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The MAP News, 192nd Ed., 08 December 2007
Dear Friends,
This is the 192nd Edition of the Mangrove Action Project News, Dec. 8, 2007.
Happy Birthday, Elaine!
For the Mangroves,
Alfredo Quarto
Mangrove Action Project
"What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?"
Henry David Thoreau
To sign up for receiving the MAP News: www.mangroveactionproject.org/full_signup
MAP's Mission:
Partnering with mangrove forest communities, grassroots NGOs, researchers and local governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests and related coastal ecosystems, while promoting community-based, sustainable management of coastal resources.
All news items and notices published in the MAP News can also be accessed directly from our home page, with links to the full story and the original source. New items are posted daily and are available as an RSS feed!
Contents for MAP NEWS, 192nd Edition, 8 December 2007
FEATURE STORY
***ACTION ALERT!!!*** Bangladesh Cyclone-Sidr Appeal
MAP WORKS
Order Your 2008 MAP Children's Art Calendar
MAP Kayaking & Whale Watching Tour - Baja California
Great Holiday Gift Ideas!---Check Out MAP's New Adopt A Program
New Ecological Mangrove Restoration Workshop In Florida
MAP-Asia Organizes Study Tour on Mangrove Restoration
'Marvelous Mangroves' Curriculum Program in Brazil Receives Additional Funding for 2007-2008
New MAP Website Feature: Send a MAP eCard!
Turn on the "JUICE" to benefit MAP!
AFRICA
And then there were no fish
Nigeria
***ACTION ALERT!!!*** Emergency Action: Stop Gas Flaring
Kenya
Bio-Fuels Impacting Mangroves and Communities at Tana Delta
Thailand
Community Forest Bill passed
Villagers cheated of their forests
Shrimp business faces woes on three fronts
Indonesia
106,000 Hectares of Mangrove Forest Destroyed -
Climate change may wipe some Indonesian islands off map
Fishermen hamper mangrove reforestation efforts in Indonesia
Indonesia's Projections For Shrimp Production Fall Short
Indonesia`s CP Prima to spend US$242 mln on shrimp production
Interview-Indonesia's Papua to protect forests, seeks cash
Mangroves help Indonesia fend off climate change
Vietnam
Vietnam Considering Bringing White Shrimp Into Country
Burma
Burma Rivers Network's Petition To Stop Chinese Dams
India
Sea turtles face threat from Indian ports plan
India ˆ Tata in troubled waters
Demand for jellyfish keeps olive ridley turtles starving in Orissa, India
Bangladesh
Big blow to the Sundarbans--Cyclone Sidr
One-fourth of Sundarbans lies in ruins
Bangladesh to seek aid for mangrove forest
World's largest mangrove forest in Bangladesh major causality of cyclone
Devastated shrimp industry
Shrimp production in disarray
Bangladesh Sees Tiger Numbers Up in Mangrove Swamps
15pc coastal land to be inundated if temperature rises by 1° Celsius
Ecuador
Ecuador: 48,649 hectares of mangroves converted into shrimp ponds
Honduras
Fishermen denounce government's indifference
The Bahamas
Bimini Island Needs Your Help!
US Virgin Islands
4th Volunteer Mangrove Cleanup Planned
USA
JOIN WILDFISH NETWORK TO STOP OCEAN FISH FARMING
Take action! Tell the Corps to dump the Yazoo Pumps!
Carbon offset solution offered to seafood industry
Global Aquaculture Alliance Setting Its Own Standards Again
Marine Stewardship Counsel Certifies First Wild Shrimp Fishery
STORIES / ISSUES
Planet's future at stake as delegates gather in Bali for climate conference
New study finds biodiversity conservation secures ecosystem services for people
Safety fears prompt Europe to consider first ban on GM crop.
Editor's Note: Transgenics A Ms-Wave of the Future!
Scientists harvest fish oil crop
Scientists urge $2-3 billion study of ocean health
Aquaculture only way to fill coming "fish gap", says FAO
The Destitution Will Not Be Televised ... But There Is This Report
CONFERENCES / WORKSHOPS / PUBLICATIONS
Mangrove Guidebook for Southeast Asia
ANNOUNCEMENTS
UN declares 20 February as World Day of Social Justice
Fish farms try to hook 'organic' label
Ireland Salmon Farm Devastated By Jellyfish
Industrial Salmon Aquaculture: subsidizing slavery
Salmon Diseases Threaten Overcrowded Aquaculture Pens In Chile
Wild or farmed? Salmon eaters want to know
***ACTION ALERT!!!***
Bangladesh Cyclone-Sidr Appeal
We at the Centre for Coastal Environmental Conservation (CCEC), a MAP network partner since our formation in 1993, are making a special request for your assistance to help cyclone victims to survive, recover, rebuild, and for rehabilitation of the coastal environment. The CCEC office located in Khulna is not far from the most severely Cyclone-Sidr impacted coastal communities, and we have the capacity and desire to provide much needed assistance, but your critical and timely support is needed.
Cyclone-Sidr, likened to a mini Tsunami, due its powerful 5-6 metre tidal surge hit the Bangladesh Sundarban coast, Nov.15, officially taking 3,243 human lives to-date but it is estimated this figure could rise to 10,000. Seven million people of 12 districts are affected. 138 km of embankments were destroyed. Five million people are facing housing shelter problem. Hundreds of fishermen of Dubla fishing island community died because there was no avaliable cyclone shelter. A huge amount of infrastructure including housing, schools, communication towers, fishing boats, piers, etc…. were smashed with the Sidr tidal surge and wind velocity of 250 km/hr. Barguna, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Barisal, and Jhalokathi coastal districts face unbelievable serious damage with extensive loss of human life, livestock, rice paddy, shrimp farms, and other agricultural lands which have been left barren. Crops were just about to be harvested.
The relief effort has started, but many villages in remote areas are left with no food, no water, no shelter, no clothes, and they may not be reached in time. CCEC is ready to assist areas where we've been working, but we need your partnership so we can get emergency supplies to where they're most needed.
Sundarban-- the UNESCO declared World Heritage Site-- is the world largest mangrove forest. It took a direct hit which helped to save coastal lives and resources by sacrificing herself as a buffer. The magnitude of devastation would be manifold if not for the Sundarban mangroves which suffered extensive damage according to early reports. A great deal of assistance will be required in the medium to long term to rehabilitate this critical protective barrier against future cyclones and tidal surges.
Since 1993, the CCEC, a local environmental NGO based at Khulna, has been working for Sundarban biodiversity conservation and promoting sustainable harvesting involving the Sundarban stakeholders, the Bouali (wood and thatch cutters), the Mouali (honey extractors) and the Jalley (fisherfolk and crab harvesters) the most vulnerable group.
If you would like to contribute, any assistance in the form of money-- small or large-- it is most welcome. Please find our banking details below. We guarantee that all incoming support will be used directly for food, water, fuel, shelter supplies and longer-term mangrove restoration efforts. We are obviously not a 'relief organization', but our local contacts, networks and on the ground experience, working in the affected areas will be of great help for effective coordination and distribution and longer-term development.
CCEC promises to continue doing our utmost to bring relief to those in need. We've a full project proposal which we would be happy to share with you for Sundarban mangrove restoration around BWDB polder 32 to help prevent future cyclone damage.
We thank you for your concern and support.
Sincerely yours,
Mowdudur Rahman
Director
Centre for Coastal Environmental Conservation (CCEC)
House # 93, Road # 2,
Sonadanga R/A,
Khulna-9000
Bangladesh
Phone: 880 41 810982
E-mail: ccec_bd@khulna.bangla.net
Legal status (registration identity): The CCEC is registered by the Foreign Donation (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Rules 1978 under the NGO Affairs Bureau, Government of Bangladesh on 26 October 1996. Registration No. 1085
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For Donations:
To support this work, please click on the link below. The link will take you to the giving page of Global Greengrants Fund where you can make your tax-deductible gift on-line.
Please be sure to designate your gift for the Centre for Coastal Environmental Conservation.
You can also make your gift by sending a check to:
Global Greengrants Fund
2840 Wilderness Place, Suite A
Boulder, CO 80301
USA
Or by phoning Global Greengrants Fund at: +1 303 939 9866. (Be sure to note on your check that your donation is for CCEC in Bangladesh)
Global Greengrants Fund makes small grants to environmental activists in the Global South through a network on 19 advisory boards. Greengrants will use their network to make the grant of your funds to the Centre for Coastal Environmental Conservation.
From: MAP Asia mapasia@loxinfo.co.th
Order Your 2008 MAP Children's Art Calendar
Dear Friends,
I wanted to take this opportunity to request your help with one of our long-time projects which involves our 7th annual production of the MAP Children's Mangrove Art Calendar for 2008. The calendars make great gifts and a great project to support. Please order your 2008 calendar now at $12 per calendar plus shipping. If you order 20 or more calendars, we ask $8 per calendar plus shipping. If you order now, we can have the printer ship directly to your street address (not PO Box). This will save MAP an extra shipping fee if the printer ships directly to you. Please help support both MAP and the calendar program now!
Following our own environmentally sound ethic, the Calendar is being printed on recycled paper using soy ink.
The Calendar has in the past paid for itself and raised around $3000 above its costs. More importantly, the Calendar Art Contest and the distribution of the printed calendars have been a great educational incentive for the NGOs, schools and children participating from around the globe. This year's calendar competition was no exception. Over 1500 kids from 12 nations participated, and new NGOs from new nations are contacting us to be involved.
Please let me know the number of calendars that you want to order! You can also go onto MAP's website to donate via PayPal or Network For Good using your credit card!
For the Mangroves and Mangrove Communities,
Monica Gutierrez-Quarto
MAP Calendar Coordinator
monicagquarto@olympus.net
Note: Postage rates vary according to the following list of options:
US & Canada - $2/calendar
Mexico - $2.50/calendar
Elsewhere - $4.50/calendar
For anywhere in the world: for 3 or more calendars, contact MAP for possible volume discount and shipping rates.
