Search News Archive
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Please help us save the Uran
The forest department's ridiculous management is responsible for the Sundarbans blazing
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Ring the Alarm Bells at Taco Bell!
Please help by posting a comment on Taco Bell's corporate site expressing the danger of this offering.
Click Here To Tell Taco Bell What You Think
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Brian Keller
Dr. Brian D. Keller
The Mangrove Action Project joins the world of marine conservation in mourning the loss of Dr. Brian D. Keller, who dedicated his life to conservation of ocean ecosystems, especially coral reefs and associated ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrasses. Brian was more than a colleague to MAP. Beloved husband of the treasurer of our board of directors, Fiona Wilmot, he was also a friend and staunch supporter. Brian Keller passed away on the morning of March 10.
Marine ecosystems have lost a tireless advocate who daily studied and worked on ways to better understand coral reef ecosystems to improve their management and conservation for the benefit of all people around the world. Brian used his experience and knowledge of marine research every day to apply to his role in science management and to share with others. There was no greater proponent of sound science-based management than Brian and no one more generous. His knowledge was unsurpassed and he knew how sound science could be applied to make the wisest and best-informed decisions to conserve marine resources. His wisdom informed and influenced management decisions locally, regionally, and worldwide every day, especially in the Caribbean.
At the time of his sudden death, Dr. Keller was serving as the Regional Science Coordinator for the Southeast Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Region of NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. He was working on a range of significant marine conservation issues from water quality to ecosystem and species-based monitoring to climate change adaptation options for management of marine protected areas. Brian supported local managers throughout the Caribbean, being unimaginably generous with his time and support. He was always ready to share his vast knowledge, available to review and comment on a colleague’s work, and eager to discuss the latest science, research, and findings and how best to apply these to conservation and improvement of coastal communities’ livelihoods and quality of life.
| @ Florida's Wildlife: On the Frontline of Climate Change, Oct. 08 |
Brian will be greatly missed – as scientist, mentor, adviser, and friend. MAP’s staff, board, and many members and supporters join in sending our sincere condolences to Fiona and their families.
Food sovereignty in the hands of mangrove ecosystem women
This story has been cultivated with the thoughts, the experience, the dreams, the words and the hands of women shell-gatherers from the Province of Esmeraldas, in northern Ecuador.
Living conditions there are hard. Access to the communities is usually difficult, there are schools in some locations, but very often the teachers lose heart and leave. The parents must make great efforts and send away their children to enable them to study. The water is no good for consumption and food is getting increasingly scarce.
With the arrival of the shrimp ponds, the mangroves disappeared and the farmhouses disappeared too. Nor were the dead respected either, as they even invaded the cemeteries. People leave, seeking to improve their lives, but they always come back because what they learnt is to gather, to fish and to sow food.
We start this reflection with much joy. For a long time now we have been struggling for the defence of the mangrove ecosystem, we have been talking about how we have been losing food, work and land. They even want to take our dignity away from us. We are trapped between the destruction of primary forests and the shrimp ponds and now, between the eucalyptus plantations and the oil palm plantations that are advancing and threatening to make us disappear.
Approximately ninety of us women sit and talk, sharing every day the gathering of shells from between the mangrove roots. Together we open another door to advance along this path. Rosa, Jacinta, Delfida, Uberlisa, Fátima, Gladys, Digna, Reverside, Anita, Nelly, Albita, Lucety, Ismelda, Nancy, Danny, Daila, Mercedes, MarÃa, Andrea, EstefanÃa, Santa, Lourdes, Marianeli, Flora, Herlinda, Tasiana, Rita, Ramona, Marieta, Carmen, Pastora, Ninfa, are the women with whom we have been struggling for nearly twenty years now in defence of the mangrove ecosystem, since the eighties, when the shrimp ponds and nurseries started invading the mangroves. We have been fighting for years, “but we are not tired.”
