The Sri Lanka Mangrove SEACOLOGY Conservation Project By becoming the first country to protect ALL its mangroves, Sri Lanka is taking unprecedented action to fight climate change. The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project OVERVIEW A Milestone for a Country, an Example for the World n May 12, 2015, a precedent-setting deal was mangroves in the Puttlam area. During this time, no struck in Sri Lanka. Seacology, Sri Lanka-based shrimp farms or destructive development has taken ONGO Sudeesa (formerly known as Small Fishers place in or near the mangroves in any of these 108 Federation of Lanka), and that nation’s government villages. The microloan repayment rate exceeds 96%. announced a new and unique partnership that will Sudeesa has also replanted 741 acres (300 ha) of make Sri Lanka the world’s first country to protect all mangroves and has raised 400,000 mangrove trees of its mangrove forests. in Puttlam. We are now taking this project to scale on a national level. Sri Lanka is currently home to more than 21,000 acres (8,815 hectares) of mangrove forests, which Though not receiving any project funds, the serve important ecological and economic government of Sri Lanka will also play a role toward functions (see page 5). The island nation, achieving this milestone by demarcating mangrove formerly known as Ceylon, is located forests, assuring legal protection for all of Sri Lanka’s approximately 20 miles off of the mangroves, and providing rangers to patrol the southeast coast of India. It is the 25th newly protected areas. largest island in the world, about the size of West Virginia. “It is the responsibility and the necessity of all government institutions, private Our means for achieving this institutions, non government ambitious goal are a true organizations, researchers, intelligentsia, representation of the win-win and civil community to be united to model Seacology has developed protect the mangrove ecosystem,” in our more than two decades of said Sri Lanka’s president, Maithripala conservation work. Sudeesa, an Sri Lanka Sirisena. “I highly appreciate and organization with a long track admire the joint effort made by the record of success in conservation international non-governmental and economic development, will organizations Seacology and the Small provide microloans and job training Fishers Federation of Lanka to conserve to thousands of disadvantaged the mangrove ecosystem of Sri Lanka.” Sri Lankans, primarily women. This action will provide opportunities for Also to be funded are a first-of-its-kind mangrove prosperity to communities in exchange for museum and education center, and three mangrove their support in protecting their local mangrove nurseries, which will raise thousands of seedlings forests, communities that otherwise might be forced to replant in coastal areas that were once densely by circumstance to cut down those trees to survive. forested. Since the 19th Century, nearly three- quarters of Sri Lanka’s mangrove habitat has been In 1993, Sudeesa began field testing the strategy of lost, having been cleared for use as shrimp farms, or microloans/job training in exchange for mangrove damaged in Sri Lanka’s devastating civil war. protection in the Puttlam district of Sri Lanka. This model has now been tested and continues The project will cost $3.4 million over five years, functioning in 108 communities. Over 2,300 half of which has already been raised. We invite impoverished women have received microloans you to join the philanthropists who have already and Sudeesa has protected 7,907 acres (3,200 ha) of contributed to this landmark initiative. The dark green areas show the locations of mangrove forests along Sri Lanka’s coast. The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project OVERVIEW A Milestone for a Country, an Example for the World What I find most inspiring is the human element of this project. Traveling to Sri “ Lanka and meeting some of the women who received microloans was an unforgettable experience. So many were devastated by war but this program has given them a strong sense of purpose in the businesses that they have started and in protecting the mangroves surrounding their communities. I’m proud to support this project which will double the current microloan program and protect all of Sri Lanka’s mangroves.” — Peter Read, Seacology board member and project funder Left, a group of Sri Lankan women who have received After launching microloans from “over 250 projects our partners at Sudeesa walk past a throughout the world Seacology-funded we have discovered display detailing the ecological benefits of that if you want a mangroves. project to succeed, have the women of the community run it.” — Duane Silverstein, Executive Director, Seacology Right, former mangrove forest that was cleared for shrimp farms. Our project will fund the replanting of 9,600 acres of Above, Seacology’s Executive Director Duane mangrove habitat Silverstein and Sudeesa Chairman Anuradha in such areas. Wickramasinghe tour one of the three Seacology-funded mangrove nurseries. The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project 21,782 9,600 1,500 15,000 Existing acres Acres Communities Microloan protected replanted served recipients Photos in this publication: Teng Wei, Sudeesa, Seacology staff The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project PROJECT OVERVIEW Above, the agreement signed by representatives of Seacology, Sudeesa, and the government of Sri Lanka on May 12, 2015. Right, Sri Lanka’s environmental secretary Nihal Rupasinghe and Seacology Executive Director Duane Silverstein after signing the agreement. The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project WHY MANGROVES? ‘Studies have shown that mangroves sequester significantly more carbon than most other forests and do so for much longer periods of time. As well as the critical ecosystem services that they provide they thus play a vital role in the battle against climate change.’ — John E. McCosker Ph. D Chair of Aquatic Biology, Emeritus California Academy of Sciences Why Mangroves? Carbon Sequestration of Mangroves vs. Other Types of Forests Seagrasses angroves are trees and Salt shrubs that grow in brackish Marshes and saline water along Estuarine M Mangroves tropical and subtropical shorelines. Oceanic Mangroves’ stilted roots are Mangroves Tropical anchored in underwater sediment Forest and extend above the surface. 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 tCO eq/ha* Mangroves are crucial to the 2 global ecosystem. Protecting Soil organic carbon Living biomass Sri Lanka’s mangroves will have *Data is per unit area, where tCO₂ eq/ha is tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per hectare profound environmental and Source: Murray, Brian, Linwood Pedelton, W. Aaron Jenks, and Samantha Sifleet. 2011. Green humanitarian benefits, which will Payments for Blue Carbon Economic Incentives for Protecting Threatened Coastal Habitats. be felt throughout the world. Nicholas Institute Report. NI R 11-04 First, mangroves provide a nursery If mangroves are protected, amount of CO2, hastening climate for many fish species, shielding they can be tremendously change. juvenile fish from predators. effective in fighting climate change. Mangroves sequester Mangroves have been destroyed Mangrove forests also provide a far more carbon than other at an alarming rate. In the past key buffer against storm surges forests. The National Oceanic 100 years, the global population and rising sea levels. This was and Atmospheric Administration has been cut in half, as mangrove widely seen in the aftermath of (NOAA) estimates that mangroves forests were converted to shrimp the 2004 tsunami that ravaged and coastal wetlands store three farms, croplands, and urban areas. several countries across the Indian to five times more carbon per In Sri Lanka, 74% of mangrove Ocean. In many cases, communities acre than tropical forests. The forests have been lost since the that had intact mangrove forests high carbon content of mangrove 19th century, some of this as a suffered fewer deaths and less forests means that if disturbed, result of the devastating civil war damage than those without them. they release a tremendous fought from 1983 to 2009. The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project MEDIA More than half the world’s mangroves have been lost over the last century but all “ of those surviving in Sri Lanka, one of their most important havens, are now to be protected in an unprecedented operation. The organiser of the project, the biggest of its kind, see the role of women as the key to its success.” — The Guardian Now the programme is about to go island- Our Asian neighbors can act as our role “ wide. Sudeesa, together with the Sri Lankan “ models in heralding bold moves for government and U.S.-based environmental the protection of the mangroves. More conservation group Seacology, recently than half of the world’s mangroves have launched a five-year, $3.4 million mangrove been lost over the last century, but all preservation initiative. Sri Lanka is the of those surviving in Sri Lanka are now first nation to promise to protect all its to be protected in a landmark project mangroves, experts said.” initiated in May 2015.” — Reuters — Huffington Post Silverstein is executive director of Seacology, a California-based environmental “ conservation organisation which has launched over 250 projects in 55 nations since 1991, especially marine and island habitats. ‘Anu’ is Anuradha Wickramasinghe, chairman of Sudeesa, a Sri Lankan NGO. As Silverstein mentions, the two men have spent the past two years working together on a $3.4million conservation project – to make Sri Lanka the first country in the world to entirely protect its mangrove forests.” — Geographical Magazine A scheme backed by the government will include alternative job training, replanting “ projects and microloans. Mangroves are considered to be one of the world’s most at-risk habitats, with more than half being lost or destroyed in the past century. Conservationists hope other mangrove-rich nations will follow suit and adopt a similar protection model.” — BBC Science For a complete list of press coverage of the project, visit seacology.org/news/press-center The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project FINANCES he Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project is five years.