topic: Mangroves

topic: Mangroves

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Bangladesh island’s switch from solar power to fossil fuels threatens birds
- The Bangladesh government recently converted off-grid Nijhum Dwip Island in the Bay of Bengal into an on-grid locality powered by fossil fuel-fired plants, posing a threat to the country’s second-largest mangrove forest.
- The island’s inhabitants had depended on individual solar-run power, and the government planned to install a mini solar grid for an uninterrupted power supply a few years back.
- Instead, the government has facilitated the construction of a 15 megawatt heavy-fuel-run power plant at Hatiya, the subdistrict headquarters of Nijhum Dwip, under the ‘100% Reliable and Sustainable Electrification Project,’ which seems to be a reverse transition from renewable to fossil fuel-based electrification.
- Nature conservationists believe that due to the connection to the national grid, human activities will increase around the forest and endanger the already cornered wildlife of the national park on the island.

Fishers, scientists restore mangroves on a Mexican isle wrecked by salt mining
- For decades, salt mining has deteriorated the wetlands and natural flood patterns of Isla del Carmen, part of Bahía de Loreto National Park in Mexico.
- Collaboration between two conservation organizations and a community of fishers on the mainland are working to restore the mangroves of Isla del Carmen by rehabilitating its hydrology and constructing “vegetation terraces” for the trees.
- The project also involves training and educating communities about the importance of conserving the ecosystem for the sake of wildlife, the local economy and protecting against the effects of climate change.

Saving Asia’s fishing cat means protecting threatened wetland habitat
- Fishing cats are uniquely adapted to life in wetlands, possessing a double-layered coat that serves as a water barrier and insulation, partially webbed feet, ears that plug when submerged, and a curious call reminiscent of a duck.
- Spread across Asia, this small wild cat species faces myriad threats, including habitat loss, hunting and retaliatory killings, road kill, and more. Considered vulnerable across its range, the felid is also elusive and underresearched, with many knowledge gaps about its distribution and ecology.
- Conservationists are working across its range to raise the profile of this wildcat, reduce threats and understand the species. Linking its protection to equally threatened wetlands is vital, they say. Initiatives such as the Fishing Cat Project in India have achieved success in making this cat the face of these habitats.
- Multiple conservation and research projects operate in Asia under the banner of the Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance, a cooperative model that provides funding lifelines and enables international collaboration to protect this small cat.

Mangrove forestry only sustainable when conservation zones respected: Study
- The need to preserve mangroves and the ecosystem services they sustain, while also providing for the social and economic needs of the people who depend on them, is one of coastal conservation’s greatest conundrums.
- New research based on long-term data from a mangrove production forest in Malaysia suggests that, in some cases, it is possible to reconcile mangrove protection with resource needs — but only when the correct management is implemented and enforced.
- The study highlights the need for well-protected conservation areas within forest production landscapes to boost natural forest regeneration, sustain wildlife and balance overall levels of carbon storage.
- The authors also warn that management models that seek to maximize profits at the expense of such sensitive conservation areas could undermine the resilience of the overall landscape and diminish sustainability over time.

Warming seas push India’s fishers into distant, and more dangerous, waters
- Many of India’s more than 4 million fishers are sailing beyond the country’s exclusive economic zone into the high seas in search of a better catch.
- Rising sea surface temperatures, overfishing near the shore, and the destruction of reefs have decimated nearshore fisheries, forcing India’s fishers farther out to sea where they face greater risk.
- A common danger they run is straying into the waters of another country, which can lead to their boats being seized and the crew being jailed or even killed.
- The Indian government has issued policies to protect and recover nearshore fish stocks, even as it encourages fishing in the high seas.

Bangladesh uses satellite transmitters on saltwater crocodiles in Asia’s first
- On March 13, the Bangladesh forest department tagged satellite transmitters on two saltwater crocodiles for the first time in Asia and released them in the Sundarbans waters.
- So far, four saltwater crocodiles — three from captivity and one from the wild — have been tagged and the preparation is in place to tag more.
- The forest department has already started collecting data using the satellite transmitters to understand the crocodile’s habits in this ecosystem and identify nesting its hotspots, ecology, mortality rate and habitat range.
- Experts say the satellite data will play an important role in crocodile conservation in Bangladesh, where the species is critically endangered, and will help the authorities make proper conservation management plans to protect it.

Brazil boosts protection of Amazon mangroves with new reserves in Pará state
- The state of Pará has created two new conservation areas along the Amazonian coastline, placing almost all of its mangroves under federal protection.
- The two reserves mean that an additional 74,700 hectares (184,600 acres) have been included in the largest and most conserved continuous belt of mangroves on the planet.
- The process to create the reserves took more than 13 years and faced several setbacks; the final outcome has been celebrated by environmentalists as a victory for local communities and biodiversity.
- The new extractive reserves allow resident populations to engage in traditional and sustainable extractive practices such as fishing and hunting, while keeping out big businesses, such as commercial aquaculture or logging.

As a megaport rises in Cameroon, a delicate coastal ecosystem ebbs
- The deepwater port at Kribi, Cameroon, is a massive project, begun in 2011 and slated for completion in 2040.
- It aims to decongest the existing port at Douala and become a trade hub for all Central African countries.
- The port is located just a few kilometers from Cameroon’s only marine protected area, home to green, olive ridley and hawksbill turtles.
- While aiming to improve the country’s economy, the port has generated unintended environmental consequences, intensifying coastal erosion, increasing human pressure and pollution, and endangering marine life and local fishers’ livelihoods.

Despite investment in conservation, Bengal tigers still struggling in Bangladesh
- As a major tiger habitat country, Bangladesh has been spending a remarkable amount of money to protect the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) for the last two decades; however, the population of the big cat has dropped during this period.
- According to the last survey conducted in 2018, only 114 tigers remain in the Bangladesh portion of the Sundarbans, compared to 440 in 2004.
- In Bangladesh, Sundarbans is the only place where the Bengal tiger lives. Three portions of the mangrove forest are designated as wildlife sanctuaries, but none are specifically dedicated to the tiger.
- Experts blame inefficient and inadequate measures in conservation initiatives as the major reasons for the failure in population increase.

Risks to Myanmar’s last saltwater crocs point to coastal conservation needs
- A new study confirms that Myanmar’s last population of saltwater crocodiles is perilously isolated and that without efforts to connect suitable coastal wetlands, the future of the species is in the country is uncertain.
- Deforestation and conversion of coastal habitats for commercial production, persecution due to conflicts with people, and hunting and wild capture to supply demand for crocodile meat and skin products have all taken their toll on crocodile numbers.
- The researchers recommend conservationists and policymakers in Myanmar focus on reconnecting remaining coastal habitats, including existing coastal protected areas, and identify key crocodile habitat areas and potential movement corridors to aid such conservation action.
- Enhancing coastal habitat connectivity would not only enable crocodile population recovery, it would also reduce pressure on communities coping with negative interactions with crocodiles.

Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- A recent study warns that the ongoing construction of Indonesia’s new capital city on the island of Borneo could destabilize the population of endangered proboscis monkeys currently thriving in the area.
- President Joko Widodo has characterized the development as green and with a minimal environmental impact, but concerns have arisen over the potential threat to the nearby Balikpapan Bay mangrove ecosystem that’s home to proboscis monkeys and other threatened wildlife.
- Scientists have advocated for sustainable development practices and emphasized the importance of respecting local biodiversity while constructing the new city, Nusantara.
- Their recommendations include legal protection for affected areas, habitat restoration, and collaboration with local stakeholders to mitigate the environmental impact.

Pakistan bucks global trend with 30-year mangrove expansion
- Around the world, mangrove forests have undergone a decades-long decline that is just now slowing to a halt.
- In Pakistan, by contrast, mangroves expanded nearly threefold between 1986 and 2020, according to a 2022 analysis of satellite data.
- Experts attribute this success to massive mangrove planting and conservation, as well as concerted community engagement.
- Many in Pakistan are looking to mangroves to bolster precious fish stocks and defend against the mounting effects of climate change — even as threats to mangroves, such as wood harvesting and camel grazing, continue with no end in sight.

Mangrove crab sustainability is vital for fishers in Indonesia’s Aru Islands
- Mud crab fishing in Lorang village, Aru Islands, has been a vital livelihood since 2014, but a recent survey suggests signs of depletion, raising concerns among local fishers.
- The boom in crab fisheries began after a government moratorium on various commodities.
- Despite high economic value, a rapid assessment by Indonesian researchers reveals a decline in mud crab abundance, possibly due to overfishing exceeding natural regeneration.
- To address this, there’s a call for conservation efforts, including a wildlife protection reserve and agreements with neighboring villages to establish a “crab bank” for sustainable crab populations.

Overfishing leads to decline in Bangladesh marine fish stocks & diversity
- Bangladesh is facing a decline in marine fish stocks and diversity due to lack of knowledge among fishers, proper implementation of the Marine Fisheries Act and rampant use of industrial trawlers and unauthorized fishing gear in permitted fishing zones.
- The country has a 710-kilometer (440-mile) coastline with 121,110 square kilometers (46,760 square miles) of exclusive economic zones (EEZs) within the Bay of Bengal and is a hub of 740 aquatic species.
- The marine fisheries sector contributes about 15% of Bangladesh’s total fish production, which helps meet the population’s demands for animal protein.

Camera-traps help identify conservation needs of Thailand’s coastal otters
- Otters are sometimes described as the “tigers of the mangrove” in Southeast Asia, where they’re well-known to display extraordinary resilience and adaptability to human activity and urbanization.
- A new camera-trap study now highlights the importance of expanses of natural habitat, such as coastal forests and wetlands, for two species of otter living along southern Thailand’s increasingly modified coasts.
- The research team found that while otters are able to live within human-modified landscapes, tracts of natural habitat offer them vital refugia from a slew of threats, such as road collisions, prey depletion due to pollution of watercourses, and conflict with fish and shrimp farmers.
- The authors used their findings to create maps that indicate where conservationists and wildlife departments should prioritize management and monitoring for these vital top wetland predators.

Causeway threatens mangroves that Philippine fishers planted as typhoon shield
- The city of Tacloban in the central Philippines was ground zero for Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded and the deadliest in the Philippines’ modern record.
- A decade after the storm, the city is moving forward with controversial plans to build a road embankment and land reclamation project that proponents say will help protect the city from storm surges.
- Opponents of the plan say it threatens local fisheries, will disrupt natural storm protection measures like mangroves, and is poorly designed as a barrier against storms.
- The plan will also result in the relocation of a coastal village of 500 households, who have been active stewards of the bay’s mangrove forests.

Jamaica battles relentless plastic pollution in quest to restore mangroves
- In recent decades, mangroves in Jamaica have declined rapidly, from about 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) in the 1970s to about 9,945 hectares (24,574 acres) now.
- Currently there are several efforts to restore mangroves in the island country, as experts recognize the many ecosystem services they provide, including the protection and stabilization of coastlines as human-induced climate change worsens.
- However, restoration efforts face numerous challenges: Near Kingston, the main one is voluminous tides of plastic waste, which can stunt mangrove growth or kill them.

Oil firm Perenco eyes new blocks in DRC amid criticism of its track record
- Oil multinational Perenco has bid on two new oil blocks being auctioned off by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Perenco operates the country’s only oil production facilities, at Muanda, near the mouth of the Congo River.
- Local and international critics accuse the oil company of polluting the environment, affecting fishing and farming, as well as residents’ health; the company denies this.

Sumatran Indigenous seafarers run aground by overfishing and mangrove loss
- Many among Indonesia’s Duano Indigenous community have hung up their fishing nets in response to recent environmental and economic shifts.
- A study published in October found that intact mangroves were associated with up to a 28% increase in fish and shellfish consumption among coastal communities.
- Duano elders say young people from the community are increasingly retiring from the community’s traditional livelihood to take up poorly paid casual work.

New electric-blue tarantula species is first found in Thailand mangroves
- A new electric-blue tarantula species, Chilobrachys natanicharum, has been described by scientists in Thailand, making it the first-known tarantula species in Thai mangroves.
- Researchers from Khon Kaen University and wildlife YouTuber JoCho Sippawa found these vibrant blue tarantulas in the muddy conditions of Phang Nga province’s mangrove forest.
- The spider’s vivid blue coloration is created not by pigments but by nanostructures on the tarantula’s hairs that manipulate light and produce an iridescent effect.
- The researchers are concerned about the tarantulas’ mangrove habitats being cleared for oil palm cultivation.

Tien Hai Nature Reserve latest battleground in Vietnam’s push for development
- In April, the government of Vietnam’s Thai Binh province quietly issued a decision to remove protection from 90% of Tien Hai Nature Reserve, which forms an integral part of the UNESCO-recognized Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve.
- After environment activists publicized the decision last month, public backlash prompted officials to pause plans to develop a resort in the degazetted area — at least for now.
- The project is just one of several recent cases in which the country’s protected wetlands and forests have been threatened by development projects.

A Philippines NGO project aimed to protect villages from typhoons: What went wrong?
- Concepcion is a low-income fishing town in the central Philippines’ Iloilo province where Super Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Yolanda, made its fifth landfall nearly a decade ago, destroying houses and fishing boats.
- In 2015, the U.S.-based nonprofit Conservation International (CI) introduced so-called green-gray infrastructure to enhance the climate resilience of five Concepcion villages, employing a combination of nature-based and engineering solutions.
- A little more than a year after the project ended, a Mongabay visit to Concepcion found most project components degraded or destroyed, leaving residents with little more protection than they had when Yolanda devastated their communities in 2013.
- A CI official acknowledged the project’s challenges, expressing an organizational commitment to learn from the experience and attempt to secure new funding to sustain the initiative.

Sundarbans tiger and prey numbers rise amid Bangladesh conservation efforts
- Recent surveys of big cats and prey in the Sundarbans indicate that numbers for both have increased significantly in recent years, thanks to different conservation measures taken by the Bangladesh government.
- According to the last survey conducted in 2018, there were 114 tigers in the Bangladesh portion of the Sundarbans, while the number counted in 2004 was 440.
- An ongoing camera trapping tiger census has found more presence of tigers across the forest than in earlier counts. The final count of the tiger population will be announced on International Tiger Day, July 29, 2024.
- Experts say that an increase in tigers’ prey animals will reduce human-tiger conflict and help increase the tiger population.

Court order fails to stop poison fishing in Bangladesh Sundarbans
- According to the Bangladesh Forest Department, the Sundarbans mangrove forest in Bangladesh shelters about 210 species of white fish, 24 species of shrimp, 14 species of crabs, 43 species of mollusks and one species of lobster.
- About 1.7 million locals living adjacent to the mangrove forest directly or indirectly depend on forest resources, including fish and crabs, for their livelihood due to the region’s growing unemployment rate.
- Among them, some fishers have been using poison to catch fish, even during the banned period, which eventually damages forest ecology and the health of those who consume the fish caught with poison.
- Considering these damages to the world’s single largest mangrove forest as well as to human health, the Bangladesh High Court issued a verdict responding to a writ petition to stop the heinous practice in September 2021, though the practice is still ongoing.

As Bangladesh’s crab fishery booms, its wild stocks suffer the fallout
- Crab harvests in Bangladesh are booming to meet thriving export demand, but the rates at which wild stocks are being depleted may be unsustainable, experts warm.
- Researchers say the loss of large numbers of mud crabs from ecosystems like the Sundarbans mangroves could trigger an ecological imbalance.
- Bangladesh exported about $35 million worth of crabs in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, with the trend expected to increase to markets like the U.S., the EU and Singapore.
- Experts have called for more efforts to hatch crabs on aquafarms as a way to ease the pressure on wild stocks, but this option isn’t available yet at commercial scale.

For International Youth Day, three youth conservation success stories
- This Saturday is International Youth Day, a day established by the U.N. to draw attention to youth issues worldwide.
- This year celebrates youth developing the “green skills” needed to shift the world into one that is environmentally sustainable and climate-friendly.
- In recognition of the international day, Mongabay spoke with three youths worldwide who initiated successful environmental restoration organizations in their communities.

Video: Rio de Janeiro’s defender of mangroves
- Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro has suffered for decades from inefficient sewage treatment, oil spills and mangrove deforestation.
- For more than 30 years, biologist Mario Moscatelli has been fighting to reverse this process and revitalize the landscape.
- For denouncing corruption, environmental crimes and government inaction, he faced intimidation and even death threats.

Study shows how to maximize mangroves as climate and community solution
- Mangroves’ high carbon storage capacity can help countries meet their carbon emission reduction targets under the Paris Agreement, while also producing benefits for local communities.
- Recent research using data from Belize has quantified mangrove carbon storage and sequestration potential and identified where the country should prioritize conservation and restoration to maximize ecosystem services that would benefit multiple sectors.
- The research has been used by Belizean authorities to update national climate targets, committing to protect an extra 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of mangroves and restore another 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) by 2030, which could provide an example for other national blue carbon strategies.
- The study also took into account the point where mangrove protection and restoration begin to offer diminishing returns, which would allow authorities to adjust the ambition of climate mitigation and adaptation via mangroves.