See the USPS website for rates for multiple calendars for each country: http://pe.usps.com/text/Imm/immctry.htm. Scroll down for 1st Class International.
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MAP Kayaking & Whale Watching Tour - Baja California
6-Day Mangrove Kayaking & Whale Watching Tour & Benefit Paddle in Baja
7-12 February 2008
Join MAP's Latin American Coordinator on a trip that promises to remind us why we do this work!
Join the Mangrove Action Project for our first journey to the mangrove estuary in Magdalena Bay, a Gray Whale Nursery in Baja. This year, thanks to our friends at Blue Waters Kayaking, we'll camp three days and two nights at an exclusive island camp in the heart of the whale nursery, where the Gray Whales are born. From camp you will experience whales spouting and playing, dolphins swimming by, pelicans visiting on the beach next door and coyotes howling at night--a nature lover's dream. Mornings will be spent visiting the whales by motorboat and in great amazement these enormous mammals approach us to introduce their newly born young. We will kayak the mangrove labyrinth as flocks of white pelicans fly overhead and yellow crowned night herons stare at us at eye level between mangrove leaves. The trip begins and ends in the charming town of Loreto, where we will stay in a hotel on the Sea of Cortez.
The only Island base camp situated between a Mangrove Estuary and a Gray Whale Birthing Lagoon:
Our exclusive beach camp is ready to serve you with hot showers, and the best kitchen this side of the border, solar electricity to charge your cameras, large tents with plush sleeping pads and wall tents with elevated cots, plenty of fresh water, a large community dome, and chairs & sun umbrellas for lounging and reading.
Mangrove Action Project Benefit Paddle in Baja
February 7th - 12th, 2008
$1280 (does not include airfare)
Kayaking in the bird-filled mangroves will be available * No prior kayaking experience is necessary * Kayaking is not required, however, it is offered as part of this trip.
Each trip limited to 14 participants
For More Information Contact: Blue Waters Kayaking 415/669-2600
www.bajakayaktours.com/MAP_benefit.html
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Great Holiday Gift Ideas!---Check Out MAP's New Adopt-A-Program On MAP's New Website!!
Adopt a Program Section
MAP's new Adopt-a-Program has been posted to the website. Please help MAP by forward the link to anyone who might be interested in donating!
www.mangroveactionproject.org/get-involved/donate/map-adopt-a-program
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New Ecological Mangrove Restoration Workshop In Florida Scheduled
The full announcement about the 6th "Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration Training Course", March 3-6, 2008, Hollywood, Florida, is now available at www.mangroverestoration.com.
ANNOUNCEMENT: "Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop, March 3-6, 2008, Hollywood, Florida.
The sixth "Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop will be held at the Anne Kolb Nature Center, in Hollywood, Florida, USA, March 3-6, 2008. The training site is within a 500 ha mangrove restoration project at West Lake Park operated by Broward County. The award-winning project was designed by Roy R. "Robin" Lewis III, who will be teaching the course.
The workshop includes an introduction to mangrove forest ecology, management options and problems, and restoration design issues. The class programs are all given in a PowerPoint format, and each student is provided with a print out of the presentation and additional handouts including monitoring reports for typical restoration projects. Case studies of 5 successful mangrove restoration projects, and several unsuccessful projects, are discussed. Field trips are taken within the 500 ha West Lake Park mangrove restoration project (now 18 years old) and a new project just five years old, for a comparison.
The emphasis is on cost-effective successful mangrove management and restoration, and cost figures for typical projects are discussed and explained. The hydrologic restoration of mangroves is emphasized as the best approach to successful restoration at minimal cost (see Erftemeijer and Lewis 2000; Lewis 1999, 2000a, 2000b, 2005; Lewis and Marshall 1998; Lewis and Streever 2000; Lewis et al. 2005, Stevenson et al. 1999; and Turner and Lewis 1997, for further discussion about hydrologic restoration of mangroves). Planting of mangroves is discussed in light of the many failures of this alone to successfully restore mangroves.
Cost for the course not including travel to Ft. Lauderdale, lodging or food is $800, due by January 1, 2008 to Coastal Resources Group, Inc., P.O. Box 5430, Salt Springs, Florida, USA 32134-5430. Two qualified students will be allowed to attend for free, and can apply at any time for the two fee-waived positions. This course is organized by the Coastal Resources Group, Inc., and will be taught in conjunction with the Mangrove Action Project <www.mangroveactionproject.org>. Lodging close to the training site is available at the SleepInn in Dania Beach, Florida. Reservations need to be made early. Each participant is responsible for making their own reservations.
More information can be provided by Robin Lewis at
LESRRL3@aol.com and www.mangroverestoration.com.
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MAP-Asia Organizes Study Tour on Mangrove Restoration for Sewalanka Foundation Field Staff
From Sept. 29 - Oct. 6, 2007, the MAP Asia office staff hosted a mangrove restoration field study-tour for 10 members of the Sewalanka Foundation of Sri Lanka. Sewalanka works with local communities to build capacity, mobilize disenfranchised groups, and promote sustainable technology and community-based natural resource management. In Feb. this year, MAP provided Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) training to Sewalanka Foundation staff along with community members from three of the lagoon communities in which it works in Ampara District on the Southeast coast. The field study tour was a continuation of this mangrove restoration training that had been funded by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe of Germany.
The study-tour spanned 3 different provinces in Southern Thailand and encompassed meetings with multiple government officials, local and international NGO staff members, and local communities. While in Krabi Province, the group was able to tour the Krabi Estuary Mangrove Ramsar site via the traditional Thai long-tail boats and were particularly interested in the fish cage culture livelihoods which depend on a healthy mangrove ecosystem. Participants also received an informative EMR presentation by Mr. Dominic Wodehouse, from Wetlands International, and were hosted on a guided tour of the Mangrove boardwalk by the Mangrove Resource Administration and Management Division #2 (Krabi) Office staff.
The study-tour participants then traveled to Ao Nang, Krabi for a presentation by Mr. Maitree Sanganan of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) regarding mangrove-planting activities in the region. The group was able to visit the tsunami-affected mangrove restoration site at Ban Nam Khem, attend a half day of BMZ / IUCN Technical Consultation on Coastal Ecosystem Restoration, and meet with Andaman Discovery, a local NGO, before spending the night in a eco-friendly, homestay program in the tsunami-affected village of Ban Talae Nok, Ranong.
The final stop of the week was at the Ranong Mangrove Research Center (MRC) in Ranong Province. Here, the group received a presentation by Dr. Wijarn Meepol on the status of mangroves in Thailand and the center's activities, a guided tour of the local mangrove forest area via the interpretive boardwalk, and even planted a few mangrove seedlings on a post tin-mining site. This culminated, a week spent learning about the various conservation, re-forestation, and rehabilitation activities that are being utilized in Thailand. The study-tour enabled the sharing of experiences, increased environmental education, and opened dialogue between NGO's, government officials, and the local communities of Sri Lanka and Thailand.
"Mary Battcock"
volunteer.mapasia@gmail.com
==============================
'Marvelous Mangroves' Curriculum Program in Brazil Receives Additional Funding for 2007-2008
MAP is pleased to acknowledge additional funding for 2007-2008 in support of the Brazilian adaptation and introduction of our 'Marvelous Mangroves' Curriculum. The SeaWorld Busch Gardens Conservation Fund (SWBGCF), Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund (DWCF), and Mangrove Consulting (London) have recently approved funds to partially support the curriculum program in Brazil. The funds from DWCF are a renewal of a previous grant.
The curriculum has already been translated into Portuguese and MAP's Latin American Coordinator, Elaine Corets, and Education Coordinator, Martin Keeley, are currently working with a team of 7 Brazilian education and mangrove specialists from 3 regions of the country to carry out the adaptation. As the program accelerates, we are receiving interest in Brazil from federal and state governmental institutions to participate in the program and will be looking to them for additional support for publishing the curriculum and implementing teacher training workshops.
Information on the Marvelous Mangroves program can be found on MAP's website.
Additional information on the Brazil adaptation.
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Editor's Note: I want to thank Elaine Corets for all the excellent work she has done to revise and improve our website. Her dedicated efforts over the last year, above and beyond her duties as MAP's Latin America Coordinator, are noteworthy.
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New MAP Website Feature: Send a MAP eCard!
Sending free eCards to friends, family, and colleagues is a unique way to spread the word about MAP‚s work, as well as about the threats faced by mangrove ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
Choose from a selection of beautiful and thought-provoking images (new images added every month), then add your own message to personalize your eCard.
It's easy and free! Just follow the instructions.
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Turn on the "JUICE" to benefit MAP!
DJ DMZ & DJ RHYTHMA
January 5, 2008 at Nectar Lounge
412 N 36th St
Seattle, Washington
Cost: $5
HOW JUICE WORKS!
Three people help run JUICE, which happens the first Saturday of every month at the Nectar Lounge. Those people are DJ Darek Mazzone of KEXP radio, DJ Rhythma (Eric Schmidt) and Rebecca Campeau.
JUICE gives away money! Not just to anyone in particular, but to charities, with a base in the Seattle area that have an international or global focus.
Time is donated along with the proceeds charged at the door on the night of club. JUICE also does some promotion through channels available to them.
The charities involved help promote the night to their supporters and the general public. They show up, bring information about their organization and hopefully have a great time dancing the night away to the latest beats from around the globe.
Past groups have included Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Bahia Street, One World Now!, Darfurwall.org and the World Affairs Council.
Contact MAP if you'd like to help out the night of the show!
info@mangroveactionproject.org
For more information about this event visit MAP's website.
AFRICA: And then there were no fish
JOHANNESBURG, 21 November 2007 ( www.IRINnews.org ) - In the not-too-distant future, several African countries will face the depressing reality of collapsed fisheries and the permanent degradation of their marine environment, warned a new report.
"This in turn will continue to adversely impact on food-security and economic development, with coastal communities dependent on fishing being the hardest hit," according to The Crisis of Marine Plunder in Africa, published by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), a regional think-tank.