Sharing the warmth of a plate of traditional food, sheltered by the intelligence and picaresque joy of Esmeralda’s shell-gathering women, we crafted this story to share with other women, with other struggles, with other expectations ... and in this fiesta we were joined by Don Garci, Goyo, Cocoa, Edgar, Pirre, La Mona, Fifo, Maximo and Alfredo.
“Like a nightmare that we have to wake up from”
“One day we woke up and it was like a bad dream, like a nightmare. Some with machines, others with machetes, all destroying the mangrove forest; then the fire finished everything off. Large notices were put up ‘Private property – no trespassing’ and some skulls and crossbones appeared on the notices. Then armed guards and dogs prevented the women shell-gatherers from entering the few places left where the mangroves had survived. The guards insulted them, chased them with the dogs and threatened to kill them.
Thus, the story of destruction in the Muisne Canton, in the south of the Province of Esmeraldas began. This happened towards the end of the eighties. It was then that industrial shrimp farming started to destroy the mangrove ecosystem and peasant farms starting from the Province of El Oro.
At the beginning, the population believed in the companies’ offers: “They came like they do during political campaigns, promising us the earth. During the first years it looked as if a bonanza was coming. We all went out to gather shrimp larvae and to fish for egg-producing shrimps to deliver them to the industry. But soon it was all over and here we are, with our arms crossed, with nothing.” The community people never thought that in a few years their lives would be so affected.
“With shell gathering, my mother gave birth and brought up ten daughters. We all studied up to college and we never wanted for anything at home. Not luxuries, but we had everything at mealtimes: different types of crabs, such as the guariche, the tasquero, and the mapara; also forest animals, free-range hens and shellfish, clams, mussels, fish. Bananas were more abundant then. At that time, there was food because everyone had their own small farm. People grew food in their front gardens; there were all sorts of herbs, chillangua, large oregano, small oregano, cilantro, spring onions, mint and palo. We eat pepa e pan, peach palm ... everything was abundant. Now a shell-gatherers’ family lives very poorly, shrimp farms occupy the mangroves and the lands that belonged to our grandparents. Many farms have been lost.”
The women shell-gatherers from the Muisne Canton remember how the parish of Bolivar in the south of the Canton was larger, it had mango trees, avocados, orange trees, guavas, lemon and mandarin trees, coconut palms. All the houses had vegetable gardens, with corn, broad-beans, beans, cassava, sweet potato, zagú, tomatoes, sweet peppers, chillies, sweet potatoes of all kinds. The women told how they used to go down to the vegetable patch and have everything for the dressing at hand: white onions, shallots. There were aromatic plants too, verbena, mint, thyme, citronella. The women of Bunche and Daule described the same landscape.
We know how the lives of our fellow fishermen, crab gatherers, coalmen have deteriorated because we are all one and the same: women, men, mangroves. The stories, the legends, the dances, the songs...now there is hardly anything left.
In the old days there were great dances in big halls. The people celebrated their feasts to the sound of the guitar. In these parts the guitar was much played. The Black people arrived at the Canton of Muisne in the forties with their drums, their lullabies and praises and they merged with the customs and the culture of the inhabitants of Manabi. All of them went to the mangroves and all of them have made their lives there.
“But what I always say is that what is most important is our political struggle. It must never falter but rather grow. What is most important is to recover our natural enterprise, our mangrove ecosystem. There no one asks us for documents, no one places an age limit, we are humbly received. All the rest is complementary. We will not allow shrimp farming to be legalized, because if the government hands over the lands then they will become more arrogant and will want to humiliate us.” These are the words of 24-year old Andrea, mother of three boys and with all the strength of the women shell-gatherers from the Province of Esmeraldas.
The women shell-gatherers from the Canton of Muisne tell how, in spite of their deep grief over seeing the destruction of the mangrove ecosystem and their impotence over the speed with which the ecosystem was destroyed, their thoughts challenged them to find some way out. Fortunately they were together, there were community organizations as by then the Canton of Muisne was learning the story of the Muisne Esmeraldas Peasant Organization (Organización Campesina de Muisne Esmeraldas - OCAME), a strong organization inspired by the Church of the poor.