Sulawesi sea nomads who inspired Avatar movie chart new course saving forests
- Umar Pasandre, a member of the seafaring Bajo people, has spent more than two decades protecting mangroves in Indonesia’s Gorontalo province.
- The Bajo people were first recorded by 16th-century explorers and inspired James Cameron’s sequel to “Avatar.”
- Umar leads local mangrove-replanting initiatives and has confronted those seeking to convert the forests for aquaculture production.

Offshore oil plans in Brazil threaten South America’s largest coral reef
- The Parcel de Manuel Luís coral reef, off the coast of northeastern Brazil, is a vital habitat for several species, including 53 at risk of extinction.
- Despite vetoes from Brazil’s environmental regulator, the local government is seeking to give the go-ahead to oil drilling projects in this part of the Pará-Maranhão Basin.
- Oil drilling in the region also poses a threat to the longest continuous stretch of mangrove in the world, which runs from the Maranhão coastline to the northern state of Amapá, in the Amazon.

Opposition grows to Indonesia’s resumption of sea sand exports
- Marine conservation and fisheries activists in Indonesia are pushing for exports of sea sand to be scrapped, saying the activity harms the environment and community livelihoods.
- Indonesia imposed a ban on exports of dredged sea sand in 2003, but reversed the policy through a regulation issued in May this year.
- Activists say the policy directly threatens the future of Indonesian fishing and coastal communities in the world’s largest archipelagic nation, where millions of people are dependent on fishing for their livelihoods.
- Others say the resumption of exports will benefit foreign interests, including Singapore, which has expanded its land area by 20% thanks largely to Indonesian sand, and China, which is building artificial islands to shore up its claims to parts of the South China Sea.

Element Africa: offshore oil threatens fisheries, gold mining topples homes and forests
- Mensin Gold’s mine at Bibiani threatens Ghanaian villagers’ health and homes.
- Fishers fear impacts of cross-border oil and gas exploration in waters shared by Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
- Illegal miners in a forest reserve in Ghana are brazenly shooting back at law enforcement agents.
- Element Africa is Mongabay’s bi-weekly bulletin of brief stories from the extractives industry in Africa.

Red floods near giant Indonesia nickel mine blight farms and fishing grounds
- Farming communities in the shadow of Sulawesi’s giant Pomalaa nickel mining area say their fields have been flooded with red water, possibly laterite waste from the mining operations.
- Local farmers blame flooding from the mine for longer harvest cycles and reduced productivity.
- Indonesia’s biggest environmental NGO says the government should review mining permits to safeguard rice fields.

New digital tool maps blue carbon ecosystems in high resolution
- The Blue Carbon Explorer, a digital tool developed by the nonprofit Nature Conservancy and the Earth-imaging company Planet, combines satellite imagery, drone footage and fieldwork to map mangroves and seagrass in the Caribbean, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
- The tool aims to help scientists, conservationists and governments gauge mangrove health and identify areas in need of restoration.
- The Blue Carbon Explorer comes at a time of growing interest in blue carbon ecosystems as potential nature-based solutions for climate change.

Experts, activists unite to blast Indonesia’s U-turn on sea sand exports
- Indonesia will resume exporting sand dredged from the sea, commonly used in reclamation projects, ending a 20-year ban.
- Environmental activists and marine experts have criticized the policy, saying the resumption caters only to business interests and fails to consider the damage to marine ecosystems and fishing communities.
- The government says it will only allow dredging on seabed areas where sediment from land runoff has accumulated, adding that this will also help ease ship traffic.
- But critics say these arguments are meaningless and a form of greenwashing, and have called for widespread public opposition to the policy.

Bangladesh tries fences to tackle growing human-tiger conflict in Sundarbans
- About 300 people and 46 tigers have been killed since 2000 in human-tiger conflicts in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans.
- Authorities here have decided to install fencing along the rivers and canals that the big cats use to cross into human settlements.
- Experts point to a successful application of this measure in the Indian Sundarbans, and say the fencing will both keep tigers out of human settlements, and humans and their domestic animals out of tiger habitat.
- The Sundarbans is the only mangrove habitat in the world that supports tigers, but the ecosystem continues to be degraded due to human and natural causes.

Fewer migratory birds stopping at key Bangladesh wetland amid human disturbances
- Numbers of most species of migratory waterbirds in Bangladesh’s Tanguar Haor wetland, a key stopping point, have fallen over the past 15 years, a new study shows.
- The cause of the decline isn’t fully known yet, researchers say, but it’s clear that human activity has impacted the wetland, with 40% of the basin’s original area converted to farmland and settlements in just 30 years.
- The study recommends prioritizing conservation at two of the permanent waterbodies, or beels, in the Tanguar Haor complex, citing the high abundance and diversity of the birds that stop there.
- Tanguar Haor is the second Ramsar site in Bangladesh, after the Sundarbans mangrove forest, and accounted for nearly half of the more than 1.2 million waterbirds recorded in the country between 2008 and 2015.

A Philippine town and its leaders show how mangrove restoration can succeed
- In the early 1990s, the coastal town of Prieto Diaz, in the Philippines’ Bicol region, was selected as a pilot area for a community-based resource management program created by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
- Today, an award-winning community organization helps maintain a mangrove ecosystem that has grown to be the region’s largest and supports the livelihoods of both its members and the broader community.
- Residents credit the restored mangrove ecosystem with protecting the village from storm surges, and point to committed local leaders as vital to the ongoing success of mangrove restoration and protection.

Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- The ongoing development of an entirely new capital city from the ground up in Indonesia has alarmed environmental and Indigenous rights activists, who have warned of both deep ecosystem and social impacts.
- The government has justified the plan to move the nation’s capital from Jakarta, on the island of Java, to Indonesia Borneo as a way of ensuring a greater share of development beyond the country’s western islands.
- Mongabay has already reported on the risks to the wider Bornean region and the additional pressures on marine ecosystems that are a biodiversity haven.
- In response, Myrna Asnawati Safitri, the deputy for environment and natural resources at the government agency overseeing the development, reached out for an exclusive interview where these and other thorny questions were addressed.

Meet the ‘forest fishers’ restoring mangroves and livelihoods in Mexico
- Residents of the Mexican community of Costa de San Juan have restored more than 350 hectares (865 acres) of mangrove forest in the Alvarado Lagoon System in the Gulf of Mexico.
- After deforestation and fires, the fishers and locals learned a new respect for the mangroves surrounding them.
- Fishers have been working to diversify their incomes as well by exploring beekeeping, small-scale forestry, the pet trade, and ecotourism.

Mouth of the Amazon oil exploration clashes with Lula’s climate promises
- State-owned Petrobras has requested a license to investigate an oil site in a region in the north of Brazil where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean.
- The region is home to swathes of mangroves and coral reefs that environmentalists say are highly biodiverse and fundamental to local communities.
- Experts demand that Brazil’s environmental agency reject the license, saying the government hasn’t conducted the required detailed studies to assess the potential impact.
- Critics warn that pursuing fossil fuels contradicts President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s vows to adopt a renewable energy strategy and clashes with global climate change guidelines.

To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
- A new toll road in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province is under construction to improve access to the interior of Borneo, including to the nation’s new capital city, Nusantara.
- Construction of the road, however, poses immediate environmental risks, as the route cuts through a forested area with high conservation value that connects the Sungai Wain protected forest, coastal mangroves, and Balikpapan Bay.
- Prior to road construction, the integrated forest and coastal ecosystem supported populations of orangutans, sun bears, proboscis monkeys and Irrawaddy dolphins.
- Conservationists say the construction of this toll road belies the Indonesian government’s claims that the development of the new capital will be green and sustainable.

Libreville’s shrinking mangroves leave Gabon’s capital prone to floods
- Gabon’s capital, Libreville, has lost more than 3% of its mangroves in three years.
- Most of this loss is due to uncontrolled urbanization, with inhabitants of this fast-growing city clearing swaths of mangrove forest to build their homes.
- Conservationists and scientists warn this leaves the city increasingly vulnerable to floods and landslides.
- While the country has laws in place to protect mangroves, conservationists say poor enforcement and widespread corruption mean they’re largely toothless.

Indonesia’s mangrove restoration will run out of land well short of target, study warns
- The Indonesian government’s mangrove restoration plan faces a major hurdle, according to a new study: less than a third of the target area is actually viable for restoration.
- The finding isn’t all bad news; the researchers have been invited to collaborate with the national mangrove restoration agency on “fine-tuning where these areas are, and what kind of priority they need.”
- The study found the most promising sites for restoration are on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, which largely match the government’s own priority areas.
- Successful mangrove restoration across Indonesia could secure healthy fisheries for coastal communities and improve fisheries-based economies, thereby reducing poverty and hunger, and improving health and well-being for 74 million people.

As Indonesia’s new capital takes shape, risks to wider Borneo come into focus
- Indonesia’s plan to build its new capital city on an expiring logging concession in eastern Borneo has sparked concerns among environmental and human rights observers about the larger eco-social impacts to the rest of the island.
- The administration of President Joko Widodo, who made the decision and will leave office next year, has made glowing promises of a green and sustainable development: claiming minimal forest clearance, respect for Indigenous and local communities’ rights, and a net-zero carbon emission design.
- Mongabay visited the site of the project last October to see its progress, observe firsthand some of the earliest impacts from the construction of the city and supporting infrastructure, and speak with the people most likely to be affected.
- Clearing of mangroves and high-conservation forest areas, land conflicts with Indigenous communities, and potentially large-scale displacements are already happening, calling into question whether the $34 billion project’s benefits will outweigh its downsides.

As livelihoods clash with development, Vietnam’s Cần Giờ mangroves are at risk
- Cần Giờ, a coastal district of Ho Chi Minh City, is home to a 75,740-hectare (187,158-acre) mangrove forest, planted and maintained as part of post-war reforestation efforts.
- The district’s residents largely depend on aquaculture, shellfish gathering and small-scale ecotourism for their livelihoods.
- The government and developers hope to market the area as an ecotourism city based on its natural beauty and post-war success story, but major projects could disrupt Cần Giờ’s precarious balance between ecosystems and livelihoods.
- All names of sources in Cần Giờ have been changed so people could speak freely without fearing repercussions from authorities.

‘Locals want their resources to last’: Q&A with marine ecologist Vilma Machava-António
- Ocean Revolution Mozambique (ORM), a recipient of the UNDP’s Equator Prize for 2022, promotes marine conservation in the East African nation by supporting Mozambican researchers in their quest for knowledge.
- “You cannot talk about ecosystem conservation without talking about people,” says Vilma Machava-António, a researcher who benefited from an ORM scholarship.
- The marine ecologist spoke to Mongabay about what attracted her to mangroves, the role these unique coastal systems play in climate adaptation, and what explains the success of some community-led efforts to preserve them.
- Mangroves stash carbon efficiently and are critical to adapting to climate impacts, especially in Mozambique, which is hit by cyclones with distressing frequency.

For key Bangladesh wetland, bid for Ramsar status is no guarantee of protection
- Bangladesh has proposed designating a third Ramsar site in the country, but the current state of its two other important wetland ecosystems suggests such a designation won’t be of much protection.
- The Sundarbans, the world’s biggest mangrove forest, and Tanguar Haor, a freshwater swamp forest, have been severely degraded by deforestation, hunting of wildlife and fish, overexploitation of natural resources, and water pollution.
- Hakaluki Haor, the largest marsh wetland ecosystem in South Asia, which the government wants designated a Ramsar site, is already facing similar threats.
- “The problem is, the government does nothing after the recognition. They completely fail to take necessary measures, in the interest of vested quarters in the government,” says environmental lawyer Syeda Rizwana Hasan.

Failed mangrove tourism project in Sumatra highlights need for community collaboration
- Once a bustling attraction, the Sicanang Mangrove Forest ecotourism project in North Sumatra is padlocked and falling into disrepair.
- Launched in 2019, the project was supported by Sumatra-based NGO Yagasu but fell apart in the wake of claims that the project was improperly established on private land.
- Facing multiple accusations, Yagasu withdrew from the project, which failed without the organization’s support. The outcome, Yagasu staff say, highlights the importance of close collaboration among NGOs, local governments and community groups.

‘The Mangrove Guy’: Q&A with Kelly Roberts Banda, Kenya’s lawyer-conservationist
- Kelly Roberts Banda is a Kenyan property and family lawyer best known for his work as a conservationist, planting mangroves and advocating for climate justice.
- According to government data, Kenya lost 20% of its mangroves between 1985 and 2009 due to overharvesting, clearing for salt mining and shrimp harvesting, pollution and sedimentation.
- In addition to planting trees, Banda and his colleagues help local communities earn money through beehives in the mangroves.
- Banda’s passion for the environment stems from a childhood incident in which his home was flooded and he witnessed the damage from heavy rainfall throughout his neighborhood.

On Sumatra coast, mangrove clearing sparks scrutiny of loophole
- Last year, a 100-hectare patch of mangrove trees in eastern Sumatra was cleared to make way for an oil palm plantation.
- Residents say small landowners’ claims were packaged together to form a plantation, averting the need for environmental checks or permits required of a corporate concession.
- Mangrove restoration is a pillar of Indonesia’s climate change agenda, though the clearing of some intact forests has persisted.

In wake of ‘natural’ disasters, not reducing biodiversity loss is a big missed opportunity (commentary)
- Following the progress of the COP15 biodiversity summit, it’s time to come together to fully leverage the power of nature to build a prosperous, disaster-resilient future, a new op-ed argues.
- “Working with – and making full use of – the power of nature, and taking advantage of much existing knowledge, would prove a major step forward,” writes a NOAA senior scientist.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay or NOAA.

Fishers on Indonesia’s Batam Island suffer as mangrove cover declines
- Fishing is becoming a meager profession in Indonesia’s industrial and resort hub of Batam.
- Satellite imagery shows that only 1.5% of the island’s landmass still retains mangrove habitat.
- Construction of dams, industrial estates and reservoirs are the primary causes of mangrove destruction, according to researchers and local environmental nonprofit Akar Bhumi.

Top mangrove news of 2022
- Mangroves are unique forests adapted to live along the coasts in mostly tropical and subtropical areas of the world.
- Mangroves are in danger as they are cleared to make room for farms, mines, and other human developments.
- Mangroves provide a bevy of important ecosystem services such as flood and erosion control and greenhouse gas storage, and they provide habitat for many species.
- Below are some of the most notable mangrove news items of 2022.

2022’s top ocean news stories (commentary)
- Marine scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara, share their list of the top 10 ocean news stories from 2022.
- Hopeful developments this past year include the launch of negotiations on the world’s first legally binding international treaty to curb plastic pollution, a multilateral agreement to ban harmful fisheries subsidies and a massive expansion of global shark protections.
- At the same time, the climate crises in the ocean continued to worsen, with a number of record-breaking marine heat waves and an accelerated thinning of ice sheets that could severely exacerbate sea level rise, underscoring the need for urgent ocean-climate actions.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

In Sierra Leone’s fishing villages, a reality check for climate aid
- In April, Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo visited the Sherbro estuary, a sprawling riverine ecosystem of mangroves and coastal fishing villages on the Sierra Leonean coastline.
- Like other coastal areas in West Africa, the Sherbro estuary is already suffering the impacts of climate change, including flooding and higher temperatures.
- Between 2016 and 2021, USAID financed mangrove replanting and the construction of makeshift seawalls in villages here as part of a coastal climate resilience aid project.
- The project’s struggles here are an example of the difficulties that climate aid efforts can face when they meet the economic and social needs of people in vulnerable areas.

Protecting wetlands is key to Indonesia hitting its climate goals, study says
- Fully protecting Indonesia’s remaining peatlands and mangroves is crucial in meeting its greenhouse gas reduction goals under the Paris climate agreement, a new study says.
- Protecting these existing wetland ecosystems, including extending prevailing protections to secondary forests, has a greater climate mitigation potential than restoring degraded ecosystems, the study authors say.
- Under its Paris Agreement commitment, Indonesia has pledged to cut emissions by 31.8% by 2030 against the business-as-usual trajectory, or 43.2% with support from the international community.
- Most of the country’s emissions come from the forestry and other land use sector, but this sector receives scant climate funding for decarbonization compared to the transportation and electricity sectors.

Indonesia’s mangrove revival hindered by conflicting policies
- Indonesia’s president showcased a new conservation area to G20 leaders as an example of the country’s efforts to combat climate change.
- The country aims to add 33 more sites next year and rehabilitate 600,000 hectares of mangroves by 2024.
- Only about one-third of the country’s mangroves are in good condition, and conflicting development policies stand in the way of future conservation efforts, according to the nation’s largest environmental group.

Mangrove photo contest winners reveal majesty & diversity of coastal forests
- From a grinning crocodile to human honey gatherers who make a living among the trees, the 8th annual Mangrove Photography Awards winners display a great range of activity and biodiversity among these coastal forests.
- The contest attracted 2,000 submissions from 68 countries, and the judges ultimately selected a set of winners who revealed aspects of mangroves from all corners of the planet.
- Mangroves are marine forests that adorn tropical coasts and are one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems.
- These forests also play crucial roles in protecting coastlines from erosion and providing communities with resources from food to firewood, and are one of the world’s most effective carbon sinks.