Poaching and overfishing in a number of African countries could lead to collapsed stocks and cause permanent damage to the marine environment, according to Andre Standing, author of the new ISS study. Some of these are issues also highlighted in the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Global Environment Outlook 4 (GEO-4).
"While the demise of marine biodiversity is not a peculiar problem for underdeveloped countries, there are strong reasons to suspect that once abundant fish stocks and marine biodiversity situated in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of African countries are threatened," said Standing.
Exploitation of West Africa's fish resources by European Union (EU), Russian and Asian fleets "increased sixfold" between the 1960s and 1990s, the GEO-4 report noted. "Much of the catch is exported or shipped directly to Europe, and compensation for access is often low compared to the value of the landed fish."
Standing told IRIN that the problem did not "stem largely from rogue fishing companies who evade laws and break regulations with impunity", but "vested interests" that allowed this situation to occur, and that these "vested interests span not only foreign governments and inter-governmental organisations, but also African elected leaders and public officials".
The UNEP report points out that fish is a critical source of animal protein in poor countries; globally it provides more than 2.6 billion people with at least one-fifth of their average per capita animal protein intake. "Fish accounts for 20 percent of animal-derived protein in Low-Income Food Deficit (LIFD) countries, compared to 13 percent in industrialised countries, with many countries where overfishing is a concern also being LIFD countries."
Standing cited the 2005 British Marine Resources Assessment Group, which "provided a conservative estimate that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in Africa could be valued at approximately US$1 billion every year".
"It was estimated that in Somalia the total annual value of illegal fishing in only the tuna and shrimp industries amounted to $94 million. In Angola illegal fishing was measured in the sardine and mackerel fisheries to be roughly $49 million annually, which equates to 21 percent of the total value of Angolan fish exports. In Mozambique, illegal fishing in the tuna and shrimp industry was set at approximately $38 million…"
Source: IRIN
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Nigeria
***ACTION ALERT!!!***
Emergency Action: Stop Gas Flaring / Nigeria
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network,"
Since 1979 - almost 30 years ago -- the government of Nigeria has been setting deadlines for oil companies to stop their wasteful and toxic practice of gas flaring.
The current deadline to stop gas flaring is January 1, 2008. But Shell and other oil companies say they will just pay the fines and continue the gas flaring. The multinationals - who save money while Nigeria's people, environment and economy suffer from gas flaring - want to postpone the deadline yet again to 2011.
Nigerian communities and environmental organizations in the Niger Delta region are demanding enforcement of the January 1 deadline - and they are asking the international community to raise a global clamor to force the oil companies to stop this very destruction practice now.
Please add your voice to this campaign today. See the model letter below.
Gas flaring is the burning off of gas, which sends a cocktail of poisons into the atmosphere. In the mix are carbon dioxide and methane that are major causes of global warming. Gas flaring causes acid rain which acidifies the lakes and streams and damages crops and vegetation. It reduces farm yields and affects human health, lives and livelihoods. Gas flaring increases the risk of respiratory illnesses, asthma and cancer. It often causes painful breathing, chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, body itching, blindness, impotency, miscarriages and premature deaths.
World Bank research conducted in 2005 showed that Nigeria loses about $2.5 billion yearly to gas flaring.
More recent research showed that if gas flared in Nigeria were harnessed and utilized, it would solve almost 75 % of Africa's energy needs (excepting South Africa).
Since 1979, the multinational oil companies have simply ignored government deadlines and court orders to end gas flaring. In a lawsuit brought by the Iwerekhan community of Delta State, the judge ruled that gas flaring "is a gross violation of their fundamental right to life, including healthy environment and dignity of the human person."
Nnimmo Bassey, director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth said, "Time has come for the lives of Niger Deltans to be weightier than petrodollars. Gas flaring is a monumental waste of our natural resources, an assault on the lives and health of the people of Niger Delta and a mark of unacceptable double standards by the oil companies."
Requested Action:
Please write to the President of Nigeria, with copies to other government officials listed below.
Note: send your letter by email to:
stopgasflaring@eraction.org or by fax to 1-509 752 0664 (a US number). The letters will be collected and hand-delivered to the president by Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth Nigeria.
Address:
President Musa Yar'adua
The Presidency, Federal Secretariat Phase 2
Shehu Shagari Way Abuja
Nigeria
Salutation: His Excellency Sir,
Main points: Ask him to enforce the January 1, 2008 deadline for stopping gas flaring.
Model letter:
President Musa Yar'adua
The Presidency, Federal Secretariat Phase 2
Shehu Shagari Way Abuja
Nigeria
His Excellency Sir,
STOP GAS FLARING IN THE NIGER DELTA
I am very concerned that the multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria may ignore the Nigerian government's deadline of January 1, 2008, to stop gas flaring.
Gas flaring is the burning off of gas, which sends a cocktail of poisons into the atmosphere. In the mix are carbon dioxide and methane that are major causes of global warming. Gas flaring causes acid rain which acidifies the lakes and streams and damages crops and vegetation. It reduces farm yields and affects human health, lives and livelihoods. Gas flaring increases the risk of respiratory illnesses, asthma and cancer. It often causes painful breathing, chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, body itching, blindness, impotency, miscarriages and premature deaths.
World Bank research conducted in 2005 showed that Nigeria loses about $2.5 billion yearly to gas flaring.
More recent research showed that if gas flared in Nigeria were harnessed and utilized, it would solve almost 75 % of Africa's energy needs (excepting South Africa).
Since 1979, the multinational oil companies have simply ignored government deadlines and court orders to end gas flaring. In a lawsuit brought by the Iwerekhan community of Delta State, the judge ruled that gas flaring "is a gross violation of their fundamental right to life, including healthy environment and dignity of the human person."
Since gas flaring contributes to global warming and the climate change crisis, it is of concern to citizens around the world. As fellow human beings, we also demand the end to suffering of the Niger Delta people whose lives, health and livelihoods are harmed for the benefit of greedy multinational corporations.
These companies are now calling for a 2010 deadline, but this should be rejected outright. Calling for higher fines from defaulting oil corporations merely provides cover for the industry to continue an environmentally unacceptable activity. It may add money to your national coffers, but money cannot pay for the lives and dignity of the Niger Delta people.
I respectfully urge you to use your good offices to ensure that gas flaring is brought to an end unequivocally by the 1st day of January, 2008.
Sincerely yours,
Cc:
The Senate President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
The Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Federal Republic of Nigeria
The Hon. Minister for Environment, Housing and Urban Development
From: Global Response info@globalresponse.org
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Kenya
Bio-Fuels Impacting Mangroves and Communities at Tana Delta
The EIA for the 20,000 ha sugar cane farm in the Tana delta in Kenya is online on www.nema.go.ke and there are 30 days to submit comments. The file is 15 MB so one needs quite a good connection to download it. Perhaps it would be best if a kind of online alliance is formed to bundle the comments and also to bring together all the relevant biodiversity data that could prove that the area has factual Ramsar status, i.e. fulfills the criteria even though it is not listed.
In spite of serial failure of (almost) all irrigation projects in the Tana delta this project seems to be very strongly supported by central government. The local communities on the other hand seem to be very much against it and envisage trying to obtain Ramsar status for the area (according to a intervillage meeting held 2 days ago in Garsen).
The area is absolutely essential as dry season grazing for about all the cows between the Somali border and Malindi (as mitigation measure it is proposed to create cattle dips and other livestock support services, to keep 5000 ha of the concession as grazing land and to introduce zero grazing (!!!!) which does not seem to take account of the fact that livestock keeping in the area it is essentially nomadic. In the newspaper advertisement in the "Daily Nation" of Thursday December 6th which sums up the expected impacts and mitigation nothing is said on the impacts of the removal of fresh water on the remaining mangrove and on the coastal fisheries or other downstream impacts. The disease control measures also seem lackadaisical in view of what happened in the Senegal River valley (not sure how adequate and suitable sitting facilities for women and physically disabled workers is going to stop rift valley fever, bilharzia, malaria and taeniasis…)
From: Olivier Hamerlynck
olivier.hamerlynck@wanadoo.fr
Thailand
Contributor's Note: The Thai "Community Forest Act" has been passed finally after 15 years of debate, protests, demonstrations, petitions, lobbying, and four attempted bills put before the Parliament. The Community Forest Act is supposed to meet the demands of the grassroots movement-- NGOs and a maturing civil society for people's participation to insure improvements in forest conservation and management. However, there are now doubts the Act will do that, as expressed in the commentary article below. Northern groups are upset by the changes to the Act, which don't permit communities living outside the Protected Area boundaries to establish community forests in the protected forest zone they've traditionally utilized & protected. MAP-Asia is awaiting a copy of the Community Forest Act so we can examine it ourselves more closely.
Jim Enright
mapasia@loxinfo.co.th
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Bangkok Post Nov.22, 2007
LEGISLATION / ASSEMBLY DEBATES LAND USE
Community Forest Bill passed
APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
The long-awaited Community Forest Bill sailed through the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) yesterday by 57-2 votes with one abstention.
The passing of the bill, which combines one proposed by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry and one by the civic sector, followed a debate lasting more than seven hours.
The bill accepts the legal right of forest communities to preserve and manage forest land surrounding their communities.
However, activists expressed disappointment, saying the bill does not actually benefit forest dwellers.
Yesterday's debate concentrated on two contentious articles.
Article 25 lays down the qualifications of a community to be eligible to obtain rights to manage and use protected forest, while Article 34 stipulates the rights of the community.
The bill limits community rights to original forest dwellers with strict guidelines for the use of protected forest. By limiting eligibility to original dwellers _ those who have lived in the forest for at least 10 years before the bill is promulgated _ the law excludes about 20,000 communities scattered on the rim of protected forests countrywide.
Former permanent secretary for natural resources and environment Petipong Pungbun na Ayudhaya said that while local communities should have the right to manage natural resources, the process should go step by step.
''We are going to transfer natural resources management from the state to the people. Isn't it too fast?'' he said during the debate.
''If we want to have it that fast, we have to prepare for negative impacts. In fact, those living on the rim of protected forests can use the forests. There is no need to grant them legal rights….''
