| Themes > Science > Botanical Sciences > Most Threatened Habitats > Mangrove Action Project |
Mangrove forests are one of the most productive and biodiverse wetlands on earth. Yet, these unique coastal tropical forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world. They may be disappearing more quickly than inland tropical rainforests, and so far, with little public notice. Growing in the intertidal areas and estuary mouths between land and sea, mangroves provide critical habitat for a diverse marine and terrestial flora and fauna. Healthy mangrove forests are key to a healthy marine ecology. About the Mangrove Action Project Mangrove forests are one of the most productive and biodiverse wetlands on earth. Yet, these unique coastal tropical forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world. They may be disappearing more quickly than inland tropical rainforests, and so far, with little public notice. Growing in the intertidal areas and estuary mouths between land and sea, mangroves provide critical habitat for a diverse marine and terrestial flora and fauna. Healthy mangrove forests are key to a healthy marine ecology. However, in many areas of the world, mangrove deforestation is contributing to fisheries declines, degradation of clean water supplies, salinization of coastal soils, erosion, and land subsidence, as well as the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In fact, mangrove forests fix more carbon dioxide per unit area than phytoplankton in tropical oceans. Mangrove forests once covered 3/4 of the coastlines of tropical and sub-tropical countries. Today, less than 50% remain, and of this remaining forest, over 50% is degraded and not in good form. There needs be greater protection on primary or high quality mangrove sites knowing that the total remaining area will continue to decrease. Many factors contribute to mangrove forest loss, including the charcoal and timber industries, urban growth pressures, and mounting pollution problems. However, one of the most recent and significant causes of mangrove forest loss in the past decade has been the consumer demand for luxury shrimp, or "prawns", and the corresponding expansion of destructive production methods of export-oriented industrial shrimp aquaculture. Vast tracts of mangrove forests have been cleared to make way for the establishment of coastal shrimp farm facilities. The failure of national governments to adequately regulate the shrimp industry, and the headlong rush of multilateral lending agencies to fund aquaculture development without meeting their own stated ecological and social criteria, are other important pieces to this unfortunate puzzle. Meanwhile, the previous destructive patterns-- both environmental and social-- continue to be repeated in "new frontier" shrimp countries of Latin America, Africa & the Pacific Islands. The great earnings of shrimp culture are short-lived, while the real costs in terms of consequent environmental ruin and social disruption are long-term and astronomical! While the immediate profits from shrimp farming may satisfy a few, vast numbers of coastal residents, once dependent on healthy coastal ecosystems for fishing and farming, are being displaced and impoverished. MAP is dedicated to reversing the degradation of mangrove forest ecosystems worldwide. Its central tenet is to promote the rights of local coastal peoples, including fishers and farmers, in the sustainable management of coastal environs. MAP provides four essential services to grassroots associations and other proponents of mangrove conservation: 1) It coordinates a unique international NGO network and information clearinghouse on mangrove forests.; 2) It promotes public awareness of mangrove forest issues; 3) It develops technical and financial support for NGO projects; and 4) MAP helps publicize within the developed nations the basic needs and struggles of Third World coastal fishing and farming communities affected by the consumer demands of the wealthy nations. (This we do through our quarterly newsletter, bi-weekly news bulletins, action alerts, and published articles, as well as planned public forums and presentations.) MAP's international network has grown to include over 400 NGOs and over 250 scientists and academics from 60 nations. We are currently expanding the effectiveness of our coalition work by solidifying our ties with other major environmental and activist groups in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. Through its wide network, MAP is stimulating the exchange of ideas and information for mangrove forest protection and restoration. Also, MAP promotes effective regulations and enforcement to ensure sustainable shrimp aquaculture practices which include participatory coastal resource management, responsible consumer choices, and strategies for the implementation of these and other solutions. Since its founding in1992, The Mangrove Action Project has grown steadily to become a respected member of the global environmental movement. MAP has effectively put the internet to best use in helping to establish international links and action-oriented plans. MAP has been involved in mangrove restoration projects, adcocacy work and public educational events. When MAP first started, we tried to spotlight the problems affecting both the coastal ecology and local communities. To do so, we had to effectively become whistle blowers against the shrimp aquaculture industry, spotlighting the destructive expansion of this thus far unsustainable enterprise which has been responsible for thousands of hectares of mangrove loss and ruin of valuable coastal zones. MAP has recently intensified its conservation work by beginning to address other serious problems affecting mangrove forests, such as the logging,. oil, charcoal and tourism industries, as well as other developments which threaten the mangroves and coastal communities. Our ongoing networking efforts are bearing good results in that now more than ever before a more widespread awareness exists as to the importance of mangrove forests and the seriousness of their loss. No longer is it a common held view that mangrove forests are smelly, mosquito infested wastelands. Now, more and more people are calling for effective conservation and restoration measures. To meet this new challenge, MAP has in the last few years begun looking for viable, long-term, equitable solutions. For instance, we are supporting and initiating small-scale mangrove restoration programs worldwide. In 1996, we organized a community based mangrove replanting project in Ecuador, followed in 1997 by an eco-study tour in Thailand. We have also supported mangrove restoration efforts in India, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Though those efforts we support are small-scale--in fact tiny when compared to the huge programs supported by World Bank loans and government bureaucracies-- our efforts are unique in that they place the local community at center stage in the restoration and management process. We support the bottom up approach which we feel will make a more effective and lasting difference. Today, MAP is ready to release its Mangrove Educational Curricula which has been developed in the Cayman Islands for school children from kindergarten to 9th grade levels. We plan to take this curricula to other parts of the world, modifying it to fit the local regions and translating it into the local languages. This will help to raise both awareness and appreciation of the mangrove ecosystem among those local youths who later must make the decisions to conserve and sustainably manage their coastal forest areas. Last year, working closely with the Yadfon Association in Thailand and the Small Fishers Federation of Sri Lanka, MAP helped launch what we consider our premier program--In The Hands Of The Fishers--which is a series of workshops bringing together grassroots NGOs and fisherfolk from two or three Developing nations which contain mangroves. These workshops offer an innovative format for information and skill sharing among local stakeholders, while also offering a toolkit of working alternatives to help enhance Community Based Coastal Resource Management which is truly in the Hands of the Fishers. In addition to the workshops, followup projects will be undertaken at the participating villages, and these then will serve as sites or nodes for modeling sustainable, low-intensity development alternatives. This year, MAP formed a working partnership with the Small Fishers Federation of Sri Lanka to establish the MAP-South Asian Resource Center which is based in Pambala, Sri Lanka. This functioning resource center will offer us a stage from which we can further enact solutions by joining forces with local grassroots NGOs. MAP now publishes two important news bulletins: --The Late Friday News is a bi-weekly electronic news bulletin which reaches over a thousand subscribers worldwide. --The MAP Quarterly News is a hard copy of the related news which we mail out to over 1400 of our subscribers in 60 nations. |
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