Critics cite threats to communities, mangroves from El Salvador airport plans
- The Airport of the Pacific threatens to destroy mangroves and relocate local farming and fishing communities in a rural part of El Salvador.
- The project is part of President Nayib Bukele’s plan to develop the harder-to-reach eastern regions of the country through infrastructure projects.
- Residents say they feel pressured by government officials, who they accuse of failing to act in good faith to ensure families are fairly compensated for being relocated.
- The mangroves are important for preventing flooding and erosion, and serve as breeding sites for fish and crustaceans.

Mangrove forest loss is slowing toward a halt, new report shows
- In 2021, the Global Mangrove Alliance, a consortium of NGOs, published “The State of the World’s Mangroves,” the first snapshot study compiled from satellite imagery intended to provide an up-to-date record of global mangrove forest cover.
- The second installment of the report, published in September, draws on improved and updated maps.
- The report shows a decline in the overall rate of mangrove loss and outlines concrete actions to halt the loss for good and help mangroves begin regaining ground.

Shallow-water mining isn’t the eco alternative to deep-sea mining, study says
- Mining in the shallow waters of the continental shelf is seen as more sustainable than deep-sea mining, but goes against global goals on sustainability and conservation, a new study says.
- There are already shallow-mining projects underway in Namibia and Indonesia; others, in Mexico, New Zealand and Sweden, have been proposed.
- But as with deep-sea mining, for which commercial operations have not yet begun, shallow-water mining can have drastic effects on marine biodiversity because it requires dredging up the seafloor to extract the minerals found there.

Mangroves and wildlife in Bornean bay at risk from Indonesia’s new capital
- Experts and activists say the construction of Indonesia’s new capital city upstream of Balikpapan Bay on the island of Borneo fails to mitigate against damage to the marine ecosystem.
- The stretch of coast between the bay and the mouth of the Mahakam River is packed with mangroves, which host a rich diversity of marine and terrestrial life, including proboscis monkeys and Irrawaddy dolphins.
- The government has said the construction of the new capital, Nusantara, will include retaining a large swath of mangrove forest, but zoning details show most of it won’t be protected against development.
- The $33 billion planned city will in 2024 take over as the Indonesian capital from Jakarta, and its full construction will be completed by 2045, according to the government’s plans.

Mangrove restorers in Haiti bet on resilience amid rising violence
- Haiti is one of the most deforested countries in the world today, with its mangroves in particular now dotting just 30% of its coastline, much of it in thin, fragmented pockets.
- The main threat to the mangroves is the cutting of the trees to produce charcoal, an important fuel for cooking in a country where only a quarter of the population has access to electricity.
- Several mangrove restoration projects have been initiated over the years, and many abandoned due to waning community interest, natural disasters, or poor planning.
- More recently, rising rates of violence have prevented restoration teams from going to the field and coordinating with one another, but some are hopeful that communities remain receptive to mangrove restoration despite all the other hardships they’re experiencing.

An Indonesian rock star shines his light on mangroves, urban farming and more
- Andi Fadly Arifuddin is known to millions of Indonesians as Fadly, the vocalist of alt-rock band Padi, which formed in 1996 and relaunched as Padi Reborn in 2018.
- While many musicians sing of the need to protect the environment, Fadly walks the talk through sustainable agriculture education, urban farming and mangrove conservation.
- In his home district of Sinjai in South Sulawesi province, he’s campaigning to create a mangrove hub in collaboration with local youth and government.

The Western Indian Ocean lost 4% of its mangroves in 24 years, report finds
- Analysis presented in a new report finds the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region lost around 4% its mangrove forests between 1996 and 2020.
- The WIO region includes the coastal areas of Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique, which together account for 5% of the world’s mangroves.
- The report finds the majority of WIO mangrove loss was driven by unsustainable wood extraction, land clearance for agriculture and the impacts of storms and flooding.
- Mangroves provide vital ecosystem services to coastal communities and habitats, and sequester large amounts of carbon.

Healthy mangroves build a resilient community in the Philippines’ Palawan
- According to historical accounts, the fisheries of Malampaya Sound in the Philippines’ Palawan province were once so rich it was difficult to wade to shore without stepping on crabs.
- This bounty fueled migration to the area from across the Philippines, and by the turn of the 20th century, much of the areas’ mangroves had been cleared or degraded, leading to a decline in fish catches.
- From 2011-2013, mangrove restoration efforts were initiated as part of the Philippines’ National Greening Program, but, as elsewhere in the country, the initiative performed far below target.
- Today, however, thanks to ongoing outreach initiatives, community partnerships and Indigenous belief systems, the importance of preserving mangroves is widely recognized and the area’s coastal forests and fisheries are seeing a recovery.

Niger Delta mangroves in ‘grave danger’ from oil spills, poverty, invasive species
- Southern Nigeria’s vast Niger Delta boasts Africa’s most extensive mangrove forests — and some of the world’s largest fossil fuel reserves.
- Efforts to extract oil and gas have resulted in numerous oil spills, which have damaged the region’s biodiversity, as well as the livelihoods of coastal communities.
- Niger Delta mangroves are also affected by logging, farming and urban expansion, and are being replaced by invasive nipa palm.
- Research suggests Niger Delta’s mangroves could be gone within 50 years at the current rate of loss.

Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- Aziil Anwar, a civil servant turned award-winning mangrove restorer, has died from diabetes-related complications.
- Aziil gained prominence in the 1990s by pioneering a way to boost the success of mangrove planting in coral damaged by blast fishing on the island of Baluno in Indonesia’s West Sulawesi province.
- With the help of local children, he managed to plant some 100 hectares (nearly 250 acres), fully covering the island and extending the mangrove forest out toward the mainland.

In Sumatra, rising seas and sinking land spell hard times for fishers
- Fishers operating near the port of Belawan on the Indonesian island of Sumatra are reporting declining catches and a hit to their livelihoods from tidal flooding.
- The flooding has grown more frequent and severe, exacerbated by rising seas and the clearing of mangrove forests for oil palm plantations.
- Traders who buy local catches have also been affected by the flooding, which can cut off commercial transport routes.
- This region of northern Sumatra is one of the areas targeted by the Indonesian government for mangrove restoration, but until that yields results, the fishers say they’re essentially helpless.

Indonesia’s mangrove restoration bid holds huge promise, but obstacles abound
- Indonesia has more mangrove forests than any other country, but much of it has been degraded for fish and shrimp farms.
- The government aims to restore 600,000 hectares of mangroves by 2024, but questions remain about its stated progress toward that goal.
- If Indonesia can completely stop mangrove destruction, it can meet one-fourth of the government’s 29% emissions reduction target for 2030.

Stingrays can ‘talk’ when they get riled up, new study suggests
- A new paper provides the first evidence that wild stingray species produce short, loud clicking sounds.
- While scientists still need to learn how and why stingrays make these noises, they speculate that the clicking sounds are a distress or defense signal.
- The paper documents three instances of this behavior in mangrove whiprays and cowtail stingrays, two species threatened with extinction.

Cut off from Sundarbans and denied compensation, Bangladesh communities face arrest
- The first month of a three-month ban on anyone entering Bangladesh’s Sundarbans mangrove forest has seen 59 people from forest-dependent communities arrested, sparking criticism of the government’s approach.
- Community members and conservation activists have called for an end to the arrests, and have faulted the government for not giving the compensation it promised to the communities to help tide them over during the June-August ban.
- The government, which says the ban is necessary to ease pressure on the Sundarbans’ wildlife during the breeding season, says the compensation still hasn’t been approved by the state treasury.
- Some 600,000 people depend directly or indirectly on the Sundarbans’ resources for their livelihood, which includes fishing and harvesting honey; tourists are also banned from entering the world’s largest mangrove forest during this three-month period.

First-of-its-kind freshwater mangroves discovered in Brazil’s Amazon Delta
- Researchers on an expedition in the Amazon River Delta have found mangroves growing in freshwater — a phenomenon never before documented in deltas or coastal mangroves anywhere else in the world.
- The mangroves, overlooked by previous satellite mapping efforts, increase the known area of mangroves in the region by 20%, or an additional 180 square kilometers (70 square miles).
- Mangroves are a more effective carbon sink than other types of tropical forest, with more than 8% of all carbon stocks worldwide held in Brazil’s mangroves.
- Despite their many ecosystem services, mangroves are not well protected or funded in Brazil.

Dig, dump, repeat, then watch the forest grow: Q&A with mangrove restorer Keila Vazquez
- Las Chelemeras is a group of 18 women in the Mexican port town of Chelem who, since 2010, have worked to restore and protect their local mangrove forests on the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula.
- To date, they have contributed to the reforestation of approximately 50 hectares (124 acres) of mangroves, accounting for half of Chelem’s forest cover.
- “We have learned that our work is not only a job or a paycheck, but a collaboration with the environment, and that gives us satisfaction,” says Keila Vazquez, a founding member of the group.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Vazquez talks about her work with Las Chelemeras, the challenges ahead for her community, and how the reforestation of their environment has impacted younger generations.

Bangladesh ban on resource hunting in Sundarbans leaves communities facing hardship
- The Sundarbans in the Bay of Bengal, the world’s largest stretch of mangroves, is a rich ecosystem of hundreds of species of flora and fauna. It’s also rich with natural resources for the communities living nearby, but is considered an ecosystem under threat.
- In a first-of-its-kind conservation effort, the Bangladesh government is implementing a complete ban on entry into the forest for three months, from July to August, which it says is the breeding season for the local wildlife.
- The communities surrounding the mangroves, who depend on the forests for food and resources, say this ban will affect their livelihoods and push them into hardship.
- Conservationists have also labeled the ban “inappropriate,” expressing concern about its timing — given that not all species here share the same breeding season — and its target, saying that tourists, and not local communities, are responsible for much of the pollution and disruption to the ecosystem.

Poor planning, persistent farming undermine mangrove restoration in Tanzania
- Tanzania’s government has been working since the 1990s to replant mangroves in the Rufiji Delta, one of East Africa’s most significant mangrove sites.
- New research indicates that efforts to restore degraded mangroves have been undermined by rice farming as well as by a lack of systematic planning and analysis of site and species suitability.
- However, the research found that despite these flaws, replanted areas were regenerating faster than areas left to regrow on their own.

200 mysterious sea turtle deaths: Q&A with Kenyan fisherman and turtle rescuer Daniel Katana
- Near the town of Marereni, smack in the middle of Kenya’s Indian Ocean coastline, a group of local volunteers has been protecting sea turtles and planting mangroves for nearly two decades.
- In the past two years, however, the Marereni Biodiversity Conservancy has documented alarming spikes in sea turtle deaths and in turtles with fibropapilloma tumors, as well as a decline in sea turtle nests.
- While the causes have yet to be determined, conservancy members suspect the sea turtles’ problems may be associated with pollution from nearby salt mines.
- Mongabay interviewed the group’s CEO, Daniel Masha Katana, about how it is responding to the current threats to sea turtles.

On a Honduran island, a community effort grows to protect its precious reefs
- On the tourism-reliant island of Roatán in Honduras, a homegrown environmental organization has allied with local communities to ensure the natural beauty that draws visitors remains safe.
- Roatán sits along the Mesoamerican Reef, and is home to rich corals and lush mangroves, which face threats from the tourism boom.
- The Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) takes a three-pronged approach to its work, focusing on science, institutional support for the authorities, and community work.
- The group’s success over the years is unusual in Honduras, which routinely ranks among the most dangerous countries for environmental activists.

In Puerto Rico, a marathon effort builds to restore mangroves and dunes
- Hurricane Maria in 2017 devastated several mangrove ecosystems in Puerto Rico, leading ecologists to start restoration efforts.
- Mangroves provide myriad benefits: storm protection, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation and pollution filtering, among others.
- In addition to mangroves, organizations are working to restore sand dunes to add an extra buffer against tropical storms and protect turtle nesting sites.
- And while they’ve benefited from recent injections of funding and collaboration with experts from around the world, the restoration groups note that they have more work ahead than they can currently take on.

Podcast: Are ‘nature based solutions’ the best fix for climate change?
- On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we discuss mangrove restoration and other nature based solutions to climate change.
- We speak with Alfredo Quarto, co-founder and program and policy director of the Mangrove Action Project, who tells us about the ongoing destruction of mangrove forests around the world, why it’s so important to restore these coastal ecosystems, and what makes for successful mangrove restoration projects.
- We also speak with Norah Berk, a policy advisor on climate change and forests at the Rainforest Foundation UK, who tells us that nature based solutions have, in many cases, been co-opted by corporations that are using them as part of carbon offset schemes, and discusses why she thinks land titling for Indigenous and local communities is the solution to climate change that we should be focusing on.

As rising seas destroy Ghana’s coastal communities, researchers warn against a seawall-only solution
- Some 37% of Ghana’s coastal land was lost to erosion and flooding between 2005 and 2017.
- Severe storm surges flooded several communities in 2021, prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.
- Research indicates around 340 million people worldwide will be affected by global warming-fueled sea level rise by the middle of the century. Ghana’s government is responding to the growing crisis by fortifying some coastal areas with seawalls, but researchers say relying on seawalls alone may do more harm than good.
- This story was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center.

A more potent CO2 sink than the Amazon, Brazil’s mangroves remain overlooked
- A new study shows that the mangrove forests along Brazil’s coast store up to 4.3 times more carbon in the top 1 meter (3 feet) of soil than any other biome in the country, including the Amazon rainforest.
- Mangroves have long been known as a more effective carbon sink than other types of tropical forest, but this study is the first that tries to quantify the extent and carbon stock of Brazil’s mangroves.
- It found that Brazil’s mangroves hold 8.5% of all carbon stocks stored in mangroves worldwide, and that they sequester 13.5% of the carbon sequestered in the world’s mangroves annually.
- Despite this carbon stock potential, Brazilian mangroves aren’t included in protected areas deemed a conservation priority under Brazil’s emissions reduction commitments to the Paris Agreement, and there’s a general lack of funding for research on the ecosystem.

Illegal mining fuels social conflict in Indonesian tin hub of Bangka-Belitung
- Tin mining in one of the world’s main producers of the metal has sparked the latest in a series of conflicts between illegal miners and traditional fishers in Indonesia.
- The incident stemmed from a fisher-activist’s social media posts criticizing the environmental damage wrought by mining in the Bangka-Belitung Islands’ Kelabat Bay, where mining is banned.
- Tin mining is the backbone of the Bangka Belitung economy, but has also proven deadly for workers and damaging to coral reefs, mangrove forests and local fisheries.

Indonesia on track with peatland restoration, but bogged down with mangroves
- Programs to restore areas of degraded tropical peatland and mangroves had mixed fortunes in their first year, with the former racing to 25% of its four-year target, and the latter achieving less than 6%.
- Officials and experts say a key obstacle to the mangrove restoration program is the opposition of the communities clearing the mangrove forests to establish shrimp and fish farms.
- Lack of funding was also an issue, with the mangrove budget slashed and redirected toward Indonesia’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
- Experts say the government needs to find a middle ground with shrimp and fish farmers, including by helping them boost their productivity so they can operate smaller farms and dedicate a greater area to rehabilitation.

Community project helps Kenya aim for climate goals one mangrove tree at a time
- Along Kenya’s southeastern coast, three communities are restoring 460 hectares (1,137 acres) of the Vanga mangrove forest to meet the country’s emission reduction targets, provide a buffer against natural disasters, and support fishing livelihoods.
- The Vanga Blue Forest project has planted more than 1,000 native mangrove trees since it started in 2019, and aims to work with neighboring communities in Tanzania to restore mangrove forests along 140 kilometers (87 miles) of the East African coastline.
- The early stages of the project were a series of trial and error to achieve successful reforestation, as previous efforts a decade earlier had only a 10% survival rate among the 750,000 trees planted.
- The project is involved in the international carbon trade market and has so far sold $44,433 of carbon credits by accumulating 5,023 metric tons of carbon above ground.

Indonesia aims for sustainable fish farming with ‘aquaculture villages’
- Indonesia plans to have a network of 136 villages dedicated to aquaculture by the end of this year.
- The initiative is part of the government’s efforts to boost exports of its world-renowned aquaculture commodities, namely shrimp, lobster, crab and seaweed.
- Experts have welcomed the plan, but say it must be supported by sound environmental planning, particularly avoiding the clearing of mangrove forests and ensuring proper waste management.
- Indonesia is one of the top exporters of farmed seafood, but fish farming in the country has long come at the expense of carbon-rich mangrove forests and other important coastal ecosystems.

Indonesia’s Womangrove collective reclaims the coast from shrimp farms
- A women’s collective in Indonesia’s Tanakeke Islands has restored dozens of hectares of mangroves since its founding six years ago.
- The Womangrove collective focuses on replanting abandoned shrimp and fish farms that were originally established in cleared mangrove areas, and have to date planted more than 110,000 seedlings.
- Indonesia has more mangrove area than any other country in the world, but has lost half of it in the past 30 years, mostly to shrimp and fish farms.