Today the proposal is to rehabilitate the mangrove ecosystem and with it, recover all that has been lost, because they are even taking away our culture. When the mangrove is reforested, the shells, the small tasquero crabs, larger crabs and other shell-fish will all come back. And community work will come back too because you can do nothing on your own and our communities have always been noted for their support, for reciprocity. Families survive because between us all we support each other, grandfathers and grandmothers, sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, uncles and aunts, mother and father and “whoever is stopping by.” Everybody contributes, not only with money but with work, with company, with good advice and this must not be lost.
What is still a bit “low” is work on the farms and the plots, although it has started. But it needs strength because it is like an incomplete body, as if the hands were missing or perhaps the heart. Markets are being organized to sell products from the mangroves and the farms; we call them Food Sovereignty Markets. What we are trying to do is to sell what we produce, what comes from our own land, with no chemicals. We are also taking products out of the mangrove, but with the message that the shell has to be big, 4.5 cm as it is good to sell, the small one must be put back so it can finish growing. We want to do the same with the crabs, sell large crabs, mind the egg producing crabs and mind the mothers who reproduce.
“The fact is that we consider the mangrove ecosystem to be our mother and this is what we have all learnt. Life is there, the mangrove ecosystem is a maternity and it is a natural industry that God has left us as heritage, so we won’t be poor.”
Long days of reflection, joyful meetings among communities, reforestation of mangrove forests, a political process of resistance is being built, of territorial dispute which, finally is a dispute for power.
For the group of women from the Cayapas Mataje Ecological Reserve, in the north of the Province of Esmeraldas and the Wildlife Refuge of the Muisne Cojimies Mangrove Estuary, in the south of the Province of Esmeraldas. Sent by Marianeli Torres, CCONDEM, Ecuador, e-mail: marianeli@ccondem.org.
ec ************************************************************ ********** VSO is an international development charity that works throughvolunteers.http://www.vsointernational.org This e-mail and any file/s attached are intended for the addressee only.If you are not the intended recipient please delete this e-mail.The views expressed in this e-mail are the author's own and do notnecessarily reflect those of VSO.UK Registered Charity No: 313757 | Scotland: SCO39117
MESSAGE DURING THE 19 JANUARY 2010 LAUNCHING OF KATUNGGAN IT IBAJAY (KII) MANGROVE ECOPARK IN IBAJAY, AKLAN, PHILIPPINES
This is a speech I have waited 13 years to give, since I first visited the Bugtongbato mangroves. Make that 14 years, if we go back to 1996 when my then SEAFDEC assistant Junemie, now Dr. Lebata-Ramos, excitedly reported a beautiful mangrove patch she had seen in Ibajay. I thought she was exaggerating until another colleague confirmed her story. When I came with a SEAFDEC group in 1997, it was love at first sight! Never mind the mangroves I have visited all over the Philippines and SE Asia, Japan, Brazil, Ecuador, Africa and even Florida in the USA – the captivating BugtongBato-Naisud mangroves will always be my favorite.
So I was shocked to find during that visit that many trees were girdled – that is, the bark was scraped, and I asked the Barangay (Village) Head Why? He replied – to kill them by setting on fire (dag-oban kag patyon), following the advice of a government environment official that in order to make a livelihood from the mangroves, he should plant bakhaw. As the forest is dominated by Avicennia, locally knows as apiapi or bungalon, he concluded that he would need to kill these first. So I pleaded – please save the trees because I will need them for my research – which was not really true at the time. But return to Iloilo I did, to obtain research funds for Mangrove-Friendly Aquaculture.