…Tuenjai Deetes told the assembly that the bill should recognize the rights of people who have ''a good record in keeping the forest''.
''Please understand that over 20,000 villages will help protect over 30 million rai of forest,'' she said.
''We should not ignore them. If we do, it means the community forest law means nothing to them.''
Pirote Polpetch, a community rights activist, expressed his disappointment with the approved bill which, he said, breaches Article 66 of the constitution that recognizes community rights in natural resources management.
He said activists were considering filing a complaint with the Constitution Court, or collecting over 10,000 signatures to push for the amendment of the law.
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Bangkok Post Nov.29, 2007
COMMENTARY
Villagers cheated of their forests
SANITSUDA EKACHAI
Pipat Khansalee is bitter and angry. So are the villagers across the country who have put their lives and safety on the line to protect community forests from greedy hands and destructive state policies.
"We've been betrayed," said the leader of the Network of Northern Community Forests.
The target of his fury is the Community Forest Bill which was passed by the National Legislative Assembly last week - legislation which Pipat and other environmentalists call a Big Cheat.
Put yourself in their shoes, and you will feel the same way.
These villagers call the forest their home, and it is their very modest way of life, nature-friendly traditions and their communities' effective social control that have protected their forests through generations.
Instead of being recognised for their contribution, they are painted as forest destroyers by the State and turned into "illegal encroachers" who must be evicted.
Imagine the villagers' bitterness when they have to face eviction and imprisonment while influential people can, with impunity, carry on with illegal logging, commercial tree farming, resort businesses and illegal land acquisitions.
Meanwhile, the State keeps mum about its support for mono cash crop agriculture, its anti-insurgency drives in the '70s, dam constructions, mining concessions, mass tourism and corruption, which are the main culprits in Thailand's rapid deforestation.
The growth of grassroots environmentalism in the past two decades, however, has allowed the villagers a chance to fight back.
Their goals: Legal recognition for their community forests and conservation works. Allow sustainable forest use by the locals. And stop destroying the forests through environmentally destructive state projects.
These demands, strengthened by calls from other grassroots movements for community rights to manage local natural resources, were eventually endorsed in the 1997 charter.
When the villagers sponsored their draft bill during the Thaksin administration, the forestry authorities fiercely fought back by drumming up the false public belief that the poor were destroying the forests, and by rewriting the draft to kill its original spirit.
Refusing to say die, the civic faction in the NLA sponsored the controversial draft bill again with full optimism.
Again, the heart of the draft bill has been drastically changed.
Pipat calls this bill a Big Cheat because its wording easily misleads people who are unfamiliar with the issue to think that the bill marks the people's victory.
For example, the bill finally allows the communities "in" restricted forests to ask the State for permission to look after community forests.
Fact is, the majority of villages with community forests are adjacent to, not inside, national parks. But their community forests are. This means their conservation efforts will remain illegal.
Will the villages inside the forests benefit? Very little, if at all.
Take Doi Phu Kha National Park in Nan. According to Pipat, there are some 30 villages inside Phu Kha, but they have already been demarcated out of the national forest zone. This means they won't be permitted to have community forests.
Given the Forestry Department's drive to lift the forest zones over forest settlements, few villages can legally set up community forests.
Even if they can, the bill does not allow them to use even fallen trees for household use.
Can you now understand the villagers' frustration?
How to undo this legal damage? Some want to petition the Constitution Court. Others plan to amend the bill in the next government. Many villagers, however, are pondering revenge.
Throughout the years, the villagers at Silapet in Nan have sweated to prevent forest fires while local forestry officials took all the credit.
"This year, we will stop doing that. Let's see how the nine forestry officials will oversee the 1.9 million rai national park by themselves," said Pipat.
The forestry authorities have won this round in the battle for community forests. Who are the losers? The villagers? The forests? Yes, including the person you see in the mirror.
Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor (Outlook), Bangkok Post.
Email: sanitsudae@bangkokpost.co.th
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Editor's Note: Though this article is from last July, it indicates the present problems now afflicting the once robust and growing shrimp farm industry in Thailand--once the leading exporter of shrimp for many continuous years. Now it looks like even the «tiger of Asia» is seeing its former glory days in shrimp farming tilled under a now over-used and depleted soil.
Shrimp business faces woes on three fronts
Source: Bangkok Post World News 22/07/2007
The Thai shrimp industry is going from bad to worse because of a domestic oversupply, the baht's strength, and the latest government intervention scheme to shore up domestic prices.
''We're not against the government's efforts to help shrimp farmers, but we see the mortgage scheme is just a short-term solution and it is not the right way to help farmers nationwide in the long run,'' said Poj Aramwattanont, president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association.
''The mortgage scheme has distorted the genuine prices of shrimp and is not compatible with the world's business practices.''
The Farmers Assistance Policy Committee is preparing to spend 300 million baht for a three-month shrimp-pledging programme, starting next month.
The project aims to assist small and medium-sized shrimp farmers by restricting each one to pledging Vannamai shrimp worth no more than two million baht. The pledging price will be 10-20% higher than the market price. The pledging price for large-sized shrimp will be 40 baht per kilogramme, for middle-sized shrimp 120 baht, and for small-sized shrimp 105 baht.
According to Mr Poj, given their perishability, shrimp that have frozen for too long in storage after being mortgaged cannot be processed into quality products.
As well, he said, the government's subsidy scheme had destroyed the cluster system under which farmers and exporters promoted contract farming to expand the industry in the longer term.
Mr Poj said his association proposed that the government could make more of a difference for farmers if it helped to reduce the production costs, particularly the cost of shrimp feed, and improve the quality of shrimp breeds, while also cutting infrastructure costs such as electricity and oil.
As well, the association has proposed that the government try to persuade farmers to adjust their production to comply with market demand through information dissemination and efficient business plans through co-operation with related parties.
Local shrimp farmers have been facing falling prices since April and shrimp market prices have now dropped below farmers' production costs.
Market prices for white shrimp are now about 50-60 baht per kilogramme for 100 heads per kg, compared to 90 baht last year, while production costs average 70 baht per kg.
The market prices of Thai shrimp were also found to be lower than those of other exporting countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia for the first time in several years, despite the better quality of Thai shrimp.
Market prices for white shrimp in Vietnam, for instance, are now about 90 baht per kilogramme for 100 heads/kg.
The sharp price drop was attributed mainly to an oversupply, the strong baht, and US requirements of a continuous bond (C-bond) on shrimp exports from countries subject to anti-dumping duties. The bond _ a 100% bank guarantee _ results in double trade protection measures against Thai shrimp exports.
Thai exporters have paid more than six billion baht for C-bond guarantees over the last two years.
Thailand's shrimp production is forecast at about 530,000 tonnes this year, nearly the same amount as last year.
The country is the world's largest shrimp producer, with exports worth 86 billion baht, or 338,410 tonnes, last year.
Mr Poj said exports would be harder hit this year due to the baht's strength.
In a bid to promote exports, the association has proposed that the government allow operators to deal in dollars and help subsidise certain costs such as electricity bills and interest rates for industry, which uses high local content.
Source or related URL: www.bangkokpost.com
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Indonesia
MANGROVE DESTRUCTION IN SOUTH KALIMANTAN - ACTION ALERT!
http://kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0711/07/humaniora/3976412.htm
106,000 Hectares of Mangrove Forest Destroyed -
KOMPAS, Wednesday, November 7, 2007, pg 12.
Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan - 106,000 out of 116,824 hectares of mangroves found in five regencies of South Kalimantan Province have been destroyed. This destruction is due to human clear cutting which continues unabated in the region.
This destruction increases the total of critical mangrove areas in South Kalimantan Province to 550,000 hectares.
These mangrove areas are largely being converted to shrimp and fish aquaculture ponds, as well as development for housing and other conversion uses. This mangrove destruction is occurring in Barito Kuala, Banjar, Tanah Laut, Tanah Bumbu and Kotabaru Regencies. "Destruction of mangroves in South Kalimantan is continuing unhindered, not for timber, but largely for conversion to aquaculture," stated Suhardi, Head of the Provincial Forestry Department of South Kalimantan on Tuesday, November, 6.
Suhardi clarified that the destruction not only threatens wildlife habitat - which is home to the endangered Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus), and also highly productive fisheries habitat - but also threatens the entire coastal ecosystem.
Suhardi summarized, "To address this issue, the Regency governments will need to take a firm stance, whether they like it or not, to stop the cutting, and also undertake large scale mangrove rehabilitation."
Data from the Provincial Watershed Conservation Agency (BP-DAS) of South Kalimantan depicts the critical level of mangrove forest clearing in Barito Kuala Regency, both under the Department of Forestry jurisdiction as well as non-Department of Forestry jurisdiction totals 6,652 hectares, including 6372 hectares of damaged mangroves and 280 ha of heavily damaged mangroves.
Mangrove forest cleared in Banjar Regency totals 354 hectares (196 hectares damaged and 158 hectares of heavily damaged mangroves), all of which is outside of Department of Forestry jurisdiction. At Tanah Laut Regency, mangrove forest cut totals 9,313 hectares, with 6,525 hectares of damaged mangroves and 2,788 hectares of heavily damaged mangroves. At Tanah Bumbu Regency, mangrove forest cleared totals 14,505 hectares, with 9,257 hectares of damaged mangroves and 5,032 hectares of heavily damaged mangroves. Finally in the Kotabaru Regency, 86,000 hectares of mangroves have been cleared (both in and outside of the jurisdiction of the Department of Forestry), with 56,428 hectares of damaged mangroves and 9,908 hectares of heavily damaged mangroves.
Note from MAP-Indonesia: Although poorly written, this article clearly points out the large-scale destruction of mangroves in South Kalimantan, and the inability of governments at various levels to combat the issue. South Kalimantan is a remote region of Indonesia, and the potential for total destruction of such a valuable resource is extremely high. Illegal and unabated conversion of mangroves runs rampant in the region, under the radar of both national and international attention. The amount of mangrove forest lost, mentioned in the article, runs larger than total mangrove coverage for many countries in the region. MAP-Indonesia suggests the following ACTION:
- One large, leading international agency/foundation needs to prioritize the mangroves of South Kalimantan as the focus of a long-term program, using the best multidisciplinary models for coastal protection that exist to date.