‘Great Blue Wall’ aims to ward off looming threats to western Indian Ocean
- Ten nations in the western Indian Ocean committed this November to create a network of marine conservation areas to hasten progress toward the goal of protecting 30% of the oceans by 2030.
- Less than 10% of the marine expanse in this region currently enjoys protection, and a recent assessment highlighted the price of failure: all the coral reefs are at high risk of collapse in the next 50 years.
- The focus of these efforts won’t just be coral reefs, but also mangroves and seagrass meadows, a lesser-known underwater ecosystem critical for carbon sequestration and oceanic biodiversity.
- Even as overfishing and warming take a toll on marine health, threats from oil and gas extraction are intensifying in this corner of the Indian Ocean.

In Indonesia’s Sulawesi, a community works to defuse blast-fishing crisis
- Decades of blast fishing have destroyed much of the coral reefs off Indonesia’s Lora village, reducing fish catches.
- Increased law enforcement and advocacy by NGOs has helped roll back these destructive practices, but other threats loom, including increasingly unpredictable weather and competition from large trawlers.
- A community organization is seeking to have the region zoned as a conservation area.

Illegal mangrove logging surges in Indonesia’s Batam amid economic hardship
- Police in Indonesia’s Riau Islands have reported a 280% increase in seizures of mangrove wood from would-be smugglers this year.
- Police said much of the wood was cut from the main island of Batam, and destined for nearby Singapore and Malaysia.
- Indonesia is targeting the rehabilitation of 630,000 hectares (1.55 million acres) of mangrove forests across the country by 2024.
- The country is home to more than a quarter of the world’s mangroves, an ecosystem that buffers coastal communities against storm surges and sea-level rise, stores four times as much carbon as other tropical forests, and serves as a key habitat for a wealth of marine species.

Restoring coastal forests can protect coral reefs against sediment runoff: Study
- Corals have declined by 50% over the last 30 years, with losses of 70-90% expected by mid-century.
- This mass decline is largely attributed to human activity.
- One of the major threats to coral is sediment runoff from deforested areas, with research estimating 41% of the world’s coral reefs are affected by sediment export.
- A recent study published in Global Change Biology finds that restoring forests could help reduce sediment runoff to 630,000 square kilometers (243,244 square miles) of coral reefs.

Indonesia slashes 2021 mangrove restoration target, vows to make up in 2022
- Indonesia has scaled back its target for mangrove restoration this year, but says its longer-term goal of rehabilitating 630,000 hectares (1.55 million acres) by 2024 remains unchanged.
- It blames “technical hurdles,” including the diversion of funding for the COVID-19 pandemic response, for its decision to revise its 20201 target from 83,000 hectares (205,000 acres) to 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres).
- The country is home to more than a quarter of the world’s mangroves, an ecosystem that buffers coastal communities against storm surges and sea-level rise, stores four times as much carbon as other tropical forests, and serves as a key habitat for a wealth of marine species.
- Indonesia has lost much of its mangroves to shrimp farms and logging, which have also undone previous efforts at mangrove rehabilitation.

In Indonesia, a coastal town rejects ‘metropolitan’ model for mangroves
- Sofifi, the tiny capital of one of Indonesia’s remotest provinces, has made mangrove conservation and ecotourism a central part of its development.
- The town recently inaugurated the Guraping Mangrove Tourism Forest, which officials hope will draw tourists to the town and help it develop into something greater than an administrative hub.
- Indonesia is home to nearly a quarter of the world’s mangrove forests, an important ecosystem that sequesters carbon, blunt the impact of storm surges, and harbour a rich array of marine life.

Mangrove conservation takes root with local communities on Kenya’s coast
- Mangroves are keystones of coastal ecosystems, protecting shorelines from erosion, providing habitat for fish and other marine life, and storing large amounts of carbon.
- These coastal forests are vital to local communities who have long relied on them for things like food, fuel, and construction materials.
- Kenya has lost half of its mangrove forests in the past 50 years to a combination of factors, including overexploitation by locals with limited livelihood options.
- A variety of conservation efforts in and around the southern city of Mombasa emphasize involving communities in reducing pressure on these coastal forests.

Mangrove photo contest winners reveal majesty of these coastal forests
- From a forest goddess protecting honey gatherers to a tiger leaping through mangroves, these are some of the winning images in the 7th annual Mangrove Photography Awards.
- The annual contest attracted a record number of submissions from 65 countries, but the judges eventually selected the winners which revealed aspects of mangroves from all corners of the earth.
- Mangroves are marine forests that adorn tropical coasts and are one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems.
- These forests also play crucial roles in protecting coastlines from erosion and providing communities with resources from food to firewood, and are one of the world’s most effective carbon sinks.

Inland mangroves reveal a tumultuous climatic past — and hint at our future
- A new study concludes that the presence of inland mangroves along a river in southern Mexico was the result of climate change-driven sea level rise during the Pleistocene Epoch, some 115,000 to 130,000 years ago.
- The researchers’ analysis of the genetic history of the mangrove trees suggests that they are closely related to trees found on the coastline, and sediments nearby are similar to those found in ocean environments.
- Publishing their work Oct. 12 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team notes that their research highlights the impacts of global climate change.

Women on storm-hit Philippine island lead Indigenous effort to restore mangroves
- Residents of low-lying coastal areas in archipelagic countries like the Philippines are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including the increase of powerful storms like 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan.
- Mangrove forests can buffer the impact of storm surges and high winds, but many of the Philippines’ mangrove ecosystems are severely degraded and efforts to restore them often fail.
- Busuanga Island, in the western province of Palawan, has a particularly effective mangrove restoration program, one that is spearheaded by Indigenous women who play a key role in planting, monitoring and protecting the forests.

Look beyond carbon credits to put a price on nature’s services, experts say
- Valuing nature as a “new asset class” could be the key to getting trillions of dollars in investments to flow to nature-based solutions, experts said at a recent sustainability conference in Singapore.
- Because policymakers and investors haven’t been able to properly value nature, the finance industry has been using carbon markets as a proxy for investing in it.
- Governments should account for the ecosystem benefits of nature beyond carbon capture, the experts said.
- Proper valuation of nature’s benefits requires inputs from not only investors, but also scientists, communities and NGOs.

Mangrove restoration done right has clear economic, ecological benefits
- Much research has been done on the impact of mangrove restoration projects, but because such studies typically have their own distinct contexts, their results are not easily generalized.
- To determine the ecological and economic benefits of mangrove restoration across studies, researchers analyzed 188 peer-reviewed articles from 22 regions, mostly in East and Southeast Asia.
- They found the ecosystem functions of restored mangroves to be higher than bare tidal flats, but lower than natural mangroves.
- They also concluded that the economic benefits of mangrove restoration projects largely outweighed their costs, even at high discount rates.

Study shows how sustainable livelihood programs for Indonesian fishers can succeed
- Projects offering alternative livelihoods to fishers in Indonesia tend to succeed when they work closely with local NGOs and link participants to markets where they can sell what they produce.
- That’s the finding of a new study that looks at what makes successful sustainable livelihoods interventions tick, including partnership with local people to develop their skills and leverage traditional resource-management knowledge.
- Projects that failed tended not to understand the social context in which they were situated, including gender dynamics, resource and land-tenure systems, and the desires of local fishers.
- The study authors say the findings highlight best practices for alternative-livelihoods projects and are important given that communities with negative past experiences of such projects are less likely to engage with them again in the future.

Kenya port and ship-breaking projects threaten livelihoods and environment
- Plans to build an industrial fishing port and a ship-breaking yard along the Wasini Channel off Kenya’s coast threaten the livelihoods of local communities who depend on fishing, seaweed farming, and ecotourism, residents say.
- Underwater drilling carried out as part of surveys for the proposed port last November damaged coral reefs, while drilling for the ship-breaking yard destroyed seaweed crops.
- Community members say they fear even more devastating impacts once the projects, which also include a smelting plant, get underway in earnest.

Even as the government bets big on carbon, REDD+ flounders in Madagascar
- The Malagasy government’s decision to ban the sale of carbon credits as it reworks its REDD+ strategy has left all existing REDD+ projects in a limbo.
- The island nation only has a handful of projects, all helmed by foreign NGOs, which take advantage of the U.N.’s reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) program to raise money by selling carbon credits.
- Madagascar’s environment minister singled out an initiative by U.K.-based nonprofit Blue Ventures, criticizing it for striking a deal promising too little: $27,000 per year for 10 villages. The NGO disputes this appraisal.
- The government’s move to nationalize carbon ownership comes against the backdrop of familiar concerns about REDD+, in particular: how much do communities benefit from keeping forests standing?

Loss of mangroves dims the light on firefly populations in Malaysia
- Firefly populations along the banks of the Rembau River in Malaysia have declined drastically in the past decade due to habitat loss, a new study has found.
- Researchers, who used satellite imagery to monitor changes in land use, found that conversion of Rembau’s mangroves to oil palm plantations and dryland forests were the top two factors behind the loss.
- Remote-sensing technology could help locals better understand the impact of various land use types on mangrove ecosystems and more efficiently prioritize areas for conservation.

Coastal Indonesian village adapts to life amid rising tidal floodwaters
- Cars once drove along the road in front of residents’ homes in coastal Timbulsloko village on the northern coast of Indonesia’s Java Island. Now, only canoes can pass; when the tide recedes, the water is knee-deep.
- Timbulsloko experiences severe tidal flooding caused by land subsidence, abrasion, nearby major construction, and climate change.
- Residents are starting to respond: A network of interlocking boardwalks now connects the submerged hamlets to dry land, and the village has designated a protected coastal area and prohibited the clearing of mangroves.
- The goal is to prevent further coastal damage and ensure the safety of residents’ settlements. The community is also beginning to discuss sustainable aquaculture.

As humans close in on their habitat, crocodiles in the Philippines snap back
- In mangrove-rich Palawan, residents are advised to steer clear of crocodile habitats as the hatching season makes the reptiles more aggressive.
- There are two crocodile species in the Philippines: the endemic Philippine crocodile and the bigger and more aggressive saltwater crocodile, found throughout Asia and the Pacific.
- Crocodile attacks on humans have increased in recent years, which experts attribute to the encroachment of houses within crocodile habitats, particularly mangrove swamps.
- To minimize the risk to lives, both human and crocodile, NGOs say Palawan should implement its crocodile conservation program, which includes, among other things, relocating residents away from crocodile habitats.

Building back Miami’s Biscayne Bay: Do natural solutions hold hope?
- A massive fish kill in August 2020 was a red flag that historically troubled Biscayne Bay in Miami had passed a biodiversity health tipping point.
- Years of scattered efforts and mixed results of various conservation actors working toward the bay’s recovery have begun to fade in favor of more collaborative, inclusive efforts.
- Scientists and citizens are now focusing their efforts on creative ways to restore biodiversity in Biscayne Bay.

Indonesian fishers seize dredging boat in protest against offshore tin mining
- Hundreds of Indonesian fishers have seized a dredging vessel from state-owned PT Timah in protest against offshore tin mining in what they say is their fishing zone.
- The incident on July 12 is the latest development in a standoff that has been simmering since 2015, when fishers began opposing the mining in the Bangka-Belitung Islands off Sumatra.
- Tin mining is the biggest industry in Bangka-Belitung, which accounts for 90% of the tin produced in Indonesia, with the metal winding up in items like Apple’s iPhone, among others.
- But mining here, both onshore and offshore, has resulted in extensive forest degradation and deforestation, been associated with worker fatalities and child labor, and been tainted with corruption.

Sri Lanka banks on the ocean to chart a green path toward a blue economy
- Coastal and marine ecosystems in Sri Lanka provide a variety of services that are vital to coastal communities and the environment.
- To protect these ecosystems while addressing national development needs, Sri Lanka is well-positioned to invest in a “blue economy” that focuses on economic growth that incorporates and protects the environment and ecosystem services.
- Officials and experts have identified a huge potential to enhance livelihoods and value chains in Sri Lanka’s coastal and marine sector without destroying local ecosystems, based on technical expertise and guidance.
- If development of the coastal sector can be achieved in harmony with ecosystem growth and conservation, proponents say, this will enhance Sri Lanka’s capacities for climate change mitigation and adaptation, supporting the resilience of its population and its commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Tin mines close in on an Indonesian hamlet still clinging to nature
- The Indigenous Lom people of Tuing hamlet have been guarding their area from the environmental dangers of mining activity for centuries; theirs is the only hamlet left in their community still free from tin mines.
- Tin mining dominates the economy in Bangka, an island off southeast Sumatra, but growing demand for the metal has wrought devastating ecological impact to the island that was once a paradise.
- The waters off Tuing now face a similar fate after zoning plans for coastal areas recently approved by the local government allow for mining to take place.
- The Lom people say they stand against the local government and state-owned miner PT Timah in proceeding with a mining plan that might push the island’s oldest community traditions into extinction.

From Flores to Papua: Meet 10 of Indonesia’s mangrove guardians
- Indonesia is home to 3.2 million hectares (7.9 million acres) of mangroves, more than any other country.
- These coastal forests, which serve as nurseries for countless fish species and help mitigate tidal flooding and tsunami waves, are being cleared for fish farms, charcoal production, and other commercial activities.
- The Indonesian government in 2020 announced a plan to replant 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of mangroves on degraded coastline by 2024.
- But an unsung army of ordinary Indonesians has been toiling around the country for decades to save and grow mangrove forests. These are some of their stories.

On an island scarred by tin mining, mangrove planting preserves shrimp tradition
- Mining, aquaculture, plantations and other commercial activities have taken a toll on mangroves in Indonesia, home to the world’s largest extent of these important ecosystems.
- On the Bangka-Belitung islands off Sumatra, residents of one village are doing their part to maintain the mangroves through replanting.
- For the Batu Betumpang villagers, the mangroves are the source of the shrimp they use to make their belacan shrimp paste, a key source of livelihood here.
- The villagers say there’s a growing awareness of the importance of mangroves, without which “our income will definitely decline because shrimp will run out.”

At Vietnam’s southern tip, mangroves defend the land from the encroaching sea
- Bordered by the sea on two sides and exposed to typhoons and rising sea levels, Vietnam’s Ca Mau province is among the most vulnerable regions of a country expected to face some of the worst future impacts from climate change.
- In response, people there are working to restore and preserve mangroves like almost nowhere else in Vietnam in an attempt to protect the remaining coastal land from encroaching seas.
- In Cape Ca Mau National Park, an NGO is aiding the natural generation of a mangrove forest on an open mudflat.
- And the province, where shrimp farming is king, has kept mangrove forests growing amid aquaculture operations on a scale that is unique in the Mekong Delta.

Countries can transform the climate crisis with ocean-based action (commentary)
- Protecting coastal “blue carbon” ecosystems like mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes is 10 times more effective at sequestering carbon per area than terrestrial forests, and is just one ocean-based solution that can help mitigate climate change.
- But lacking such action, an IPCC report estimated that climate-induced declines in ocean health will cost the global economy $428 billion by 2050 and $1.979 trillion by 2100.
- As world leaders meet at the upcoming Leaders Summit on Climate, Chile calls for countries to advocate for the adoption of new international objectives on biodiversity, such as protecting 30% of the global ocean by 2030.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Java’s mangroves pay a high price for stopping plastic flowing out to sea
- Mangroves are known to trap plastic waste and stop it entering the sea, but this defense comes at a high cost to mangrove forests themselves, a new study shows.
- Researchers working in Indonesia’s Central Java province found plastic carpeting half of the mangrove floor across their study area, covering roots and sediment layers and starving the trees of oxygen.
- The plastic accumulation could also harm mollusks, crabs and other soil-dwelling organisms forming the coastal food web’s foundations, which could trigger cascading impacts for larger animals.
- The study authors called for a reduction in plastic waste through education and policies such as bans on single-use plastic packaging.

Indonesia renews peat restoration bid to include mangroves, but hurdles abound
- Indonesia’s peatland restoration agency has had its mandate renewed for four more years, with the added task of restoring mangroves.
- Known as the BRGM, the agency now has the job of restoring an estimated 2 million hectares (5 million acres) of degraded peatland and mangrove ecosystems across 13 provinces.
- Experts have lauded the mandate extension and expanded scope of work, but point out a number of challenges ahead, such as government policies and legislation that undermine environmental protection in favor of economic growth.

A Philippine community sees life-saving payoffs from restoring its mangroves
- For more than 30 years, a community in the central Philippines has been actively involved in reforesting and protecting a mangrove site, which has expanded from 50 hectares to 220 hectares (124 acres to 544 acres).
- Their efforts have resulted in the successful transformation of a once-barren mudflat into one of the few remaining large patches of mangrove forests in the country.
- Replanting the mangroves has paid off, with the forest shielding the community from the extreme impacts of the typhoons that routinely tear through the Philippines.
- While the community has successfully managed the mangrove reserves, it continues to grapple with illegal fishing, cutting of mangrove for fuelwood, and climate change.