In the course of my field work until early 2000, I invited Filipino scientists, among them Dr. Rex Sadaba of the UP Visayas and Dr. Josette Biyo of the Philippine Science High School, who in turn brought their own students, and also foreign scientists from Japan, Sweden, UK, etc. One particular day I remember walking in the Ibajay market with an Australian mangrove expert in tow, when a vendor asked me pointblank: Is he your husband? She thought I was a native Akeanon who had brought my Caucasian spouse to the famous beaches of Boracay. She could not appreciate that there was/is something in Ibajay far more beautiful and precious than Boracay.
Since then, my experiences suggest that these mangroves are not only enchanting but also enchanted, protected. Please do not laugh if I tell this story of the first time Junemie and I visited the centuries-old trees some 800 meters and 10 minutes by footwalk from here. At the time, it took more than an hour through the slippery jungle to finally locate the Avicennia rumphiana stand. When we had our fill of admiring the magnificent trees, we started the return trip as the sun was going down. To our dismay, our local guide confessed that he had never seen that part of the forest so we kept going around in circles. After what seemed an eternity, we finally found the road. My own interpretation is that the spirits of the forest were testing us, and finally saw our good intentions. Earlier in the 1980s, People Power of a handful of local folks and officials prevented chainsaws from turning the forest into fishponds.
So I say to those who visit these mangroves – be pure in heart, respect the plants, do not cut their branches nor throw garbage. Unfortunately, this was not the case during my past visits, for each time I would notice a cuttabigi here or a burned piag-ao there. These are just 2 of the 27 species of true mangroves in this EcoPark, as documented in the Handbook of Philippine Mangroves (co-authored with Rex, Junemie and Jon Altamirano). You will see their scientific and local names on the nameplates hanging from the trees and also in the poster inside the Information Center. By the way, there are other posters that describe the importance of mangroves, their uses, and so on, so I will not go into that.
More recently, we simplified the 106-page book to a shorter, laminated Mangrove Field Guide which is cheaper and easier to carry. My fondest hope is to see Filipinos, both adults and children (including my 2 apos surnamed Tirol who happen to be Akeanons) going to the forest and appreciating it. Toward this end, my Pew grant has funded the writing and publication of Mangrove Modules for elementary schools. Last November, we distributed some 2,000 copies of these Modules with the accompanying Teacher`s Manual to 80 schools throughout Panay.
May I end by saying that this Park is only one livelihood option for our partner POs – the Bugtongbato Fishers Association and the Naisud Marine and Aquatic Organization. There is also food processing in collaboration with the Aklan State University, and hopefully more research studies from UPV and even foreign universities. In the early 2000s, SEAFDEC made it possible for me to do research in these mangroves. In 2005, the Pew grant provided PhP100,000 for the first part of the footwalk, but it was a solo flight project for me. In 2008 came the ZSL grant which not only provides funds from London, but also the best human resources available -- my staff of 9 from ZSL and Pew. Without all of them, we will not be here today.
Finally, on behalf of ZSL and also SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department (where I am Scientist Emerita), our deepest thanks go to our PO partners and LGU officials – Mayor Lulu (Ma. Lourdes Miraflores), Vice Mayor Sta. Maria, SB Solidum, Cap. Inguillo and Cap. Gregorio, and their support staff.
Good day and enjoy the mangroves!
J.H. Primavera
Pew Fellow
Scientist Emerita
SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department
Friday, March 5, 2010
Kenya’s Second Port Spells Double Devastation
It has been said that the greatest threat in the race to avert the global climate crisis is business as usual. At the highest level, business as usual is at the roots of current threats to one of the most internationally important ecosystems in Kenya: the Lamu Archipelago via the proposal to build a second national port for the country and situate it in the very heart of the archipelago.