- This focus program needs to prioritize community involvement but also engage all relevant stakeholders in the area in mangrove conservation, sustainable utilization of mangroves, mangrove restoration, and environmental education for current and future generations.
- This program should go through the Konsortium Mitra Bahari (Coastal Partners Consortium) which convenes in the Provincial Capital, consists of government, non-government and industry stakeholders, and is funded by the National Fisheries Department. This consortium, although well-meaning, needs to expand its range of activities and impact in order to reach out effectively to stakeholders at the Regency and District levels. The role of international support would be capacity building of this consortium. MAP-Indonesia along with CUSO-Indonesia are currently developing a similar program in South Sulawesi, focused on mangrove restoration and livelihood development.
- A letter writing campaign will not do it! Financially supported action on the ground is direly needed.
From: Ben Brown seagrassroots@gmail.com
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Editor's Note: It is both ironic and tragic that in the previous article we read of massive mangrove loss still ensuing in Kalimantan Island, illegal but condoned by corrupt officials, and yet in this article we read the lines "One solution is to cover Indonesia's fragile beaches with mangroves, the first line of defense against sea level rise…" It seems the lessons we learn are too fast unlearned and it is far more than islands sinking below the rising tides.
Climate change may wipe some Indonesian islands off map
By Sugita Katyal and Adhityani Arga
JAKARTA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Many of Indonesia's islands may be swallowed up by the sea if world leaders fail to find a way to halt rising sea levels at this week's climate change conference on the resort island of Bali.
Doomsters take this dire warning by Indonesian scientists a step further and predict that by 2035, the Indonesian capital's airport will be flooded by sea water and rendered useless; and by 2080, the tide will be lapping at the steps of Jakarta's imposing Dutch-era Presidential palace which sits 10 km inland (about 6 miles).
The Bali conference is aimed at finding a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, on cutting climate warming carbon emissions. With over 17,000 islands, many at risk of being washed away, Indonesians are anxious to see an agreement reached and quickly implemented that will keep rising seas at bay.
Just last week, tides burst through sea walls, cutting a key road to Jakarta's international airport until officials were able to reinforce coastal barricades.
"Island states are very vulnerable to sea level rise and very vulnerable to storms. Indonesia ... is particularly vulnerable," Nicholas Stern, author of an acclaimed report on climate change, said on a visit to Jakarta earlier this year.
Even large islands are at risk as global warming might shrink their land mass, forcing coastal communities out of their homes and depriving millions of a livelihood.
The island worst hit would be Java, which accounts for more than half of Indonesia's 226 million people. Here rising sea levels would swamp three of the island's biggest cities near the coast -- Jakarta, Surabaya and Semarang -- destroying industrial plants and infrastructure.
"Tens of millions of people would have to move out of their homes. There is no way this will happen without conflict," Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said recently.
"The cost would be very high. Imagine, it's not just about building better infrastructure, but we'd have to relocate people and change the way people live," added Witoelar, who has said that Indonesia could lose 2,000 of its islands by 2030 if sea levels continue to rise.
CRUNCH TIME AT BALI
Environmentalists say this week's climate change meeting in Bali will be crunch time for threatened coastlines and islands as delegates from nearly 190 countries meet to hammer out a new treaty on global warming.
Several small island nations including Singapore, Fiji, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Caribbean countries have raised the alarm over rising sea levels which could wipe them off the map.
The Maldives, a cluster of 1,200 islands renowned for its luxury resorts, has asked the international community to address climate change so it does not sink into a watery grave.
According to a U.N. climate report, temperatures are likely to rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Celsius (2.0 and 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit) and sea levels by between 18 cm and 59 cm (seven and 23 inches) this century.
Under current greenhouse gas emission levels, Indonesia could lose about 400,000 sq km of land mass by 2080, including about 10 percent of Papua, and 5 percent of both Java and Sumatra on the northern coastlines, Armi Susandi, a meteorologist at the Bandung Institute of Technology, told Reuters.
Indonesia, the world's fourth-most populous country, has faced intense pressure over agricultural land for decades.
Susandi, who has researched the impact of climate change on Indonesia, estimated sea levels would rise by an average of 0.5 cm a year until 2080, while the submersion rate in Jakarta, which lies just above sea level, would be higher at 0.87 cm a year.
A study by the UK-based International Institute for Economy and Development (IIED) said at least 8 out of 92 of the outermost small islands that make up the country's borders are vulnerable.
TOO MANY ISLANDS TO COUNT
Less than half of Indonesia's islands are inhabited and many are not even named. Now, the authorities are hastily counting the coral-fringed islands that span a distance of 5,000 km, the equivalent of going from Ireland to Iran, before it is too late.
Disappearing islands and coastlines would not only change the Indonesian map, but could also restrict access to mineral resources situated in the most vulnerable spots, Susandi said.
He estimates that land loss alone would cost Indonesia 5 percent of its GDP without taking into account the loss of property and livelihood as millions migrate from low-lying coastlines to cities and towns on higher ground.
There are 42 million people in Indonesia living in areas less than 10 meters above the average sea level, who could be acutely affected by rising sea levels, the IIED study showed.
A separate study by the United Nations Environment Programme in 1992 showed in two districts in Java alone, rising waters could deprive more than 81,000 farmers of their rice fields or prawn and fish ponds, while 43,000 farm labourers would lose their job.
One solution is to cover Indonesia's fragile beaches with mangroves, the first line of defence against sea level rise, which can break big waves and hold back soil and silt that damage coral reefs.
A more expensive alternative is to erect multiple concrete walls on the coastlines, as the United States has done to break the tropical storms that hit its coast, Susandi said.
Some areas, including the northern shores of Jakarta, are already fitted with concrete sea barriers, but they are often damaged or too low to block rising waters and big waves such as the ones that hit Jakarta in November.
"It will be like permanent flooding," Susandi said. "By 2050, about 24 percent of Jakarta will disappear," possibly even forcing the capital to move to Bandung, a hill city 180 km east of Jakarta. (Editing by Megan Goldin)
Source: Reuters
http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK155078.htm
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Fishermen hamper mangrove reforestation efforts in Indonesia
20 November 2007 The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Efforts to revitalize Jakarta's dwindling mangrove forests in Muara Angke have been hampered by local fishermen farming shrimp and fishing in the designated conservation area, a ranger from the Forestry Ministry told The Jakarta Post last week.
Angke Kapuk mangrove reserve ranger Resijati Wasito said fish farmers had cleared approximately 80 percent of the 100 hectare wetlands.
The reforestation program has been hindered by fishermen rearing milk fish and shrimp and removing mangrove trees and their roots, he said.
"It's hard to deal with the illegal fishermen. We've asked them to leave, because this conservation area belongs to the Forestry Ministry, but they keep returning.
"They damaged seedlings we planted, and even threatened us with machetes to try to stop us planting more trees," Resijati said.
He said there were currently some 30 fishermen and their families living in shanties in the Angke Kapuk reserve, even though the land was acquired by the ministry in 1988.
Resijati told the Post the government also gave compensation to fishermen who left the area, but those efforts appeared to be fruitless.
"We continue to ask them to leave because we have no authority to expel them. We've also asked for military personnel to protect new trees," he said.
The reserve has changed substantially with the fish farming. Where once stood a shady forest of mangrove trees, now there are only milk fish ponds.
In 2002 the Forestry Ministry and the reserve developer, PT Murindra Karya Lestari, planted some 50,000 mangrove seedlings, but most of them were uprooted by fishermen, leaving only around 100, Resijati said.
Since 2004 some 14,000 mangrove seedlings have been planted with better supervision. Around 10,000 can now be seen near the ponds.
Resijati said left undisturbed it would take seedlings nearly 10 years to grow into a forest.
Kapuk Angke natural reserve, together with the nearby Muara Angke wildlife reserve and protected forest, are the only remaining mangrove forest sites in Jakarta, whose coastline stretches some 32 kilometers from east to west. The three reserve sites total some 170 hectares.
Most of Jakarta's mangrove forests have been cleared not only for fish farming, but also for building developments, which have an even greater environmental impact, Resijati said.
He said mangrove forest wetlands play a crucial role in slowing the abrasion of beaches, protecting the city from big ocean waves and flooding, and serve as a nursery for marine life and a feeding grounds for a large number of animals.
The forests, he said, also function as green belts, protecting groundwater in nearby areas from salination. (wda)
Source: The Jakarta Post
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20071120.D05
From: ICSF icsf@icsf.net
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Dec. 5, 2007
Indonesia's Projections For Shrimp Production Fall Short
Indonesia, which has been predicting great expansion in shrimp production, will fall far short of its target this year. Instead of growth to 410,000 tons, production appears to be flat, remaining at about the 325,000 ton level of last year. One reason appears to be the delay in the start up of some large scale industrial farms.
From: "Seafood.com News" seafoodnews@seafood.com
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Indonesia`s CP Prima to spend US$242 mln on shrimp production
www.panoramaacuicola.com/sendToFriend.php?art_clave=4200
JAKARTA - The world's largest shrimp producer PT Central Proteinaprima (CP Prima) (JSX:CPRO) will spend up to US$242 million to boost the shrimp production of its two subsidiaries in Tulang Bawang, Lampung.
[2007-12-07]
CP Prima's chief financial officer Gunawan Taslim said Tuesday that the company would set out on a program to revitalize PT Wachyubni Mandira and PT Aruna Wijaya Sakti, (formerly called PT Dipasena Citra Dharmaja.) CP Prima acquired Dipasena in May after the government announced that the aquaculture company could not pay its debt to the state.
Source: Business in Asia Today
www.panoramaacuicola.com/noticia.php?art_clave=4200
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Interview-Indonesia's Papua to protect forests, seeks cash
By Adhityani Arga
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Indonesia's Papua wants to preserve part of its rainforest in exchange for cash to help the world slow global warming, the governor said at U.N. climate talks.