Chinese demand and domestic instability are wiping out Senegal’s last forests
- After a decade of intensive illegal logging, endangered Pterocarpus erinaceus rosewood trees are becoming increasingly scarce in Senegal’s southern region of the Casamance, which borders the Gambia.
- Despite logging its own rosewood to extinction years ago, the Gambia has become a major trading hub for rosewood and was China’s third-largest source of the rare, valuable timber in 2019.
- An investigation has revealed the rate of trafficking across the border has worsened over the past two years, despite an export ban enacted in 2017.
- A recent move by shipping lines to stop exporting rosewood has led to a lull in trafficking activity; however, observers expect this will only be temporary.

Guyana’s future and challenges in oil: Q&A with filmmaker Shane Thomas McMillan
- A new documentary by a German team explores Guyana’s offshore oil discoveries and environmental risks.
- The offshore natural resources found off the coast of South America include an estimated 13.6 billion barrels of oil and 32 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
- The discoveries, which have been accumulating during the past five years, present significant challenges in protecting other natural resources put at risk by the exploitation.

In mangrove restoration, custom solutions beat one-size-fits-all approach
- The loss of mangrove forests worldwide is slowing, except in Asia, where there’s been a massive increase in deforestation over the past 30 years.
- Previous mangrove restoration projects have proved unsustainable over the long term due to a focus on planting “in the wrong place, the wrong species, the wrong density.”
- A new approach, called community-based ecological mangrove restoration (CBEMR), accounts for an area’s altered hydrology and encourages natural restoration, resulting in better survival rates, faster growth, and a more diverse, resilient forest.
- Proponents say restoration projects must be supported by robust legal frameworks that protect mangroves across national jurisdictions if they are to be successful over the long term.

Singapore embarks on a million-tree planting spree to protect its future
- Between 1953 and 2018, Singapore lost nearly 90% of its mangroves to urban expansion and other human activities.
- Singapore has launched a new nature park that covers 400 hectares (990 acres), in an area that serves as a refueling site for migratory birds and a home to oriental hornbills, otters and crocodiles.
- The initiative is part of a larger effort to plant 1 million trees across the city-state by 2030.
- In addition to adding wildlife habitat, researchers say reforestation will help sequester carbon, lower the temperature of the city, and provide buffers against erosion and a rising sea.

Missing mangroves are root of contention over Philippine airport project
- Work on a new international airport project in Bulacan, just north of Manila, has already resulted in the decimation of more than 600 mangrove trees in the Manila Bay area, residents say.
- Bulacan’s coast is a key mangrove forest and important bird and biodiversity area, and one of several sites along the bay that’s facing threats due to land reclamation projects.
- The Bulacan “aerotropolis,” a 2,500-hectare (6,200-acre) airport complex, is part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s revised “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program and has been awarded to San Miguel Corporation, the Philippines’ biggest company by revenue.
- The cutting of mangroves is prohibited under Philippine law, but no one has been held accountable for the hundreds of trees cut in Bulacan — a problem that residents and environmental groups say will intensify as construction of the airport returns to full force by October.

Birthday party on ship may have led to oil spill in Mauritius, Panama regulator says
- A Japanese ship that ran aground on a coral reef off Mauritius may have changed course to get a mobile data signal for a birthday celebration on board, according to investigators from Panama, the country under whose flag the vessel was sailing.
- The M.V. Wakashio crashed into the coral reef barrier on July 25 and leaked almost 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil into Mauritian waters.
- The vessel’s captain was taken into custody on Aug. 18 for endangering safe navigation as Mauritian authorities said the ship failed to respond to several calls from the Mauritian Coast Guard.
- Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), the Japanese company operating the ship, has pledged 1 billion yen ($9.5 million) for environmental preservation efforts and to shore up local fisheries.

Mauritius’s plan to dump part of wrecked ship sparks controversy
- A Japanese-owned ship crashed on the coral reef barrier of Mauritius on July 25, leaking about 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil since then.
- On Aug. 15, the wreaked ship broke into two, leaving Mauritius with another problem: deciding what to do with the wreck.
- The government’s plan to sink the severed bow of the ship 13 kilometers (8 miles) east of the island, in open waters 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) deep, has sparked controversy.
- Experts disagree on the potential dangers of sinking the ship’s bow but are worried that the oil already spilled will pose a long-term threat to fragile ecosystems like coral reefs and mangrove forests.

Mauritius grapples with worst environmental crisis in a generation
- A ship that ran aground on a coral reef has leaked about 900 tons of fuel oil into the waters off the southeastern coast of Mauritius.
- The incident occurred on July 25, and by Aug. 6 the Japanese-owned ship started to spill oil from its fuel tank, leading Mauritian authorities to declare an environmental emergency.
- The oil sludge threatens Pointe d’Esny, the largest remaining wetland in Mauritius, and other ecologically sensitive areas like the Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve, Blue Bay Marine Area, and Mahebourg Fishing Reserves.
- Water currents appear to be carrying the oil slick north along the eastern shoreline, putting mangrove forests in harm’s way.

Indonesian fishers who fought off tin miners prepare to battle all over again
- Fishers in the Indonesian region that’s a key source of the tin used in iPhones and other electronics have protested a new zoning plan that will allow mining on an important fishing coast.
- The Toboali area of Bangka Belitung province was only just cleared of small-scale mining in 2018, following similar opposition by fishers, but the new plan threatens to introduce larger-scale operations.
- Tin mining is the backbone of the Bangka Belitung economy, but has also proven deadly for workers and damaging to coral reefs, mangrove forests and local fisheries.
- The government insists the zoning plan was approved by consensus and that the interests of the fishing communities were taken into account.

Vietnam approves $9 billion development within mangrove reserve
- Vietnam’s $9.3 billion Can Gio Tourist City was recently approved for construction within the buffer zone of a UNESCO Mangrove Biosphere Reserve in Ho Chi Minh City.
- Developed by Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private company, the project will require the reclamation of a huge amount of land along Can Gio’s coast.
- Environmentalists and activists have petitioned the government to reconsider the project, but Vingroup is a key part of the country’s drive toward industrialization and home-grown world-class companies.

Mangrove forest restoration boosts Costa Rica communities (commentary)
- Mangrove forests are key ecosystems that host high levels of biodiversity, temper storm surges, and sequester large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere.
- Despite their importance, mangrove forests endure high levels of deforestation for coastal development, charcoal production, and shrimp farms.
- For World Mangrove Day on July 26, we share a report on an ambitious mangrove restoration effort in the Terraba Sierpe National Wetland in Costa Rica.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Oil slick threatens Philippine mangrove forest recovering from earlier spill
- An explosion aboard a power barge off the Philippine island of Guimaras has spilled up to a quarter million liters of fuel oil, threatening local communities and mangrove and seagrass habitats.
- The barge operator, AC Energy Inc., says the cleanup could take two weeks; local disaster mitigation officials say more than 300 families are affected and have ordered an evacuation.
- The mangroves off Guimaras were affected by the Philippines’ biggest ever oil spill in 2006, when an oil tanker sank, spilling half a million liters of fuel and affecting 648 hectares (1,600 acres) of mangrove forests and seagrass areas, which are only now recovering.
- Officials are conducting cleanup efforts to keep the latest oil spill away from the recovering mangrove swamps.

Civil war didn’t hurt this Sri Lankan mangrove forest, but shrimp farming might
- Environmentalists have opposed plans to establish shrimp farms in the Vidattaltivu nature reserve, home to an important mangrove forest and biodiversity-rich marine habitat in northern Sri Lanka.
- Critics say the plan goes against the government’s wider efforts to conserve mangrove areas.
- They also point to the failure of a similar project to establish firm farms in a mangrove area, which resulted in 90% of the farms being abandoned because of disease outbreaks among the shrimp.
- The plan also threatens the hundreds of thousands of migratory birds that stop to feed in the area during their long journeys along the Central Asian Flyway.

Mangrove collapse ‘inevitable’ unless emissions curbed
- If carbon dioxide emissions are not reduced, mangroves will be unable to keep up with the resulting rise in sea levels and they could start drowning by 2050, according to new study in the journal Science.
- Researchers base their findings on the fate of mangroves from 10,000 years ago, when glacial melting made sea levels rise.

In Philippines’ Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer
- Police on the Philippine island of Palawan reportedly assaulted and arrested government environmental officials trying to serve a vacate notice to settlers occupying a mangrove area.
- Environmental lawyers and conservation officials have condemned the incident, led by Marion Balonglong, the chief of police of Puerto Princesa, the provincial capital, calling it “yet another blow to our environmental enforcement.”
- Cutting down mangroves is prohibited under Philippine laws, and in recent years environmental defenders have come under deadly attacks from suspected illegal loggers; this incident marks the first time they’ve been confronted by the police.
- Suspected illegal loggers killed a village patrol officer in 2017, and a forest ranger in 2019; in May this year, suspected loggers shot and wounded a ranger in a national park.

A watery onslaught from sea, sky and land in the world’s fastest-sinking city
- The Indonesian capital has 300 days of rain a year and 13 rivers running through it, so it doesn’t lack freshwater; but rampant development has left much of its area paved over, preventing this water from replenishing the aquifers.
- Instead, the water it gets — from rain and from rivers — often leads to flooding because it can’t be absorbed into the ground and can’t run out to sea.
- City authorities and planning experts agree that the extraction of water from the aquifers must end, but to do so will require providing universal access to clean water.
- Efforts are underway to clean up waterways, educate the public to not dump waste in rivers, and build infiltration wells that will allow the earth to once again capture rainwater.

A vital mangrove forest hidden in Vietnam’s largest city could be at risk
- A majority of the flora in the area was killed by defoliants sprayed by the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War.
- Today, the replanted forest protects the city from storms, and stores huge amounts of carbon dioxide, though development plans and aquaculture pose threats to Can Gio’s continued health.

Video: Abraham Khouw, the professor who joined the Save Aru movement
- Professor Abraham Khouw is one of dozens of academics in the Indonesian city of Ambon who lent his expertise to the Save Aru movement in the mid-2010s.
- The movement formed after a company called the Menara Group got permits to clear nearly two-thirds of the Aru Islands’ rainforest for a giant sugar plantation.
- The academics lent extra firepower to the fight against the plantation, which was mainly driven by local indigenous communities.

Video: Mika Ganobal, the civil servant who risked his job to save his homeland
- Several years ago, a plantation company nearly broke ground on a plan to clear more than half of the rainforest in Indonesia’s Aru Islands.
- Local residents organized against the project. One of the leaders of the effort to stop it was a local bureaucrat named Mika Ganobal.
- Watch our video profile of Mika below.

Wise use and wetlands: Why we need to nurture nature (commentary)
- Rainforests grab the headlines, but with 87% of wetlands lost globally, it is time to nurture these immensely productive and diverse ecosystems.
- Wetlands are some of the planet’s most productive ecosystems, supporting immense biodiversity. These relatively small areas are often home to hundreds, if not thousands, of individual plant, fish, bird, reptile, and mammal species. Wetland ecosystems also provide more social benefits, per unit area, than other ecosystems, including support for farming, recreation, culture, and urban flood control. And they play a vital role in climate change mitigation and adaptation.
- We lose wetlands three times faster than natural forests, but wise use of wetlands could help reverse this trend. The central idea behind wise use is that all the benefits wetlands provide must be considered and incorporated when people make decisions that affect them.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Palm oil processors top plantations in destroying proboscis monkey habitat
- The oil palm processing industry has overtaken palm plantations as the biggest cause of the loss of habitat for the endangered proboscis monkey in Indonesia’s Balikpapan Bay.
- A new study pinpoints the shift to 2007, when suitable land for palm oil plantations ran out and there was a boom in building the industry and infrastructure to process and ship out the commodity.
- Plantations continue to be a key factor in the loss of habitat, with RSPO-certified companies clearing proboscis monkey habitat despite such activity being prohibited under the terms of the sustainability scheme.
- The area continues to face further threats with plans for greater industrial expansion and the development of a new capital city nearby.

Indonesia to revive idle shrimp farms to boost fisheries and save mangroves
- More than half of the shrimp farms carved out of mangrove forests in Indonesia have been left idle or abandoned.
- The government plans to revive these aquaculture farms to both boost fisheries production and prevent the clearing of more mangroves.
- Fisheries experts have welcomed the plan to boost aquaculture, but say the government should focus on boosting yields from existing shrimp farms rather than expanding the number of operating farms.
- In addition to the deforestation of mangroves, shrimp farms have drawn criticism for degrading the quality of freshwater available for communities living in the vicinity of the ponds.

As hurricane season ends, now is the time to take local action to rebuild and recover (commentary)
- As the 2019 hurricane season comes to an end, now is the time to consider action on the local scale, in spite of the helplessness we may feel in the face of global change.
- It’s no coincidence that the islands most devastated by Hurricanes Matthew and Dorian were Grand Bahama, Abaco, Andros, and New Providence. Recently published coastal risk maps show these are the islands most exposed to flooding and erosion — which is critical information for recovery and rebuilding efforts.
- In our built world, we often forget about the natural defenses that kept us safe before we started tearing them down. Mangrove forests, coral reefs, and seagrass beds naturally envelop islands, weakening waves and storm surges. Protections are needed for coastal habitats that are still intact, and restoration is needed for degraded shorelines. As developed countries like the United States have learned, it costs millions of dollars more to restore natural defenses than to conserve them wisely in the first place.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Lawsuit against Indonesian coal plant reveals permit irregularities
- Residents opposed to a newly built coal-fired power plant in Sumatra have alleged a list of irregularities that they say should have disqualified the developer from obtaining an environmental permit.
- A key point is that the project violates provincial and municipal zoning regulations; the latter allows for a plant to be built, but at a different location, while the former makes no accommodation for a coal plant.
- The project site, on Sepang Bay along the southwest coast of Sumatra, has also been identified as an area prone to earthquakes and tsunamis, while the developer hasn’t formalized plans for such contingencies.
- The National Ombudsman has weighed in with findings of maladministration by the provincial government in issuing the environmental permit, but adds that the zoning regulations should be adapted to accommodate for the plant now that it’s been built and is undergoing a trial run.

10 takeaways from Indonesia’s grassroots #SaveAru success
- The Save Aru campaign is one of Indonesia’s most successful grassroots movements in recent years.
- The people of Indonesia’s Aru Islands managed to defeat a plan to turn more than half of their archipelago into a massive sugar plantation.
- This month, Mongabay and The Gecko Project published a narrative article about the movement. Here are 10 takeaways from the article.

On the front line of climate change in India’s Sundarbans
- The sea level has risen by an average of 3 centimeters a year over the past two decades in the Sundarbans, the vast mangrove delta at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal, leading to one of the fastest rates of coastal erosion in the world.
- Residents of the dozens of islands in the Indian part of the Sundarbans have seen their homes swallowed up by the sea and their farmland poisoned by saltwater, forcing many to relocate.
- The fast-encroaching sea, driven by climate change, has also eaten away at the hunting grounds of the Sundarbans’ famous Bengal tigers, pushing them to target the villagers’ livestock — and, increasingly, the villagers themselves.
- At the same time, villagers unable to farm and experiencing dwindling fish catches are venturing deeper into tiger territory to look for crabs and collect honey, putting them at even greater risk of being attacked by the big cats.

Saving an island from the worst oil spill in the Philippines: The case of Guimaras
- On August 11, 2006, the oil tanker M/T Solar 1, hired by Petron Corporation, sank off the coast of Guimaras, an island province in the Philippines, spilling more than 2.1 million liters (about 555,000 gallons) of bunker fuel. It is still known as the worst oil spill in the Philippines’ history.
- The oil that contaminated the water was not only devastating for the environment but also for the people and the economy of Guimaras.
- Thirteen years later, Guimaras once again boasts pristine beaches with white sand and the fisherfolks have returned to harvesting the abundance of the waters.

Bali mangrove bay is now a conservation zone, nixing reclamation plan
- Indonesia’s maritime ministry has designated Bali’s Benoa Bay a conservation zone for religious and cultural activities, and traditional and sustainable fisheries.
- The decision effectively kills a $2 billion plan to reclaim land in the mangrove-rich bay for a tourism development featuring hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues and a convention center.
- While opponents of the development project have welcomed the decree, they say it’s only the first step toward ensuring that the bay receives full and permanent legal protection against such development plans.

Saving Aru: The epic battle to save the islands that inspired the theory of evolution
- In the mid-1800s, the extraordinary biodiversity of the Aru Islands helped inspire the theory of evolution by natural selection.
- Several years ago, however, a corrupt politician granted a single company permission to convert most of the islands’ rainforests into a vast sugar plantation.
- The people of Aru fought back. Today, the story of their grassroots campaign resonates across the world as a growing global movement seeks to force governments to act on climate change.

As wildfires roil Sumatra, some villages have abandoned the burning
- Devastating fires and haze in 2015, as well as the threat of arrest, have prompted some villages in Sumatra to end the tradition of burning the land for planting.
- The villages of Upang Ceria and Gelebak Dalam also been fire-free since then, even as large swaths of forest elsewhere in Sumatra continue to burn.
- Village officials have plans to develop ecotourism as another source of revenue, as well as restore mangroves and invest in agricultural equipment that makes the farmers’ work easier.