The Kenyan government seems intent on developing a second national port and has gone to great lengths and distances to secure interest and capital for the project – as far as Qatar and China, which, until recently, had seemed to be the prominent cash cows for the existing proposal. Financial injection for the port hinged for a time on the leasing of 40,000 ha of land to Qatar in return for financing a proportion of the port. The land proposed to be leased lay within the Tana River Delta, an area of international conservation importance, itself, which is already facing a myriad of threats. However, as recently as a month ago, Qatar shelved the lease which might have made the port unviable. China, however, has stepped up its involvement further and agreed to fund the project. The project is by no means a small one - rather a 1.23 trillion shilling or, roughly, 17 billion dollar, venture. Cited estimates for the construction cover 1,000 acres in Lamu District, including plans for an oil refinery and terminal, international airport and railway track to Juba in Southern Sudan. In Lamu alone, 6,000 families are likely to be displaced by the project but this figure barely scratches the surface of the much larger impact the port is likely to have.
Please take action to save the Lamu Archipelago. Send the action letter below or your own to the Prime Minister of Kenya by copying it into your email. Please cc. it to the following leaders:
Prime Minister Raila Odinga: ps@primeminister.go.ke
cc. Kenya Ports Authority Managing Director James Mulewa: kpamd@kpa.co.ke
Minister of Transport, Hon. Chirau Ali Mwakwere: motc@insightkenya.com
--
Dear Prime Minister,
I write to speak out against the reckless plans to build a second national port in Lamu. As you know, mangrove forests are the first line of defense against sea level rise associated with global warming. Their value in carbon storage alone is very significant and mangroves are threatened along the entire East African coastline. To build this port, the mangrove forests in the Manda Bay area from Mkanda Channel to Dodori Creek would require extensive felling. East Africa has consistently lost mangrove cover over the past quarter century and increased rates of degradation would seriously imperil this fragile ecosystem and reduce its capacity to mitigate climate change effects.
Cited estimates for the construction of the second port cover 1,000 acres in the region of Manda Bay in Lamu District, including plans for an oil refinery and terminal, international airport and railway track to Southern Sudan. The tremendous destruction to the natural environment from such developments can only be guessed at without public record of Environmental Impact Assessment. In 1980, 60,000 hectares off the coast north of Lamu was designated a Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Project in recognition of the international conservation importance of the north-eastern coastal region. The Dodori Creek mouth, proposed to be developed, sits at the edge of this biosphere reserve at coordinates 2°03’ S and 41°00’ E. The environmental impact alone, not to mention the effects on local fishermen and farmers, would negate the intention of designation of this site to preserve the biodiversity, natural resources and ecology of the area through management that incorporates local people. Construction would also impact two national reserves to the north of the proposed port site: Kiunga Marine and Dodori National Reserve.
Local people have never been consulted yet local farmers in the proposed location for this port were visited in January of 2009 by an official delegation and told that some of the 6,000 families likely to be displaced by the project will be compensated for land if the Port Authority decides to proceed with its plans. In 1997, under public pressure, the World Bank halted a plan to relocate 600 families in the center of a critical habitat for a threatened primate species in the Tana Delta because moving people for plants and animals was wrong, but the government can evict 6000 families in Lamu and others in the Tana River for economic reasons?
At a pivotal moment in history when the world faces the threat of climate change, degradation of such an important marine environment in Lamu for purposes associated with extracting, processing, and transporting more fossil fuels and other goods seems to fly in the face of international protocols aimed at reducing carbon emissions. It also suggests that Kenya has no compunction in violating international designations such as the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve boundary established in 1980 which would be negated by such large scale industrial activities along its edge. Please reconsider both the site for the 2nd port and, potentially, the necessity of building a 2nd port at all pending environmental impact assessment.
Sincerely,
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Response to Mangrove eradication in New Zealand
Calendar Information 2011
A fun and exciting Art Contest for children 6 to 14 years old
We invite all primary school children from tropical and sub-tropical nations, and whose schools are located near mangroves, to create art telling us "why mangroves are important to me and my community".
Selected winners will be published in a 2011 calendar to be distributed internationally to raise awareness of mangrove forest ecology. This creative contest aims to promote appreciation and awareness of mangrove forests, and to encourage and listen to creative voices of children living in mangrove areas.
Help us launch this program in your school by contacting science and art teachers in your area and encourage them to work together on this fun and innovative project.