"We have decided to set aside a large part of our conversion forests to save the planet," Governor Barnabas Suebu told Reuters during U.N. climate talks in Bali. Conversion forests are earmarked for clearance for palm oil or pulp plantations.
Deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of all man-made carbon emissions blamed for global warming -- trees soak up carbon when they grow and release it when they rot or burn.
Stopping or curbing the destruction is widely regarded as a crucial part of any new climate pact to succeed the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
Suebu said that the remote forest-rich province on the Indonesian half of Guinea island was offering to preserve 7 million hectares (17.30 million acres) -- an area almost the size of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
In return, Papua hopes to earn millions of dollars through carbon trading by getting credit for leaving the forests intact.
Delegatas at the U.N. climate talks on the resort island of Bali are aiming to launch talks to work out a new pact by 2009 to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which runs to 2012.
The United Nations hopes the two-week conference will agree to study schemes to curb emissions by slowing deforestation and bind it into an emissions trading scheme.
Suebu said his scheme could help boost development in the area, where more than 80 percent of about 500,000 households live in poverty. But he said the world needs to create ways to ensure money goes to the forest-dependent people of Papua.
"The Papuan people own the forests. The money should go to them," he said.
HEADSTART
With 42 millon hectares of tropical forests and some of the richest biodiversity in the world, Papua is considered the country's last rainforest frontier. But it is under threat from increased cutting and clearing for palm oil plantations as well as rampant illegal logging.
Suebu vowed to get tough on illegal logging, by stepping up law enforcement and introducing a ban on log exports by January. The governor also plans to restrict logging licenses.
Papua took a headstart by signing agreements with several carbon investment companies, including Carbon Pool of Australia to help finance ways to preserve forests. But the central government in Jakarta is wary.
Forestry Minister Malam Sambet Kaban recently dubbed Papua's decision to go ahead with carbon trading outside the national framework as a move to "sell our forests at a discount."
The minister warned of "vultures" who lure governors into making decisions that would have long-term effort on Indonesia's plan to push for a fair and equitable pay-and-preserve plan under the new climate deal.
But Suebu brushed aside the criticism. "The central government is busy counting money. As Papuans say: we're busy fighting over the fish before it's even caught."
(Editing by Alister Doyle)
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Mangroves help Indonesia fend off climate change
By Adhityani Arga
SUWUNG KAUH, Indonesia, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Dark, foul-smelling mangrove swamps can help Indonesia's coastal communities fend off rising seas and stronger tropical storms caused by climate change, experts say.
As 190 nations meet for Dec. 3-14 U.N. climate talks on the resort island of Bali, looking for ways to broaden a pact to slow down global warming, experts say mangroves are not getting the attention they deserve as a protective coastal barrier.
"Mangroves are a natural way to lessen the severity of the impact (of climate change) to coastal communities," said urban planning and climate change expert Enda Atmawidjaja.
"They are natural sea barriers, and they are also much cheaper then building sea walls made of concrete."
Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands, is extremely vulnerable to a rise in sea levels, storm surges or more intense tropical storms linked to global warming.
The U.N. climate panel says seas could rise by 18 to 59 cms (7-23 inches) by 2100. More than 40 million of Indonesia's 220 million population live less than 10 meters above sea level.
Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow along a saline strip along the coast, now and then swamped by tides. The thin roots provide a habitat for shrimps and small fish, break up waves and hold back silt and soil from that damage coral reefs.
Mangroves can keep rising seas at bay to a certain extent, giving communities more time to adjust. The trees can help people cope with heatwaves and help break up waves in the event of a tropical storm.
DEFORESTED
But decades of rampant development along Indonesia's 57,000 kms (35,000 miles) coastline have left nearly 70 percent of its 5 million hectares (12 million acres) of mangrove forests deforested or degraded, scientist Hiroyuki Hatori told Reuters.
"Indonesia is the world's number one country in terms of mangroves. Some statistics say that 25 percent of the world's mangrove exist in Indonesia," said Hatori. "However in many areas of Indonesia mangroves are fast receding."
Like in many parts of Indonesia, vast swathes of mangrove forest in "the neck of Bali", a strip of land that connects a tiny peninsula in the south to the main part of the island, were turned into shrimp ponds during a boom in the 1980s.
But the ponds were soon abandoned, leaving large areas barren. Scientists later discovered that violent waves were chipping away at the coast, sparking fears that lower part of the island could be cut off in a decade's time.
A government project sponsored by Japan's development arm set off in the early 1990s to restore the area's vast mangroves, filling about 1,000 hectares of land with nearly 20 types of mangrove.
It became the first big-scale restoration project in Indonesia, with a mangrove nursery supplying free saplings to 18 restoration projects across Indonesia.
Today, project head Sasmitohadi said Indonesia has made giant leaps in its effort to preserve mangrove forests, but the increasing demand for settlements in the world's fourth most populous nation is putting pressure on the mangrove forests.
"To be honest, human beings are the biggest threat to mangroves," Sasmitohadi said. Small-scale conversion into shrimp and fish ponds also continue to pose a threat to mangroves.
"Indonesia should step up its conservation efforts for the world's next generation," Hatori said. "There are only 18 million hectares of mangrove forests left in the world, once degraded, it would be difficult to recover."
(Editing by Alister Doyle)
From: "Ben Brown"
seagrassroots@gmail.com
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Vietnam
Vietnam Considering Bringing White Shrimp Into Country
In Vietnam, there is a major debate underway about how to bring white shrimp cultivation into the country without introducing disease. The government has partially lifted a ban on white shrimp cultivation fearing a black market in unregulated brood stock could introduce disease. Now some exporters are saying they are losing orders to white shrimp producers, and that more of Vietnamís shrimp producers should switch. Coming back from the GAA global conference, Dr. Nguyen Huu Dung, deputy chairman of VASEP, said that the growth rate of the world's shrimp hatcheries would depend totally on the white shrimp.
From: "Seafood.com News" seafoodnews@seafood.com
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Burma
The "Mangrove Action Project" endorses the following statement:
07/11/2007
Burma Rivers Network's petition To Stop Chinese Dams
Burmariversnetwork@gmail.com , Nov-07, 2007
Subject: Sign the Burma Rivers Network's petition to Chinese government regarding hydropower projects in Burma
Dear friends,
As you all know that in Burma, China-owned corporations are rapidly raising their investment in energy sector, particularly in hydropower development projects. Indeed, those investments are not environmentally friendly, ecologically unsustainable, and the benefits would definitely flow to military regime's pocket. Moreover, there would be dramatic negative impacts to environment, society and economy of the community, where large dams are going to be built.
The following letter is requesting the Chinese government to take such actions regarding their investments in Burma,
1.Carrying out comprehensive environmental and social impact assessments (EIAs and SIAs) on projects abroad and make those publicly available, in order to adequately determine the feasibility of projects before concluding any agreements.
2. Keeping affected communities informed from the outset of all plans regarding hydropower development projects and involved in decision-making regarding those projects. This includes publicly releasing dam feasibility studies, investment and financial agreements, MOUs, MOAs, and clear information regarding responsible parties.
We, Burma Rivers Network, need your solidarity. If you agree please send your organization' s endorsement at this address ˆ burmariversnetwork@gmail.com, before 19, November, 2007. Your endorsement should include your organization name and organizational email address. If individual wants to sign, you can sign at
www.petitiononline.com/BRN/petition.html
In solidarity
Burma Rivers Network
OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ON THE INFLUX OF CHINESE DAM BUILDING COMPANIES TO BURMA/MYANMAR
November 2007
His Excellency President Hu Jintao
Zhongnanhai, Xichengqu, Beijing
People's Republic of China
cc. Bo Xilai, Minister of Commerce of PRC
Dear President Hu,
We, the Burma Rivers Network and organizations and individuals listed below, are writing to express grave concerns about the many large hydropower projects that have recently been agreed upon between Chinese corporations and Burma/Myanmar' s military regime in ethnic lands where ceasefires are tenuous or there is active conflict. We commend the Chinese government's `peaceful development' policy guiding foreign relations and we respectfully request the Chinese government to consider the repercussions of these transnational development projects, to review the procedures and laws regulating such investments, and to release information regarding the dam plans to affected communities.
In recent years the number of Chinese businesses involved in hydropower projects in Burma/Myanmar has increased dramatically. At least ten Chinese corporations have been named in connection with these dams on the Irrawaddy, Salween (Nu), Shweli and Paunglaung rivers, including Sinohydro Corporation, Yunnan Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Co., and China Power Investment Corporation. The dams would represent over US$30 billion in investment. This would be by far the biggest inflow of money to a military regime that Transparency International rates as the world's second most corrupt. Revenues would be used to pay for the regime's arms acquisitions and its military operations that oppress the people.
The current unrest in Burma and the junta's brutal handling of the recent protests highlights the enormous political and financial risks associated with these hydropower investments in Burma. All of the planned sites of the dams in Burma/Myanmar are in ethnic areas that have experienced devastation from decades of civil war. Burning and looting of villages, forced relocation, systematic sexual violence, and extra-judicial killing by the regime's troops are commonplace. Any dam construction will therefore compound the suffering of ethnic people living in both ceasefire and non-ceasefire areas, many of whom have already become internally displaced people or refugees. Furthermore, the impacts of the proposed dams in border areas will lead to instability and increased refugees flows into China creating further opportunities for the spread of HIV/AIDS and drug trafficking into China.
The entire decision-making process for the planning and implementation of the hydropower development projects has been conducted in secrecy, with the barest minimum of information revealed. There has been a total absence of public participation among the dam-affected communities in Burma. So far there has been no evidence that any social impact assessments (SIA) or adequate and timely environmental impact assessments (EIA) have been carried out for the dams, despite agreements having been concluded and in some cases construction having already begun. The vast majority of the communities who will bear the negative impacts of dam construction will get no benefit or compensation.