For one Indonesian village, mangrove restoration has been all upside
- Demand for firewood in recent years led to the depletion of the mangrove forest in the Indonesian village of Paremas.
- But the local government and NGOs worked with the community to emphasize the importance of restoring the mangrove, with surprising results.
- Today, the tidal pools on the coast provide food that can both sustain the locals and provide an income, allowing families to be less dependent on the remittances sent home by mothers and fathers working arduous jobs overseas.
- In addition to protecting biodiversity, the mangroves also absorb energy from large ocean swells and stop garbage from piling up in foul-smelling sumps on the beach.

Sri Lanka wields mangroves, its tsunami shield, against climate change
- Fifteen years after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Sri Lanka’s government intends to keep expanding the island’s coastal green belt — the chain of mangrove swamps credited with limiting the damage and destruction of the deadly waves.
- The government plans to add 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of rehabilitated mangrove swamps to the island’s current mangrove cover of 15,670 hectares (38,700 acres), largely by reclaiming fish farms and salt-drying pools.
- Coastal towns in the tourism-dependent southern district of Galle are leading the way in those efforts, with their community-led mangrove regeneration programs considered among the most successful.
- There’s also wide recognition of the importance of engaging more women in these efforts and expanding awareness about environmental sustainability.

Colombian investors push Pacific port project, threatening biodiversity hotspot
- Colombian President Iván Duque has pushed the construction of Tribugá Port in the Pacific department of Chocó as an economic priority for the country’s coffee-growing heartland, to increase exports to international markets.
- But the plan to build the port has provoked a fierce outcry from environmental and human rights activists, as well as local tourism operators, pushing 70 organizations to sign a declaration against its construction.
- Endangered species such as hammerhead sharks, nesting sea turtles and humpback whales visit the area on an annual basis to mate, raise their young, and migrate through.

Bringing back the fish: Q&A with a repentant blast fisherman
- For years local NGOs and government officials attempted to convince the fishermen of El Salvador’s Jiquilisco Bay to stop fishing with explosives, a practice that not only risks life and limb but also harms marine populations and habitats.
- Ultimately, however, it was a fisherman named Eleuterio Lara, now 69, who conjured up a convincing alternative.
- By dropping tree branches, rocks and bicycle parts into the bay, he was able to create an artificial reef that could support enough life to make line-and-pole fishing a viable option. Soon, officials were investing in more advanced cement structures that could create even better reefs and Lara was convincing his fellow fishermen to ditch blast fishing.
- Mongabay hailed Lara as he was peddling down a dirt road on his bicycle for a conversation about his experience with blast fishing, his inspiration for artificial reefs, and what the future holds for Jiquilisco Bay.

Salvadoran fishermen ditch blast fishing for artificial reefs
- Blast fishing has taken a toll on both the fishermen and marine life of El Salvador’s Jiquilisco Bay Biosphere Reserve.
- Some residents have lost limbs or eyes or suffered bad burns. And populations of mangroves, fish, and critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles have declined.
- Over the last decade, officials have made rooting out the practice a top priority, placing their bets on a creative alternative that a local fisherman suggested in 2009: the creation of artificial reefs to replenish marine life.
- Today blast fishing has declined by 90 percent and the communities are trying to market their seafood as “clean fish” at a premium price.

In India’s Sundarbans, communities shrink as their island sinks
- In India and Bangladesh, millions of people live in the Sundarbans islands and face losing their homes to rising seas caused by climate change.
- The region was the first in the world to record an unfolding climate refugee crisis as people fled an island lost to the sea. More islands remain at risk of succumbing to the rising waters.
- The government has long relied on building embankments to keep the seawater out, but in a report it co-wrote in 2014 it acknowledges that this measure is no longer sufficient.
- One expert calls for restoring the Sundarbans’ original mangrove habitats to both mitigate the impacts of rising seas and storm surges, and to serve as a carbon sink in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions.

No environmental permit for Bali bay reclamation plan amid opposition
- The Indonesian government says it won’t issue a key permit for a plan to build artificial islands in Bali’s Benoa Bay as long as locals remain strongly opposed to the project.
- The plan is to build artificial islands for a multibillion-dollar complex featuring hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues and a convention center.
- The project appeared to die last August when another permit, the location permit, expired without the government renewing it. The fisheries ministry later issued a new location permit.
- With the developer now seeking to obtain an environmental permit, local communities are gearing up for another fight against a project they say could damage the mangrove-rich area on which their livelihoods depend.

For artisanal fishers, fish fences are an easy, but problematic, option
- The widespread use of fish fences by fishing communities in tropical countries leads to extensive economic, social and environmental damage, a new study finds.
- The technique involves stringing a net along stakes typically set in an intertidal flat, where it traps fish as the tide goes out. But the practice results in the indiscriminate catch of juvenile fish, threatening the sustainability of fish stocks.
- In the area studied, in eastern Indonesia, the fences are also a source of social tension, where they’re the exclusive domain of the island-based ethnic group and denied to the seafaring Bajo community.
- The researchers have called for restrictions on the use of fish fences, but acknowledge that getting fishermen to start going out to sea to fish will be difficult, given the low risk and high convenience that fish fences afford.

In Indonesia, bigger catches for a fishing village protecting its mangroves
- For years, weak law enforcement and low public awareness meant environmentally dangerous practices were commonly employed in countries like Indonesia.
- But local and national government reforms, combined with customary traditions and ambitious NGO programs, are beginning to address the problem.
- One village in western Borneo has seen a dramatic recovery in fish stocks after temporary fisheries closures were enacted.

Controversial aquaculture projects threaten Myanmar’s remaining mangroves
- Business tycoons have illegally obtained land permits to develop aquaculture in Tanintharyi without consulting the forestry department for input.
- Villagers living nearby say the aquaculture facilities impact water quality and their ability to fish.
- Authorities are looking more closely at the development of aquaculture in Tanintharyi following a visit in March by the state counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, who spoke with locals complaining about the impacts of the industry on their daily lives.

Why Myanmar villagers still engage in illegal logging of mangroves
- The Irrawaddy Delta of Myanmar used to be rich in mangroves, but only 20 percent of the original coverage remains today.
- Although it’s illegal to log mangrove wood, people who live in villages without electricity still cut the increasingly fragmented mangrove forests of the delta for fuelwood for cooking.
- Logging isn’t just physically dangerous; it’s also legally risky.
- Fuel-efficient stoves, access to alternative fuels, and opportunities for employment could help reduce the amount of illegal logging of mangroves.

Can rice husk briquettes stem the tide of mangrove deforestation in Myanmar?
- Despite the knowledge about the role mangroves play to protect inland areas from storm swells, and a nationwide ban on logging, Myanmar continues to lose mangroves, particularly to communities in the Irrawaddy Delta where electricity is lacking and a reliance on mangroves as firewood and to make charcoal.
- An enterprising rice mill owner, U Zayar Myo, uses discarded rice husks to create compact briquettes that can be burned as an alternative fuel to mangrove wood or charcoal.
- These rice-husk briquettes are now being distributed to other businesses historically reliant on burning mangrove wood, and point to one way to reduce the rate of mangrove deforestation in Myanmar.

Illegal charcoal trade threatens Myanmar’s remaining mangroves
- The depletion of mangroves in southern Myanmar is impacting local fisheries near the island villages.
- The illegal charcoal trade persists due to a lack of law enforcement and oversight in Myanmar and Thailand.
- Many Burmese labor workers, charcoal kiln owners and traders are indebted to the charcoal warehouses that they ultimately supply in Thailand, which guarantees a steady supply of charcoal into Thailand.

‘It’s getting worse’: National parks in Honduras hit hard by palm oil
- Production of oil palm has risen by nearly 560 percent in Honduras over the past two decades, making the country the eighth-largest producer worldwide and number three in the Americas.
- By 2010, Jeanette Kawas National Park, which sits along the coast in northern Honduras, had lost approximately 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) to oil palm plantations. Nearby Punta Izopo National Park and Cuero y Salado National Park lost more than 8 percent and 4 percent of their tree cover, respectively, between 2001 and 2017.
- Small-scale farmers, some living legally within park borders, are clearing deeper and deeper sections of forest. A growing number of residents are cultivating small-scale oil palm plantations and have become off-the-books suppliers for companies operating in the area, which has become a source of serious concern for conservation organizations.
- Local officials say that due to bureaucratic red tape, cutting down even illegally planted oil palm trees can put them at risk of legal repercussions, making it difficult to restore forest after it’s been converted to oil palm plantations.

Putting the Blue in the Green New Deal (commentary)
- The Green New Deal (GND) is a U.S. resolution that aims to address economic inequality and global warming through a set of proposed economic stimulus projects.
- As nearly half of the U.S. populace lives in or near coastal areas, the GND needs to prioritize the sustainable use and preservation of the marine environment – called the “blue economy.”
- David Helvarg of Blue Frontier and Jason Scorse of the International Environmental Policy Program and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies suggest a series of policy and investment priorities for incorporation of the blue economy into the GND.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

The odor side of otters: Tech reveals species’ adaptations to human activity
- Recent studies of an elusive otter species living in the highly modified mangroves and reclaimed lands on the coast of Goa, India offer new insights into otter behavior that could inform future conservation efforts.
- Researchers have studied these adaptable otters with camera traps, ground GPS surveys, and satellite images; they’re now testing drone photogrammetry to improve the accuracy of their habitat mapping.
- Using data gathered over a period of time, the researchers aim to pinpoint changes in the landscape and, in combination with the behavioral data gathered by the camera traps, understand how otters are reacting to these changes.

Current threats and future hopes for the greater Mekong’s mangroves
- Critical to the health of rivers, shorelines and forests globally, today only 150,000 square kilometers (57,900 square miles) of mangroves remain, down from 320,000 square kilometers (123,550 square miles) 50 years ago.
- Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar are home to the largest mangrove forests in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia, but rapid economic growth and illegal logging for fuelwood collection have damaged these forests.
- Technical advancements such as floating mangroves, along with increased public awareness, do offer hope for the future of these trees in the region, as some are protected and recovering.

Cyclone harmed Fijian crab fishery in 2016, research finds
- Research published in the journal Climate and Development demonstrates that Tropical Cyclone Winston damaged mud-crab fisheries in Fiji in 2016.
- Surveys of the mostly women crab fishers in Bua province before and after Winston, one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, revealed that mud crabs were smaller and less numerous following the cyclone.
- The research could help government agencies address the lingering impacts of natural disasters to community fisheries.

A development project in a Bali mangrove bay gets a new lease on life
- A controversial plan to reclaim land in Bali’s Benoa Bay for a commercial and entertainment development project was thought to have ended in August when its permit expired.
- In late November, Indonesia’s maritime ministry issued the developer a new permit that effectively revives the plan.
- Reclamation can only proceed, however, if the developer can obtain approval for its environmental impact assessment from the environment ministry. Its failure to do so earlier this year was what led to its initial permit expiring.
- Activists say they will continue to oppose the project, which they fear will destroy the mangrove-rich ecosystem and harm the livelihoods of thousands of local fishermen.

Radar helps Kenya map mangroves and other cloud-covered forests
- Using Sentinel-1 radar imagery from the European Space Agency, the Forest2020 project has mapped a part of Kenya’s previously hard-to-assess coastal forests.
- The project’s findings show that 45 percent of the 83.5 square kilometers (32 square miles) of mangrove forest in a pilot county is highly degraded and in need of rehabilitation.
- These initial micro-scale maps of Kenya’s mangrove forests will help local forest officers and communities in areas with receding or recovering mangroves to take necessary coastal protection measures.

Timor-Leste: With sacrifice and ceremony, tribe sets eco rules
- On an August morning in 2012, about 150 men, women and children gathered at a sacred spot in the village of Biacou, in northern Timor-Leste. With sacrifices of a goat and a pig and the blessing of the land and sea spirits, the community inaugurated the village’s tara bandu, a customary law of the indigenous Maubere that governs how people interact with the environment.
- Tara bandu was outlawed under the Indonesian occupation that lasted from 1975 until 1999. Since then, Maubere communities across the country have been bringing tara bandu back to life as a way to guide more sustainable use of their local natural resources.
- In Biacou, at least, the tradition appears to be resonating with residents as there has been just one violation of the tara bandu in the six years since its inauguration.
- This is the third story in Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Maubere’s revival of tara bandu.

Timor-Leste: Maubere tribes revive customary law to protect the ocean
- Traditional laws governing the management of natural resources known as tara bandu were outlawed during the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste. Since the country gained independence in 2002, it has been reviving the tradition in an attempt to control the exploitation of its forests and oceans.
- There are signs tara bandu has had a positive effect on some local forest, mangrove and coral reef ecosystems.
- Esteem for tradition seems to outweigh the adverse effects tara bandu has had on some people’s livelihoods, encouraging respect for the law.
- This is the first story in Mongabay’s three-part profile of the Maubere’s revival of tara bandu.

Women’s work in Senegalese conservation includes exorcising demons
- Women, and older women in particular, play important roles in the Kawawana ICCA, an indigenous conservation group in Senegal’s Casamance region.
- They set rules for oyster harvesting and mediate conflicts that arise with outsiders who infringe upon Kawawana rules.
- They also deploy ancient animist traditions in defense of the local environment and act as spiritual doctors for those who break the rules.
- Since 2010, Kawawana has made huge strides in repopulating the local river with fish, reducing damaging levels of salinity in its waters, and halting deforestation, largely by returning to traditional fishing and forestry practices.

Watching the wildlife return: Q&A with a rural Senegalese river monitor
- In the mid-2000s, villagers from the Jola ethnic group in the Casamance region of Senegal noticed a decline in local fish stocks and forest cover, and an increase in water salinity, all of which threatened their food supply and way of life.
- They formed a fishing association in 2006 that grew into a community-wide conservation group known as the Kawawana ICCA in 2010, and have since turned their dire situation around by reviving traditional fishing and forestry methods.
- As part of that effort, the Kawawana ICCA established a team to check up on the state of the river and forest, counting birds, fish, crocodiles, otters and dolphins, whose presence indicates healthy fish stocks, and monitoring rainfall and river salinity.
- Bassirou Sambou, 53, a fisherman by trade, heads that effort. Mongabay interviewed him as part of a larger reporting project about the Kawawana ICCA.

In a Colombian sanctuary, once-trafficked birds fly again
- Colombia is home to the most important aviary in South America, a sanctuary containing almost 2,000 birds.
- The privately run National Aviary of Colombia serves as a refuge in which birds representing 165 different species have a second chance at life after escaping the hands of illegal wildlife traffickers.
- So far in 2018, Colombian authorities have rescued nearly 4,000 birds — victims of a trafficking industry that has become the third-largest illicit economy in the country.

Senegal: After reviving fish and forests, Jola villages tackle new threats
- Thirteen years ago, the eight Jola villages in Mangagoulack, in Senegal’s Casamance region, were indebted and hungry, with overfishing, rising saltwater levels and rampant deforestation of mangroves contributing to a downward spiral.
- In 2006, the community formed an association and began work toward drawing up a code of conduct based on traditional fishing and land-management techniques. The group, now known as the Kawawana ICCA, operates through consensual decision-making and has pledged to remain independent from the government and NGOs.
- By 2012, the river was full of fish, oysters and other wildlife once again. Local people rejoiced at the renewed supply of food and income.
- Today, climate change, a dam, state indifference to poachers, and a youth exodus are putting their hard-won standard of living at risk. Kawawana has served as a model for other communities in the region, and now the villagers hope that working together will help them face down their problems and fortify their gains.

As Bali reclamation project dies, activists seek conservation status
- Activists in Bali have welcomed the automatic cancellation of a permit for a reclamation project in the Indonesian resort island’s Benoa Bay.
- The permit expired after the developer failed to secure government approval for its environmental impact assessment for the project.
- The planned development would have cleared large areas of the bay’s mangrove ecosystem for new artificial islands to host a convention center, hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues.
- The activists have called on the government to restore the bay’s status as a strictly protected area for future conservation.

When it comes to carbon storage, not all mangroves are equal
- Where a mangrove forest grows determines how much carbon gets stored in its soil, a new study has found.
- The study found that past research underestimated the amount of carbon stored in forests growing on limestone or carbonate soils by up to 50 percent, and overestimated blue carbon stored in deltaic settings by up to 86 percent.
- These differences in carbon density among the various mangrove ecosystems come down to the soils in which they grow, researchers say.

Why mangroves matter: Experts respond on International Mangrove Day
- July 26 is International Mangrove Day, dedicated to the unique forests that survive at the interface of land, river and sea.
- Mangroves protect coastlines from storm surges, filter out pollutants, and are home to a wide array of diverse life.
- However, mangroves have declined rapidly around the world, losing out to shrimp farms, tourist resorts, agricultural and urban land over the past decades.
- What does the disappearance of this special forest ecosystem mean for our planet? Experts respond.

Mangroves and their deforestation may emit more methane than we thought
- A recently published study finds mangroves release more methane than previously estimated.
- Methane packs much more of a global warming punch than carbon dioxide, and the study indicates this methane could be offsetting around 20 percent of a mangrove’s soil carbon storage rate.
- Deforestation of mangroves releases much of the carbon stored by mangroves, including methane.