**********************************
What kind of art can be submitted?
Technique: Paint, color pencil, ink, collage, pastel, crayons, etc
Dimensions: Canvas, or paper, 45 cms x 30 cms. (18 in. x 12 in)
The Art Work should be in a format horizontal (long length across, the shorter length vertical), in order to fit on the calendar page. (We had received wonderful art work in a vertical format, but sadly were unable to use it. )
Artist Identification: On the back of each art work please write in English: the full name and age of the artist, the school name, address, city or town, country, and title of art work.
Age Limit: from 6-13 years old
Mailing instructions: The artwork has to be mailed in a small tube, such as the ones for mailing posters. Make sure the art is sent in certified or registered mail to MAP, PO Box 1854, Port Angeles, WA 98362-0279, USA.
How will entries be judged?
Each school will hold its own exhibition and select 3 or more winners in art. Winning entries will be collected in each country by a participating NGO and then mailed to MAP's office to be judged by a team of artists.
What are the prizes?
-1st Prize will receive a certificate + calendar and the recognition of being published in an International calendar with global distribution.
-2 nd Prize '' ''
-3 rd Prize '' ''
School will receive 2 Calendars
NGOs will receive10 Calendars.
When is the deadline?
Please, we must receive the artwork in MAP's office by the end of July, 2009.
Mailed to: PO Box 1854,.Port Angeles, WA 98362-0279, USA
Please mail in a tube or flat in a box, but not folded!
Who do I contact?.
Please let us know if your school plans to participate by contacting:
Monica Gutierrez-Quarto,
Calendar Project Coordinator
c/o Mangrove Action Project
PO Box 1854
Port Angeles, WA 98362-0279, USA
tel./ fax (360) 452-5866
e-mail: monicagquarto@olympus.net and
: mangroveap@olympus.net
All entries selected at the national level should be submitted to the same address.
Your local NGO contact is: (Please fill this in.)
======================
Some suggested Field Trip and Classroom Lessons
It is suggested that this contest could coincide with an Associated Mangrove Ecology Educational Project with the children. This lesson will highlight the importance of mangrove forests for the environment, for their community, for fishermen and/or for the associated mangrove forest fauna. The intent of this educational project is to help the participating children better comprehend the important role mangroves play in their lives and for their communities.
1- Information and guidance in the classroom, aided by text books, mangrove curriculum, slides and videos.
2.- Eco-Study Field trips for firsthand observation with the teacher and/ or a local resource person, where they can observe the myriad forms of life that inhabit the mangroves, such as the many colored birds, fish, crabs, mollusks, reptiles, mammals, and insects, while also learning about the unique characteristics of the associated mangrove plants and trees.
3.- During, or after, the field trips, the children can hold interviews with their parents or local fishermen about the mangroves in their region, learning more about the history of the area's mangrove forest, as well as why they are important and what the problems are when the mangroves are lost.
4 - As a result of this research, the children may wish to create artwork for the 2011 calendar art competition.
Yours sincerely,
Monica Alicia Paz Gutierrez-Quarto,
Calendar Project Coordinator
Mangrove Action Project
--
Alfredo Quarto, Executive Director
Mangrove Action Project
PO Box 1854
Port Angeles, WA 98362-0279
USA
phone/ fax (360) 452-5866
<mangroveap@olympus.net>
mailto:mangroveap@olympus.net
web site: http://www.mangroveactionproject.org
-
The community of adults and youth in Cayman Islands has come together recently to release a series of educational videos. Each is geared to...
-
By: Isabel Robinson, MAP Volunteer Intern Some months ago I decided to come to Thailand and do an internship in mangrove conservation, ...
-
J.H. Primavera, Ph.D. Among others, Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami have highlighted the importance of m...
MAP News Issue #594 - March 23, 2024
Saving Lamu Mangroves: From Futile Photo Ops To Real Progress KENYA - Hundreds flock Lamu County, not only for the beauty of Kenya’s oldes...