There are many international standards applicable to the construction, operation and financing of hydroelectric projects. The World Commission on Dams' guidelines are the most comprehensive, requiring EIAs as well as public participation and disclosure. The need for EIAs and consideration of the rights of indigenous peoples are widely recognized in international law. The international community has increasingly recognized the need for corporate responsibility, as laid out in the draft UN Norms on the Responsibility of Transnational Corporations, the UN Global Compact, and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
In recent years, China has included environmental assessment, public participation, environmental reporting, and resettlement benefits in its own laws and policies. Since 2003, the Environmental Impact Assessment Law has required EIAs for all major development projects; the process also includes public participation and the release of the EIA. The State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) issued a Bulletin on Information Disclosure for Corporate Environmental Performance in 2003 which recognizes the need for corporations to report on the environmental impacts of their projects and release them to the public. Furthermore, in 2006 the State Council implemented Order No. 471 Regulations on Land Requisition Compensation and Residents Resettlement in Construction of Large and Medium-sized Water Conservancy and Hydroelectric Projects. While it is understood that these laws and regulations govern Chinese businesses within China, they present an opportunity for China to extend its same commendable domestic standards to its projects in other countries.
Again, we commend the Chinese government's `peaceful development' policy guiding foreign relations. However, this official position is being undermined by the unregulated actions of Chinese corporations investing in countries such as Burma/Myanmar. By constructing, operating, and/or financing hydroelectric projects in volatile areas without EIAs or SIAs, participation and acceptance of the affected people, or transparency as to the dam and resettlement plans, the Chinese corporations involved in Burma/Myanmar are not contributing to development for peace. Concerns have been expressed that China's moves to increasingly regulate companies domestically are leading to a rush of companies relocating to countries where there are much lower standards. Given the likelihood of increased political tensions and violence in the areas surrounding the dam sites, we urge the Chinese government to also consider the safety and security of Chinese citizens and companies working in these areas.
Many of the dam plans involving Chinese hydropower corporations in Burma/Myanmar are still in the initial stages, although some of them are rapidly progressing. This presents an opportunity for the Chinese government to put its policy of `peaceful development' into practice in relation to transboundary development projects, incorporating relevant international standards.
In this spirit, we respectfully request the Chinese government to monitor and regulate Chinese corporations operating and financing hydropower development and other natural resource extraction projects abroad. Businesses should be made to comply with Chinese national and international standards ensuring people's informed participation in decision-making and accountability. Specifically, this includes:
1. Carrying out comprehensive environmental and social impact assessments (EIAs and SIAs) on projects abroad and make those publicly available, in order to adequately determine the feasibility of projects before concluding any agreements.
2. Keeping affected communities informed from the outset of all plans regarding hydropower development projects and involved in decision-making regarding those projects. This includes publicly releasing dam feasibility studies, investment and financial agreements, MOUs, MOAs, and clear information regarding responsible parties.
We look forward to a positive response.
Respectfully,
Burma Rivers Network
Burma Rivers Network is comprised of representatives of different ethnic organizations from potential dam affected communities in Burma. Our mission is to protect the health of river ecosystems and sustain biodiversity, rights and livelihoods of communities.
Signed by the following civil society organizations:
see website
India
Sea turtles face threat from Indian ports plan
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3218053.ece
By Debabrata Mohanty
Published: 03 December 2007
One of the world's largest sea-turtle nesting beaches is facing a double development threat from industry on India's east coast.
A large port is planned either side of the main nesting site of the threatened Olive Ridley turtles in Orissa where up to 300,000 of the reptiles come ashore to lay their eggs every year.
The Olive Ridley, among the smallest of the world's seven marine turtle species, is found in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, and swims great distances to haul itself out on to the sandy beaches of Orissa for its annual egg laying ritual.
However, over the past 13 years, more than 130,000 Olive Ridleys have been washed up dead in the area, after being caught in the nets of trawlers and gill netters. And now the species, listed as "vulnerable" by the World Conservation Union, is facing the risk of being driven from the coast completely by the proposed ports on either side of its nesting site.
Tata Steel, one of the biggest industrial companies in India, is building a £294m deepwater port at Dhamra, near a river mouth, a mere eight miles north-west of the nesting beaches of the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary. This is one of the largest nesting beaches in the world for marine turtles, with 100,000 to 300,000 nesting there every year.
On the other side of the nesting beaches, the Korean steelmaker Posco has proposed a £343m dedicated port for its 12 million-ton steel plant, 42 miles to the south.
They are big developments: the port by the Indian conglomerate is likely to have a total capacity of 83 million tons a year within 10 years while Korean steelmaker's port will handle 31 million tons a year.
Conservation groups such as Operation Kachhapa and Greenpeace fear the ports would add to the existing problem of loss of suitable undisturbed breeding habitat.
The activists have singled out the Tata Steel port, given its proximity to the nesting beach and the ancillary development it would spawn. "Tata Steel's port at Dhamra would be an ecological blunder," said Sanjiv Gopal of Greenpeace India. "We recently conducted a rapid biodiversity assessment which found the presence of Olive Ridley turtles as well as the endangered crab-eating frog and the white belly mangrove snake. The results have made it clear that the project cannot go ahead, in the absence of a comprehensive and impartial environment impact assessment."
Greenpeace also referred to a satellite telemetry study by the Wildlife Institute of India in 2001 showing turtle movements near the proposed port. But thousands of them also die a gory death as they are trapped in the nets of fishing trawlers that illegally scour the coast.
"The artificial lights from anchoring vessels on Dhamra port and shore-based megaport-based industries would disrupt the breeding and nesting of the Ridleys as the hatchlings would be disoriented by artificial light," said Biswajit Mohanty of Operation Kachhapa (Sanskrit for turtle).
An expert body of the Indian Supreme Court suggested that the company and the local Orissa government should look for an alternative site.
"The routes that will be used by shipping will necessarily be through the turtle congregation areas offshore. Oil spills and sundry pollution will inevitably occur in the event of a large port being set up. It is therefore necessary that an alternative site is located for this port," the body said in response to a petition filed by a Delhi lawyer in 2003.
From: "Ashish Fernandes" afernand@in.greenpeace.org
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www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=5515&rss=ec-main.xml
Printed in this month's issue of the Ethical Corporation Magagazine
India ˆ Tata in troubled waters
Tata's good name is threatened by the plight of a rare species of turtle Tata, the Indian conglomerate with annual revenue of $22 billion, has for three years been locked in a dispute with environmentalists over the damage a seaport project could have on endangered turtles.
The Dharma port project, on the Orissa coast, would create India's largest all-weather deepwater seaport. Its 13 berths could handle 80 million tonnes of cargo a year, mainly importing coking coal for Tata's steel plants.
The project is being run by the Dharma Port Company, a joint venture between Tata Steel and Indian engineering giant Larsen & Tubro. Tata Steel sees the port as central to its expansion plans, as it will streamline its supply chain. The Orissa government backs the project, which it says will improve the state's infrastructure and boost local economic growth.
The project should have been completed this year. But construction work is yet to start. Court cases, campaigners and financing troubles have all stalled the project.
Greenpeace has recently stepped up its campaign against the project. It points out that the port's proposed site is just 15 kilometres from Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, the world's largest mass nesting site for the rare species of migratory Olive Ridley turtles. Every year in the six months from November to May, about 500,000 turtles congregate in Gahirmatha to mate and feed.
Artificial lights from the giant port and populated areas would disorient the turtles and their hatchlings and eventually force them to abandon the Gahirmatha beaches, campaigners say. They also fear pollution from the port would contaminate the turtles' offshore habitat.
An expert committee appointed in 2004 by the supreme court to assess the port's likely environmental impacts recommended that the project site be shifted, as the proposed location would seriously affect nesting turtles. The case is still pending in the court. Another lawsuit filed by the Wildlife Protection Society of India in the Orissa high court is also pending.
Greenpeace India's lead campaigner, Ashish Fernandes, says the group is not against the port, but its location. "By pursuing the project, the Tatas would have no moral right to claim to be a responsible company."
Tata continues to reject the activists' claims. Tata Steel's managing director, B Muthuraman, stuck to the company's line in September in Singapore, saying: "Allegations against the project are not based on any scientific evidence. We will not cow down to any pressure." The company would "make sure that turtles are not harmed," he added.
Firm government support means Tata's project ultimately looks set to go ahead, despite environmentalists' concerns. The company's real test will come in finding a way to manage growing activist scrutiny in a way that does not threaten its reputation as a responsible company.
From: Ashish Fernandes ashish.fernandes@in.greenpeace.org
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Demand for jellyfish keeps olive ridley turtles starving in Orissa, India
The rising demand for jellyfish in the overseas market is threatening the survival of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles in Orissa, experts say. Extensive fishing for jellyfish along the Orissa coast to cater to the demands in the overseas markets is creating a food shortage for Olive Ridleys, Biswajit Mohanty, coordinator of turtle conservation group Operation Kachhapa, told IANS.
The abundance of jellyfish on the Orissa coast attracts thousands of Olive Ridleys every year during winter months, mainly at Gahirmatha, Devi and Rushikulya, for food and nesting. 'Earlier, our fishermen used to discard the jellyfish as unwanted catch, but now they are being sent to markets as far as Chennai and then to China,' said Mohanty.
The jellyfish is the Olive Ridleys' favourite food, although they also eat fish, shrimps and crabs, he added. Since law does not protect the jellyfish, no legal action can be taken to prevent its fishing. The catch is mainly for exports.
If the rampant fishing remains unchecked, the Olive Ridleys will be deprived of their main food source, which may lead them to abandon the Orissa coast. India should ban jellyfish exports, Mohanty said. 'We have already sighted Olive Ridleys swimming off the mouths of the three rivers here. The demand for the 'Rhopilema' type of jellyfish from Chinese buyers has charged the markets,' Mohanty said.
Olive Ridleys are found in most of the coastal waters of Orissa. Officials, however, said they were unaware of the situation. 'Nobody catches jellyfish here,' said A.C. Naik, joint director of the state fishery department. The Gahirmatha beach in Kendrapada district, about 174 km from here, is the world's largest nesting site for Olive Ridleys. Nearly 800,000 turtles come here every winter.
