project, beekeeping, and training sessions in basket making for a local women’s group. Though a lack of technical skills has meant that some of the projects have been slow  to get off the ground, they are not discouraged, and the Association is well aware that there is no success without hard work. READ MORE
 
Group calls Govt’s land deal with US company a grave injustice
CAMEROON – Since 2010, Struggle to Economize Future Environment (SEFE) has led a non violent campaign against US owned Herakles Farms by organizing community resistance against the establishment of large-scale oil palm plantations in the midst of four very important protected areas including the iconic Korup National Park. The area is also a complex watershed formation (Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve), which provides freshwater to nearby and far-off communities in Cameroon and Nigeria, and it is widely considered to be a hotspot for biodiversity and a habitat for rare, endemic and threatened species of animals. Therefore the project will not only have negative impacts to nearby communities but also on far-off communities living on coastal fringes in both Cameroon and Nigeria (Cross River State). So it cannot be said to be a sustainable project. By granting this concession, the President seems to have denied inhabitants their inalienable rights to free, prior and informed consent and also ignored the widespread impacts of this large-scale oil palm plantation. Tension is now rife within the concession area since the signing of the decree on November 25, 2013, and could degenerate into conflicts among the villages in the area which have long co-existed in peace and enjoyed communal life together for many centuries. READ MORE
 
AMERICAS
 
Spared Winter Freeze, Florida’s Mangroves Are Marching North
 
USA  – Much of the Florida shoreline was once too cold for the tropical trees called mangroves, but the plants are now spreading northward at a rapid clip, scientists reported Monday. That finding is the latest indication that global warming, though still in its early stages, is already leading to ecological changes so large they can be seen from space. Along a 50-mile stretch of the central Florida coast south of St. Augustine, the amount of mangrove forest doubled between 1984 and 2011, the scientists found after analyzing satellite images. They said the hard winter freezes that once kept mangroves in check had essentially disappeared in that region, allowing the plants to displace marsh grasses that are more tolerant of cold weather. READ MORE
 
Why it's a good idea to stop eating shrimp
USA – Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the United States, with Americans eating an average of 4.1 pounds per person annually. As delicious as shrimp may be, we actually should not be eating them. The process that delivers bags of frozen shrimp to your grocery store at cheap prices has devastating ecological consequences, and you’ll probably not want to touch that shrimp ring ever again after reading what’s really happening behind the scenes. Shrimp is either farmed or wild, but neither option is good for the environment. Farmed shrimp are kept in pools on the coast, where the tide can refresh the water and carry waste out to sea. Ponds are prepared with heavy doses of chemicals such as urea, superphosphate, and diesel. Then the shrimp receive pesticides, antibiotics (some that are banned in the U.S., but used overseas), piscicides (fish-killing chemicals like chlorine), sodium tripolyphosphate, borax, and caustic soda. READ MORE
 
Cuba imposes mangrove protection
CUBA – Cuban scientific authorities promoted a program of protection of mangroves, which occupy 70 percent of the coastal area of the island and are the most representative in the Caribbean. The program, titled "Green for restoration of mangroves in selected areas of the Cuban archipelago Bases ", allowed the study of the actual status of these ecosystems in areas east of Havana, south of the present province of Mayabeque, in northern the provinces of Matanzas and Villa Clara, in the south of Camagüey cays. The research fellow of the National Biodiversity Centre, from the Institute of Ecology and Systematics, Leda Menendez, told local media that the investigation established the degree of deterioration of mangroves in these points, as well as the causes of damage. This data, he said, made for ​​methodological guidelines aimed at preserving these areas of future impacts, and promotes recovery. READ MORE (en Espanol)
 
EUROPE
 
Help sought for mangroves, nature's dams
 
GERMANY – Mangroves provide the tropics with protection from the increasing incidence of storms and flooding caused by taiphoons and tsunamis. But the coastal forests are in decline. Efforts are underway to bring them back. A green forest, rising out of the ocean, hugging the coastline like a green lifebelt – mangroves live only in tropical areas. They need warm conditions and a mixture of salt and fresh water. Their branches and web of aerial roots are home to numerous bird species. The waters around their base are alive with fish, the sediment crawling with crabs. But since the 1980s, mangroves have declined by around 35 percent for various reasons. They often have to make way for harbors, airports or housing. Even more of the mangroves have been sacrificed for shrimp ponds that feed international demand for the small crustaceans, Ulrich Saint-Paul of the University of Bremen's Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology, told DW. By destroying mangroves, tropical countries are paying a high price to consumers in other parts of the world who want cheap shrimp. READ MORE
 

LAST WORD
 
Dear All,
 
As I am joining MAP team in Thailand, I would like to introduce myself to each of you. My name is Piyapat Nakornchai (Por), and I will be assisting Jim with the GNF Project in Thailand. Actually, I was a part of MAP before, when I was helping with the community and conservation project on Phra Thong Island. After the project, I became a research assistant for a team which studied the impacts from climate change on marine protected areas in Thailand. Last year, I finished my masters in Environmental Social Science from the University of Kent, with a dissertation focusing on the networking of environmental organisations in Thailand. I am very pleased to be a part of MAP team again, and looking forward to working with you all. Please do not hesitate to contact me if anything is needed.
 
Regards,
Por
volunteer.mapasia@gmail.com
 

~ WE WELOCME YOUR LETTERS – If you’d like to have the last word on this or any other mangrove related topic, please send us your submission for upcoming newsletters. We’ll choose one per issue to have “the last word”. While we can’t promise to publish everyone’s letter, we do encourage anyone to post comments on our Blog at www. mangroveactionproject.blogspot.com

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