Belize Barrier Reef gets UNESCO upgrade
- UNESCO has announced that the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which it added to the World Heritage List in 1996, has been removed from its list of ‘sites in danger.’
- The system’s seven sites are a significant habitat for threatened species, including sea turtles, manatees, and marine crocodiles.
- The area is also a popular tourist destination and global hotspot for diving.
- The site was added to UNESCO’s list of sites in danger in 2009 due to the destruction of mangrove forests and marine ecosystems, the looming threat of offshore oil extraction, and unsustainable coastal development.

Latam Eco Review: Ports imperil Colombian crocodiles

Below are summaries of the most popular stories by our Spanish language service, Mongabay Latam, from the week of June 11 – 17. Among the top articles: Port projects in northern Colombia threaten the mangrove habitats of American crocodiles. In other news, the Waorani people of Ecuador use camera traps to record an astonishing diversity […]
Scientists find surprising genetic differences between Brazil’s mangroves
- Mangrove forests occupy tropical costal areas and provide important habitat for wildlife, as well as ecosystem services for human communities. They’re also carbon storage powerhouses, pound-for-pound capable of sequestering four times more carbon than a rainforest.
- Researchers analyzed the genes of mangrove forests along the coast of Brazil. They found that trees in different forests show “dramatic” differences from one another, even when they belong to the same species.
- They think these differences arose because an ocean current separates mangroves in northern and southern Brazil, making it so they can’t exchange genes.
- The researchers suspect the genetic distinctiveness of mangrove populations extends beyond Brazil. They say their results highlight the importance of enacting conservation plans that give a higher priority to the preservation of genetic diversity – an endeavor they say is becoming more and more critical for mangroves as they continue to disappear and climate change ramps up.

New study finds mangroves may store way more carbon than we thought
- A new study finds mangrove soil held around 6.4 billion metric tons of carbon in 2000.
- Between 2000 and 2015, up to 122 million tons of this carbon was released due to mangrove forest loss – roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of Brazil. More than 75 percent of these soil carbon emissions came from mangrove deforestation in just three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar.
- Mangroves provide a slew of benefits in addition to storing carbon, reducing flooding and erosion from storms, acting as nurseries for fish, and filtering pollutants from water.
- Research indicates at least 35 percent of the world’s mangrove forests may have been lost between 1980 and 2000. Mangroves are deforested for many reasons, including to make room for shrimp farms and other forms of aquaculture, as well as for their wood. Mangroves also depend on the presence of freshwater and can die when dams and other developments stem the flow of rivers. Scientists also believe they’re at risk of mass drowning as global warming raises sea levels.

‘We are going to self-destruct’: Development plans threaten Malaysian island
- The Langkawi archipelago off Malaysia’s northwest coast is made up of more than 100 islands, including the main island – the country’s third largest. For years a well-kept secret of pristine beaches, unspoilt rainforest and unique limestone outcrops, tourism began to take off in the 1990s after the island was declared duty free and luxury resorts began to open.
- Some 3.5 million people visited Langkawi last year. Now the authorities want even more – 5.5 million by 2020 – and have ambitious plans to transform the island with high-rise hotels and apartments, coastal roads on reclaimed land, and other trappings of a 21st century tourist destination.
- But critics say little has been done to upgrade the island’s basic infrastructure – sewage systems, water supply, and waste management – adding to the strain on an already fragile environment.

More than 40 percent of Madagascar’s freshwater life sliding toward extinction, IUCN finds
- In an assessment of 653 freshwater plant and animal species living on Madagascar and nearby islands, biologists found that 43 percent are threatened with extinction or there isn’t enough information to assess how well they’re doing.
- Nearly 80 percent of endemic plants examined in the study face extinction.
- The team lists unsustainable farming practices, deforestation, dam construction, mining and the overuse of natural resources, such as overfishing, as causes for the widespread declines.

Mangrove deforestation may be releasing more CO2 than Poland, study finds
- A new study calculates that, worldwide, mangroves were storing 4.19 billion metric tons of carbon in 2012, representing a 2 percent loss since 2000. It estimates that number had dropped further to 4.16 billion metric tons by 2017.
- In total, the study estimates that this lost carbon translates to as much as 317 million tons of CO2 emissions per year, equivalent to the annual emissions of around 67.5 million passenger vehicles in the U.S. and more than the 2015 emissions of Poland.
- The researchers found Indonesia harbors the lion’s share of the world’s mangroves – around 30 percent – while also experiencing the biggest proportion of its 2000-2012 mangrove carbon loss, with deforestation there accounting for more than 48 percent of the global total. Other parts of Southeast Asia, such as Myanmar, are also undergoing high rates of mangrove deforestation, making the entire region a hotspot of global mangrove carbon loss.
- Previous research estimates that between 30 and 50 percent of the world’s mangroves have been lost over the past 50 years. Deforestation for shrimp, rice and palm oil are among the biggest drivers of mangrove decline.

On an island of plenty, a community tempered by waves braces for rising seas
- For generations, the indigenous Papuans on Indonesia’s Auki Island have depended on rich coastal ecosystem around them for sustenance and livelihoods.
- But when an earthquake and a tsunami struck the area in 1996, they realized they needed to do more to protect these resources to sustain their way of life.
- A decade later, they enshrined practices such as sustainable fishing in a local regulation, which to date has already shown positive results for the islanders and the environment.
- But the threat of another disaster — rising sea levels as a result of global warming — looms over the community. This time, they’re preparing through mitigation programs, including protecting mangroves.

Mega developments set to transform a tranquil Cambodian bay
- Sim Him has organized the planting of more than 200,000 mangrove trees in Cambodia’s Trapeang Sangke estuary. The surrounding ecosystem, which feeds thousands of families, is thriving.
- But the nearby construction of a ferry terminal and a luxury resort are upsetting the estuary’s equilibrium, and development projects continue west along the coastline from there.
- Dotted along a 25-kilometer (15.5-mile) coastal strip, no less than six large-scale developments present a direct threat to healthy mangrove forests and the fishing communities they support.
- Aside from being a nursery for sealife and a barrier to erosion, mangroves are also one of the planet’s most effective carbon neutralizers, capable of capturing and storing it for millennia.

Chainsaws imperil an old-growth mangrove stronghold in southern Myanmar
- Tanintharyi, Myanmar’s southern-most state, is home to the country’s last remaining old-growth mangrove forest. The trees support village life and a booming fishing industry up and down the coast.
- But logging for charcoal and fuel wood, much of it illegal, is taking a toll. Studies show that roughly two-thirds of the region’s remaining mangrove forests have been degraded, with consequences for people and wildlife.
- Conservationists are attempting to expand community forestry and set up mangrove reserves to combat the widespread degradation.

So long, UNESCO! What does U.S. withdrawal mean for the environment?
- Since 2011, the U.S. has refused to pay its agreed to share to UNESCO as a Member Nation who has participated in and benefited from the organization’s scientific, environmental and sustainability programs. Now, President Trump has announced U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO, effective at the end of 2018.
- Experts say the pullout won’t in fact do any major damage to the organization, with most of the harm done to UNESCO when the U.S. went into arrears starting in 2011, with unpaid dues now totaling roughly $550 million. However, America’s failure to participate could hurt millions of Americans.
- UNESCO science initiatives are international and deal multilaterally with a variety of environmental issues ranging from basic earth science, climate change, freshwater, oceans, mining, and international interrelationships between indigenous, rural and urban communities.
- Among the most famous of UNESCO science programs are the Man and the Biosphere Programme and the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, now including 669 sites in 120 countries, including the United States.

Indonesians plant trees to nurse seagrass back to health in Wakatobi
- Long understudied and misunderstood, seagrass is now being recognized for its importance around the world as a carbon sink but also as an essential part of people’s daily lives.
- But it is also being lost at an incredibly fast rate, equal to the loss of rainforests, according to researchers.
- On an island in Indonesia’s Wakatobi National Park, communities are planting trees and educating local people to save seagrass, for present and future generations.

Is Bangladesh’s expanded sanctuary a brave step or a paper tiger?
- The government’s decision increases the proportion of the Bangladesh Sundarbans that is off-limits to people from 23 to 52 percent, although pollution from a proposed coal power plant nearby would be an ongoing risk.
- Locals living near the forest have minimized the number of tigers killed in conflict with humans by forming response teams that ward tigers away from villages.
- Policy tailored to addressing the myriad reasons for tiger killing would have even more success in reversing the decline of the Bengal tiger, research suggests.

Communities struggle to save Sabah’s shrinking mangroves
- A development plan establishing shrimp farms and timber plantations begun purportedly to reduce poverty in northern Sabah, Malaysia, has attracted criticism from local communities and NGOs, which say the project is ignoring communities’ land rights.
- Satellite imagery shows the clearing of large tracts of mangrove forest for shrimp farms. Critics of the development say this is depriving forest-dependent local communities of their livelihoods as well as threatening mangrove wildlife.
- Several communities have banded together and are together petitioning the government to officially recognize their rights to the remaining mangroves and prevent further clearing for development.

Business owners in top Belize destination want increased mangrove protections
- Towns like San Pedro depend on attractions like Hol Chan Marine Reserve to bring tourists but loss of mangroves on land is a threat to clean water and healthy reefs
- A number of business owners would like to see better mangrove protections and planning documents developed
- Up to one third of Belize citizens work in the tourism sector, more than agriculture

Lawyer opposing U.S. resort developer in Baja Mexico jailed 62 days
- An American company plans to build what it dubs Tres Santos: 4,472 houses, a tank to store 400,000 liters of water, and two boutique hotels like one being built on Punta Lobos Beach in Baja California Sur
- At the time of his arrest, lawyer John Moreno Rutowski was representing the fishing community of Punta Lobos, which opposes the project because it supplants the beach and wetland area they’ve used for 100 years
- Four days after Moreno Rutowski’s incarceration, a federal judge confirmed the right of the fishermen to “protect their traditional beach against the threat of displacement brought about by Tres Santos,” according to Moreno Rutowski’s lawyer
- 62 days later Moreno remains in jail on unclear charges

Going under: mangrove restoration in low-lying Guyana a vital need, say experts
- A mature mangrove tree, which can grow as high at 30 feet, acts as a buffer against the sea and storms, a filter for the water, and can chop ten times more carbon than any other plant.
- Greater seawall defense is an urgent problem in a country where portions of the coastline are nearly five feet below sea level at high tide.
- Almost 90 percent of the country’s population lives and works along Guyana’s fertile Atlantic coast, making a lack of seawall defense a potential threat to food security, livelihoods and lives.

Photos: Where once were mangroves, Javan villages struggle to beat back the sea
- Mangunharjo, Bedono, Sawah Luhur — these are just some of the communities where clear-cutting mangrove forests has caused environmental disaster.
- Mangroves are removed to make way for shrimp and fish farms. But without the forests’ protection, coastal communities become dangerously vulnerable to erosion and flooding.
- In some places, residents have planted new mangroves, and managed to reclaim their home from the sea. But not everywhere.

Mangrove loss threatens migratory shorebird route in North Sumatra
- A new study examines the impact of agricultural expansion on an important shorebird habitat in North Sumatra.
- Mangrove cover in the Indonesian province has dropped 85 percent in the last 14 years.
- The study’s authors want the government to issue a regulation to protect shorebirds specifically.

Communities band together to protect El Salvador’s last mangroves
- Jiquilisco Bay is home to about half of El Salvador’s remaining mangroves. But many mangrove tracts were nearly wiped out by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and siltation from upstream deforestation and controlled flooding were damaging the rest.
- In response, local communities formed a coalition, called the Mangrove Association, to help protect and expand the region’s mangroves.
- Around 80 communities are involved in the Mangrove Association. They work to restore damaged areas, and have re-planted hundreds of acres of mangrove forest.

Crabbing gone commercial: Brazilian mangroves threatened by shift in local traditions
- A new method of crabbing is bringing indigenous people a larger catch, but requires cutting mangroves and killing crabs indiscriminately.
- Crabbers’ dependence on intermediaries is complicating the crabbing business by shackling them to informal loans and pressuring them to achieve greater harvests.
- A researcher recommends further research to gauge the sustainability of new crabbing techniques for the mangroves and the local’s livelihoods.

Over the bridge: The battle for the future of the Kinabatangan
- Proponents of the project contend that a bridge and associated paved road to Sukau would have helped the town grow and improve the standard of living for its residents.
- Environmental groups argue that the region’s unrealized potential for high-end nature tourism could bring similar economic benefits without disturbing local populations of elephants, orangutans and other struggling wildlife.
- The mid-April cancellation of the bridge was heralded as a success for rainforest conservation, but bigger questions loom about the future of local communities, the sanctuary and its wildlife.

Saving Congo’s sea turtles: progress made but dangers ahead
- Among the myriad threats facing turtles globally, coastal development has deprived females of the isolated, dry, sandy beaches they need to build nests for their eggs.
- Until recently, homecoming was a death-trap for turtles as poor local communities took advantage of an immobile source of food appearing annually on their beaches and in their coastal waters.
- The Congo’s 23-mile stretch of beach is home to a turtle conservation project that aims to give turtles born into the wild a fighting chance.

Conserving Congo’s wild places on a shoestring
- The park operates on a budget so small they can hardly afford to patrol the 76,000 hectares (188,000 acres) of mangroves, waterways, beach and ocean.
- Though the beach and savannah portions of the park are partially protected areas, a handful of communities have continuously lived there since long before the park’s creation.
- Park officials and rangers face the difficult task of protecting the vast area with just a handful of rangers and are up against generations of ingrained practices by residents, such as poaching turtles and their eggs.

Al Gore and Bangladesh PM spar over coal plants in the Sundarbans
- Bangladesh is building two large power plants just upstream from the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- According to government officials, the power plants are intended to bolster Bangladesh’s meager energy reserves.
- The project has attracted criticism from concerned citizens in Bangladesh and around the world, as well as scientists and UNESCO, who say the plants will jeopardize human and ecological health.
- At the January 2017 session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Al Gore and Sheikh Hasina disagreed about the project’s potential environmental consequences.

As Thailand ramps up its palm oil sector, peat forests feel the pressure
- Thailand is currently the world’s third-largest producer of palm oil. As of 2015, around 70 percent of land used for oil palm cultivation was managed by small-scale farmers.
- Most of Thailand’s palm oil is grown in the southern part of the country. In one protected area, called Pru Kaching, the government is trying to reclaim land from palm oil growers. But complicating factors have mired the effort.
- In order to grow crops like oil palm in peatlands, the swampy peat must be drained – which releases carbon into the atmosphere and makes the forests that overlay them more susceptible to fire.

How ‘jobless men managing the sea’ restored a mangrove forest in Java
- In the 1980s and early 90s, fish farming thrived in Brebes, on the north coast of Indonesia’s main central island of Java.
- The industry’s steady growth saw local residents chop down mangrove stands to make way for aquaculture ponds. But the development brought unintended consequences.
- In response, a group of local residents embarked on an ambitious tree-planting campaign.

Police clash with protesters marching against power plant in Bangladesh
- The protesters were showing their disapproval of a new coal-fired power plant currently under construction.
- Injuries were reported, with estimates varying from five to 50.
- Critics of the project say it poses threats to the nearby Sundarbans mangrove – the largest mangrove forest in the world – as well as to the health of thousands of local residents.
- The Bangladeshi government is supporting the project and insists it poses no danger.

Thousands hold ‘Global Protest Day’ to support world’s largest mangrove forest
- At more than 10,000 square kilometers, the Sundarbans is the world’s biggest mangrove area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- It is home to hundreds of species of plants and animals, provides important ecosystem services to human communities, and sequesters millions of tons of carbon.
- A 1,320-megawatt, coal-fired power plant is being built just upriver from the Sundarbans, and critics say it threatens the mangrove as well as human health. UNESCO has urged its cancellation and relocation.
- On Saturday, January 7, an estimated 4,000 people held rallies in cities around the world protesting the power plant and urging increased protection of the Sundarbans.

New drone analysis highlights conservation challenges in Myanmar
- Conducted by Fauna & Flora International, the survey found that the mangrove breeding ground is actually mostly covered with Phoenix paludosa, or Mangrove date palm.
- Some areas within the sanctuary with endangered mangrove tree species have been identified and therefore have a higher chance of being protected from illegal logging and experts contend that a new, detailed restoration plan is needed to save MKWS.
- The MKWS finding highlights challenges to conservation work in Myanmar, which are often long and difficult to implement, and susceptible to unstable political and ethnic conflict.

Protests against Bangladesh power plant begin in Dhaka and Cambridge
- On November 24, activists in Bangladesh began a ‘March towards Dhaka’, demanding the cancellation of the proposed coal-fired Rampal power plant, slated to be built very close to the Sundarbans.
- Members of Bangladesh’s National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports will reach Dhaka on Saturday where they are expected to hold a grand rally at the Central Shaheed Minar.
- In solidarity with the protests in Bangladesh, students from Cambridge University in the U.K. will also hold a rally tomorrow.