Source: www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/153340.html
Indo-Asian News Service
From: icsf@icsf.net
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Bangladesh
Big blow to the Sundarbans
Sidr destroys a quarter of the heritage site; death toll crosses 3,000
Julfikar Ali Manik and Sharier Khan
www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=12339
Large mangrove trees at Alor Kol in Dublarchar were uprooted as the Sundarbans took a massive blow of Sidr Thursday night. A quarter of the flora of the World Heritage Site was totally destroyed while a large number of its fauna perished. About one fourth of the four lakh plus hectares of forest area of th world heritage site, the Sundarbans, has been damaged by Cyclone Sidr, according to a primary assessment of the forest department….
About one fourth of the four lakh plus hectares of forest area of the world heritage site, the Sundarbans, has been damaged by Cyclone Sidr, according to a primary assessment of the forest department.
According to the updated government estimate, the cyclone has affected 40 lakh individuals of 10 lakh families in 141 upazilas. Over three lakh houses have been completely destroyed and more than six lakh houses have been damaged.
The updated government estimate puts the death toll at 2,753, while the Armed Forces Division puts it at 3,113.
SUNDARBANS TAKES THE BLOW
The south-eastern part of the world's biggest single unit of mangrove forest sustained the main blow of the cyclone, saving human lives by slowing down the nature's wrath.
The forest department however has yet to get a total picture of the damage inflicted upon the wildlife of the forest that provides livelihood for more than two million people. So far the department has found only 23 carcasses of deer, along with two human bodies. Till now, the department has found no evidence of death of any Bengal Tiger.
"One fourth of the Sundarbans forest area has been damaged by the cyclone. Eight to ten percent of the forest has been damaged completely, and those trees will not regrow, while fifteen percent has been partly damaged, a part of which will regrow," said a forest official, requesting anonymity. He also said including the water bodies, the area of the Sundarbans is six lakh hectares.
The monetary value of the damage however has not been assessed yet, he added.
The forest department also has yet to start assessing the damage done to the trees in the affected areas outside the forest.
"But we have been given the impression from our field level staff that around 30 percent of those trees have been damaged," he added.
When contacted, Chief Forest Conservator AKM Shamsuddin told The Daily Star yesterday, "We have not completed our assessment yet. It will take time, because our men could not reach all the remote places."
"I have visited the Sundarbans twice after the cyclone. In my 29-year career, never before did I see the Sundarbans damaged like this," he added….
…According to the Disaster Management Control Room (DMCR) in Dhaka, the death toll yesterday rose to 2,753 from Sunday's 2,300. It also said 2,259 people are missing, and 6,610 persons are injured….
…Meanwhile, the death toll assessed by the Armed Forces Division (AFD) yesterday stood at 3,113. The AFD also puts the number of missing persons at 1,063….
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One-fourth of Sundarbans lies in ruins
Pinaki Roy
www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=13649
Ruining the beautiful, green landscape, cyclone Sidr has dealt a severe blow to the Sundarbans, destroying 1,528 square kilometres of the forest out of around 6,000 square kilometres, according to forest officials' primary assessment.
Of the devastated areas totalling about one-fourth of the forest, 1,200 square kilometres are land and the rest water bodies.
The officials assess that more than Tk 1,000 crore worth of forest resources have been lost in addition to another Tk 20 crore in infrastructure damage.
Though a chunk of the forest has been completely destroyed carcasses of only one tiger, 38 deer and one monkey have so far been recovered, officials say.
The situation is so bad that the Department of Forest is considering not permitting anyone to collect nypah, goran and honey from the Sundarbans this year.
Every year, the government earns Tk 60-65 lakh in revenue by giving permission to honey and nypah collectors.
The forest officials say the devastation is severe and it will take years to recover from the loss. Special attention from both home and abroad to restoration is also required, they add.
"It will take years to restore the forest to its previous state. We need national and international support to recover from the loss occurred there," Chief Forest Conservator AKM Shamsuddin told The Daily Star.
"A programme officer from the Unicef will visit the forest tomorrow [today] to see the devastation of the world natural heritage site," he added.
During a visit to the Terabeka point in the Sundarbans, it was found that trees were shorn of leaves, with most of them either uprooted or twisted.
According to the officials, the Department of Forest is mulling restoration plans for the Sundarbans in three phases.
Their plans include rebuilding infrastructure and arranging supply of drinking water at different forest beat offices in the initial stage.
The sources say 90 percent accommodation facilities for the 1,100-strong forest officials there have been completely destroyed. The government is going to allocate Tk 34 crore in the initial stage.
The officials say they need to run assisted natural regeneration (ANR) programme as the forest's ground surface is covered up by leaves and other rubbish.
"So we might launch cleaning operation on the ground so that seeds anchor on the forest land and regenerate the forest automatically," said the chief conservator.
"If we find automatic regeneration is not working properly, we would go for enrichment plantation of the Sundarbans species including nypah, sundari and goran in the forest."
Seedling time of keora, one of the largest tree species in the Sundarbans, starts in April, May and June. Experts from the forest department express the hope the regeneration process will start within one year.
Besides, the forest officials say they are going to launch a prey survey on deer, wild boars and rhesus monkeys.
Some experts, the forest conservator said, have advised to provide food for the wildlife in the Sundarbans, but that might change the food habit of the carnivorous animals.
Sources say the government is looking forward to doing everything to restore the world heritage site.
However, a number of experts from non-government sector express their concern that the government has to ensure the forest officials don't take it as an opportunity to make quick money from felled trees.
"Over the years, the forest officials have been felling trees in the Sundarbans. This time the government should monitor it so that they just don't fell trees and sell those," said a high official of a private organisation who has been working on the Sundarbans for years.
From: "zakir kibria" zakir.kibria@gmail.com
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Published December 5, 2007 06:07 AM
Bangladesh to seek aid for mangrove forest
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DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh will seek emergency funds from the World Heritage Center to restore the ecosystem and biodiversity of the Sundarban mangrove forest, badly mauled by last month's killer cyclone, officials said on Wednesday.
Cyclone Sidr, which struck the Bangladesh coast on November 15 with winds of 250 kph (155 mph), killed around 3,500 people, made millions homeless and destroyed a large part of the Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to the Royal Bengal Tiger.
Forest officials said they had found two dead tigers and several deer following the cyclone, the worst to hit Bangladesh since 1991, when a storm killed around 143,000 people.
Officials said better preparedness and an advance warning system had helped save many people this time, but the vast mangrove forest had also largely offset the impact of the cyclone, which triggered a 5-metre (16-ft) water surge from the Bay of Bengal.
According to the forest department's preliminary estimate, the financial loss caused by Sidr to the mangroves would top 10 billion taka ($145 million), and experts say it might be more.
"Bangladesh is preparing a letter asking emergency funding from the World Heritage Centre for immediate rehabilitation of infrastructure in the Sundarbans," said Shafayat Hossain, a senior official at the Environment and Forest Ministry.
"After final assessment of total damage to the Sundarbans, we will formally seek assistance from the WHC," he said.
Fakhruddin Ahmed, head of Bangladesh's interim government, told donors that Dhaka would need around $150 million to restore damage to the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove area.
"In the backdrop of Sidr, we need to mobilize resources not only for a major forestation program in the coastal belts, but also to restore the flora and fauna of the Sundarbans," Fakhruddin said.
Denmark on Wednesday backed Bangladesh's recent appeal to the international community for $1 billion assistance for rehabilitation and reconstruction following the cyclone.
"I am pleased to see that the people of Bangladesh have already started reconstruction," Ulla Tornaes, Denmark's minister for Development Cooperation, told a news conference in Dhaka after visiting cyclone affected areas in Bangladesh.
Denmark has pledged $4 million aid for emergency relief, long-term reconstruction and climate change adaptation in Bangladesh, she said.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Additional reporting Masud Karim; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Source: Reuters
www.enn.com/top_stories/article/26567
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World's largest mangrove forest in Bangladesh major causality of cyclone
18 November 2007
DHAKA, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The flora and fauna of Bangladesh's southwestern Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, became a major casualty of Thursday's devastating cyclone that roared out of the Bay of Bengal.
Experts fear that much of nearly 40 species of mammals, some 400 species of birds and more than 200 species of fishes fell victim to the calamity -- one of the worst in recent memory.
The Sundarbans, about 350 km southwest of capital Dhaka, is the home of the Royal Bengal Tiger, already an endangered animal, as well as of many other species like Spotted Deer which are on the verge of extinction.
They said the Forest Department is yet to make any assessment of the colossal losses of the wildlife in the Sundarbans, declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
Over a million people living in and around the Sundarbans depend on the forest for their livelihood. "But most importantly, the forest was an environmental shield for the people living in the country's southwestern region," Prof. Anwarul Islam of Zoology Department of Dhaka University told Xinhua Sunday.
Prof. Islam, who is chief executive of Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB), stressed the need for assessing the loss caused to the Sundarbans and taking immediate measures to save the wildlife.
But this could prove a difficult task, he said, pointing out the lack of expertise, technical preparation and logistics.
Sources in the Sundarbans areas said that a good number of bodies of Spotted Deer and monkeys were seen floating in the rivers and canals in the Sundarbans areas.
The rivers in the estuary of the Sundarbans hold more than 200 species of fishes including Bangladesh's national fish Hilsha, Fatty Catfish, Bass, White Grunt, Eel Tail Catfish, Indian Salmon, Mullets, Ribbon Fish, Bombay Duck, Anchovys etc.
Besides, these rivers were the sanctuary of various types of shrimps like tiger shrimps, giant fresh water prawn, Indian white shrimp, green tiger shrimp, brown shrimp among others.
Source: China View
www.news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/18/content_7101762.htm
From: mapasia@loxinfo.co.th
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Editor's Note: Please note that the following pro-shrimp industry editorial talks of the loss in investnent because of this disaster caused by the recent hurricane in Bangladesh, but one must also consider the effect on the natural ocean ecology that the escape of so many «high quality shrimp» may cause because these ae non-nati