Fate of Colombian shellfish pickers closely tied to mangrove
- Colombia’s 80,000 acre mangrove sanctuary is home to both piangua, which grow amidst the muddy roots of the mangrove, and the women who pick them.
- Threatened mangrove tree species are at the heart of conservation efforts in the park.
- Risks for the mangrove related to pollution, exploitation and drug trafficking also spell trouble for mangrove-reliant piangua.

Nations come together to save Kenya’s disappearing coastal forests
- Kenya’s coastal forests are part of the Eastern Africa Coastal Forests ecoregion, with high levels of biodiversity and several species of plants and animals found nowhere else in the world.
- An influx of migrants into the region has meant more human pressure on forests, with the region losing upwards of 10 percent of its tree cover in 15 years.
- Major infrastructure and industry developments are also planned for the area, leaving conservationists worried about their environmental impacts.
- A program by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development is aiming to help communities and governments better manage their forests – and keep the wildlife that lives within them from going extinct.

UNESCO urges Bangladesh to cancel or relocate Sundarbans coal plant
- The Rampal power plant, slated to be built very close to the Sundarbans in Bangladesh, has been heavily criticized for its potential environmental risks.
- A UNESCO mission visited the site of the Rampal power plant, locations of several of the most recent ship accidents in the region, and met with several experts, and identified four major concerns related to the plant’s construction.
- The report concludes that the Rampal project will damage the Sundarbans and should be “cancelled and relocated to a more suitable location.”

In Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta, a rapidly disintegrating mangrove forest
- Myanmar is a known “hot spot” in Southeast Asia for mangrove loss from aquaculture, agriculture, and logging.
- MKWS is often described by researchers as one the most degraded mangrove systems or national parks they have ever seen.
- MKWS is a 53-square-mile wetland mangrove reserve located in Myanmar’s far south.

A plan to save the Mekong Delta
- The Mekong Delta Plan is the product of several years’ work by Dutch and Vietnamese officials, supported by a platoon of experts from both nations.
- It’s a blueprint for dealing not only with the effects of climate change and upstream dams but also with certain shortsighted activities by the Vietnamese themselves.
- The region’s farmers as well as the relevant branches of government must be persuaded to buy into the plan.

Struggle against mining on Bangka Island continues despite wins in court
- Pulau Bangka lies off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia, in one of the world’s most biodiverse marine areas.
- In 2008, a local official granted mining company PT Migroko Metal Perdana a permit to explore the area for iron ore.
- Indonesia’s Supreme Court ruled that the permit should be revoked, but the local government has not executed the order.
- Indonesia’s Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has pledged to raise the issue with the president.

World’s watersheds lost 6 percent of their forests in 14 years
- Watersheds are important ecologically and for human communities, and forests have an important role in mitigating pollution, erosion, and flooding.
- An analysis of data collected between 2001 and 2014 found high rates of forest loss in many of the world’s 230 watersheds, averaging 6 percent tree cover loss globally.
- Some areas have been particularly hard-hit, with Sumatra losing up to 22 percent of its tree cover in 14 years.

Climate change pledges not nearly enough to save tropical ecosystems
- Last December, 178 nations pledged to cut their carbon emissions enough to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius — with an aspirational goal of 1.5 degrees. A study in the journal Nature has found that pledges so far are insufficient to keep the world from blasting past the 2 degree mark, even as scientists meet this week in Geneva to consider plans to reach the goal.
- While scientists have long known that extreme temperature rises in the Arctic presaged ecosystem devastation there, they believed that less extreme temperature rises in the tropics might have smaller, less serious impacts on biodiversity.
- Recent findings, however, show that major tropical ecosystems, ranging from coral reefs and mangroves to cloud forests and rainforests are already seriously threatened by climate change with likely dangerous repercussions for wildlife.
- While nations work to commit to, and achieve, their Paris commitments, scientists say it is vital that tropical countries continue to protect large core tracts of wild land linked by wild corridors in order to conserve maximum biodiversity — allowing for free, unhampered movement of species as climate change unfolds.

On World Mangrove Day, 9 things to know about these tough plants
- The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared July 26, 2016, the first “International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem” — aka World Mangrove Day.
- Over half of the world’s mangrove forests have been lost in the last century, many of them to aquaculture, agriculture, and development.
- The dozens of diverse mangrove species, which live in tropical and subtropical tidal flats around the world, have in common a tolerance for salt water.
- Mangrove forests provide important habitat for a diverse array of marine species and protect coasts from storms.

Sri Lanka set to become first nation to protect all mangroves
- Mangroves provide many ecosystem services, from protecting shorelines and serving as nurseries for fishes and crustaceans to sequestering carbon.
- Mangroves are one of the most threatened tropical ecosystems on the planet, declining by more than 50 percent in as many years.
- Major drivers of mangrove deforestation include conversion for agricultural purposes, dam-building, and firewood collection. Scientists believe rising sea levels from global warming will be a big future threat.
- Sri Lanka’s new museum is part of a project launched last year that aims to protect the country’s 8,800 hectares of mangrove forests and restore 3,900 hectares. The museum seeks to attract more than 20,000 visitors in its first year.

9 new natural sites added to World Heritage List
- The World Heritage Committee yesterday added nine new natural sites to the World Heritage List during its 40th session in Turkey.
- The list includes diverse landscapes such as Khangchendzonga National Park in India, Canada’s Mistaken Point, and Iran’s Lut Desert.
- The list also has little-known places such as the Ahwar of Southern Iraq, which includes Iraqi marshlands once drained by Saddam Hussain as well as ancient cities of Uruk, Ur and the Tell Eridu.

In search of Madagascar’s “marine primates”
- At least 23 species of lemur in five families have been spotted in mangroves, about 20 percent of all lemur species and about half of the species whose range is known to include mangrove areas.
- In Madagascar, mangrove extent declined by 21 percent between 1990 and 2010, according to a study released in January 2016.
- It’s difficult to say how important mangroves are for lemurs without further research, however.

How many plant species are there in the world? Scientists now have an answer
- There are about 391,000 species of vascular plants currently known to science, of which about 369,000 species (or 94 percent) are flowering plants, according to a report by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the United Kingdom.
- About 2,000 new plant species are discovered or described every year, many of which are already on the verge of extinction.
- Based on the best available estimate, scientists say that 21 percent of all plant species – or one in every five plant species – is likely threatened with extinction.

Another catastrophe: Ship carrying 1,235 metric tons of coal sinks in Sundarbans
- On Saturday, “MV Sea Horse-1”, a cargo vessel carrying 1,235 metric tons of coal, sank in the Shela River in Sundarbans.
- The incident occurred near Tambulbunia, a critical habitat for the threatened Irrawaddy dolphin and the endangered Gangetic dolphin, researcher said.
- Following Saturday’s incident, the government has suspended other ships from plying the Shela River.

A mangrove forest in Cancun that was home to many crocodiles, boas, eagles, herons, frogs, squirrels and iguanas is destroyed
- The construction work for a multi-use development was carried out as previously agreed, but the animals and plants were not rescued before clearing out the area —something that is required by law.
- Two days after the mangrove clearing started, several people entered the site and observed living animals such as crocodiles, boas, eagles, herons, frogs, squirrels and iguanas as they fled.
- According to Greenpeace, Mexico is facing rampant deforestation, not only in the mangroves, but also in other forest systems such as tropical rainforests and dry forests.

Bangladesh sticks with coal power plant project despite major backlash
- Regular power outages are prompting Bangaladesh to build two new coal-fired power plants. The Rampal plant is the furthest along and is scheduled to become operational by 2021.
- The plants are planned to be built near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest single tract of mangrove forest, home to tigers, freshwater dolphins, and hundreds of other wildlife species.
- Critics ranging from local communities and scientists to banks and UNESCO are critical of the plants’ proposed location near the Sundarbans, which they say will harm the region’s wildlife and human communities.

Why are Southeast Asia’s mangroves being destroyed? Hint: it may be your diet
- Mangroves provide vital habitat to many creatures and important ecosystem services to human communities, but are being whittled away as rising seas drown them and people clear them.
- A new study finds that Southeast Asia lost 2 percent of its mangroves from 2000 to 2012.
- The main drivers of this loss were clearing for aquaculture, rice production, and oil palm plantations. The authors caution more mangroves will be deforested unless policies change.

Trouble in paradise: Wakatobi’s ‘sea gypsies’ adjust to life in a marine park
- National park authorities have to be on the lookout for a gamut of infractions, from mangrove poaching to harvesting coral rock and more.
- The Bajau ‘sea gypsies’ find themselves marginalized by a council system established to give locals a voice.
- Like nearly all of Indonesia’s marine protected areas, Wakatobi has a large human population.

The impacts of haze on Southeast Asia’s wildlife
- Authorities and researchers are still shockingly ignorant of the ecological impacts of the smoke from Indonesia’s annual fires.
- Some creatures are likely finding it harder to sing, which is often crucial for attracting mates, defending territory and more.
- An orangutan disease called airsacculitis might be more prevalent during the smoky season.

After the NGOs: can Wakatobi National Park survive on its own?
- The island paradise of Wakatobi is a trailblazer among Indonesia’s 23 national marine parks.
- Park guards and local communities have been well-trained to protect the park, and they have the backing of the local regent.
- The scaling back of NGO seed funding for the park, however, raises questions about its well-being going forward.

The Holy Trinity: how Wakatobi’s coral stays healthy and diverse
- The world-renowned diving destination of Wakatobi is one of Indonesia’s oldest and best-supported marine protected areas.
- Mangroves and seagrass along with coral form the pillars of an interdependent ecosystem known as the “holy trinity,” but conservationists are struggling to protect them all.
- The end of NGO partnerships with the Wakatobi National Park administration raises questions about the long-term viability of the initiative.

New research sets doomsday for Indo-Pacific mangroves
- Mangroves are hugely valuable, both ecologically and economically, but many are highly threatened by clearing and rising sea levels.
- This new study finds some mangroves may be able to keep pace with rising seas because of influxes of sediment – but many more may not, and may become submerged in the coming decades.
- The the authors say it’s not too late to turn things around in some areas.

New study exposes true costs of converting mangroves in Southeast Asia
- Despite the diverse approaches employed today, there is a significant gap in our knowledge of mangrove ecosystem services under the various management regimes, according to a new report by by Wageningen University and Wetlands International.
- Most research on ecosystem services does not distinguish between different management regimes, so the report examines different mangrove management systems in Indonesia.
- The study looked at seven ecosystem services performance indicators and found that natural mangroves scored higher than aquaculture for six of them.

Indonesian village opts to protect mangroves, preserve livelihoods
- In May, the village of Deaga in North Sulawesi agreed to conserve 150 hectares of mangroves, which store huge amounts of carbon.
- Under the terms of the agreement, villagers can still harvest dead mangrove wood and nipa palm leaves for home-building and can pick fruit.
- The villagers want to see the protected area incorporated into the district’s spatial plan to ensure that it is respected.

How much is clean water worth? New report guides payments for ecosystem services

Mangroves provide many ecosystem services like controling erosion and mitigating the effects of tsunamis. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. The first-ever set of comprehensive guidelines for designing, implementing and managing mechanisms to facilitate payments for ecosystem services has been established by a group of experts and researchers. The authors of a report published in the […]
Scientists find surprising climate change refuge for reef-building corals: beneath mangroves

Coral reefs are the gardens of the ocean. Covering just a tiny fraction of the vast sea floor, they are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. However, global warming and ocean acidification increasingly threaten them. Now scientists have discovered that corals could potentially survive global warming by numbering among the Earth’s first climate […]
As mangroves disappear at ‘an alarming rate,’ conservationists urge more protection

This article is the second in a two-part series on mangrove conservation. Read the first part here. Red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) in Panama. Photo by Rhett Butler. In December 2014, 350,000 litres of oil spilled into the Sunderbans delta – the world’s largest contiguous tidal mangrove forest and a World Heritage Site – of which […]
Sri Lanka becomes first country to completely protect mangroves

This article is the first in a two-part series on mangrove conservation. Read the second part here. Mangrove forest in Cuero-Salado, Honduras. Photo by Rhett Butler. In a press conference held in May 2015 in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, U.S.-based nonprofit Seacology, Sri Lanka-based NGO Sudeesa (formerly known as the Small Fisheries Federation […]
Photo essay: the flying fox show

Sunda flying fox silhouettes against the sunset. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. Rain or clear, wind or still, full moon or no. Every night thousands of flying foxes rise from a small mangrove island among the lesser Sunda islands of Indonesia. Around sunset the Sunda flying fox (Acerodon mackloti) begin to stir in their roots—their stomachs […]
UN report warns of grave consequences if mangroves not protected

Mangrove forest in Masoala National Park, Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Protecting Mangrove Forests Good For Environment And Economy: UN Global destruction of mangrove forests impacts biodiversity, food security, and the lives and livelihoods of some of the most marginalized communities in the world, according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Mangroves, which […]
Sundarbans still reeling from effects of December oil spill

Emergency research finds devastating impacts of oil spill in the world’s largest mangrove forest A crocodile wades into oil-tainted waters in the Sundarbans. Photo by: Arati Kumar-Rao. Last month, an estimated 350,000 liters of fuel oil spilled into the Sundarbans delta on the Bay of Bengal. An oil tanker that had collided with a cargo […]
Top 10 Environmental Stories of 2014

The most important environmental and wildlife stories from the last year Also see our Top 10 HAPPY Environmental Stories of 2014 1. The Year of Zero Deforestation Pledges: In 2014, the unimaginable happened: companies representing the majority of palm oil production and trade agreed to stop cutting down rainforests and draining peatlands for new oil […]
Children ‘clean’ oil spill with kitchen utensils in the Sundarbans

Bangladesh struggles to deal with devastating oil spill in world’s largest mangrove forest, home to dolphins and tigers Government inaction has pushed local children and families to attempt to clean up the oil spill with little more than household items and no protective gear. Photo by: Kallol Mustafa. On December 9th, a tanker slammed into […]
Indonesia’s new president, ministers have big plans for fish

What does Jokowi have in mind for marine development and conservation? Indonesia’s new president, Joko Widodo (or Jokowi, as he’s popularly called) spent half his 11-minute inaugural address thanking God, his partisans and the citizenry at large. For the rest of the speech he talked about oceans. “The seas, the bays, and the straits are […]
Artists, musicians, writers protest government plans for massive coal plant in the Sundarbans

Activists stage cultural protest against Rampal coal plant Landsat image of the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest. Photo by: NASA. Over the weekend, Bangladeshi artists performed plays, sang songs, and recited poetry all in a bid to protect the Sundarbans—the world’s biggest mangrove forest—from the threat of a massive coal plant. Construction is already […]
Bali uprising: Plan to convert protected area into golf courses, mall spurs outrage

Protesters in Bali in June 2014. Photo by Anton Muhajir. In a reversal sparking outrage from locals, and concern from environmentalists, the Governor of Bali, Indonesia has given the green light to a controversial development project in Benoa Bay. The plan would convert 700 acres of theoretically protected mangrove and ocean front into a tourist […]
Featured video: new documentary highlights the Long March to save the Sundarbans

Last fall tens of thousands of Bangladeshis participated in a five day march that took them from the country’s capital to the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest. They marched to protest the proposal to build a coal plant on the edge of the great wetland. Filmmaker, Bratto Amin, was there and just released a […]
Booming populations, rising economies, threatened biodiversity: the tropics will never be the same

For those living either north or south of the tropics, images of this green ring around the Earth’s equator often include verdant rainforests, exotic animals, and unchanging weather; but they may also be of entrenched poverty, unstable governments, and appalling environmental destruction. A massive new report, The State of the Tropics, however, finds that the […]
Does haze from burning forests affect marine life?

Two scientists are calling on researchers, NGOs, and governments to begin studying the impact of burning forests and peatlands in Indonesia on the already-threatened marine ecosystems of Southeast Asia. Every year, Indonesian farmers set forests, vegetation, and peatlands alight to clear them for agriculture, often palm oil, and pulp and paper plantations. Not only do […]
A series of oil spills sully Caribbean paradise, coating mangroves and wildlife (photos)

On December 17th, officials first discovered a massive oil spill in the Caribbean-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Since then, a series of oil spills have been discovered, coating beaches, sullying mangrove forests, and very likely decimating wildlife in Trinidad’s Gulf of Paria. The oil spills have been linked to the state-owned oil company, Petrotrin, […]
Climate change drives Florida mangroves northward

A decline in the frequency of extreme cold weather in Florida has allowed coastal mangrove forests to expand northward, finds a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research, based on analysis of satellite and temperate data, found that mangroves in the Miami area and northward have expanded by […]
Mangrove ecosystems being obliterated in Myanmar

Map showing mangrove land cover in the Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar, in 1978, 1989, 2000 and 2011. The large island that has remained completely forested is the Meinmahla Kyun Wildlife Sanctuary. Image courtesy of Webb et al 2013 Mangrove cover in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta declined by nearly two-thirds between 1978 and 2011, leaving coastal areas more […]

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