Island Update Fall/winter 2017 • VOL. 19, NO. 2 SEACOLOGY Protecting the unique habitats and cultures of islands worldwide IN THIS ISSUE Letter from the Chair ..........2 Personnel ............................2 Sri Lanka’s mangroves .........3 Project updates ............... 4-5 New projects .......................6 Seacology supporters .........7 Help Seacology protect parrotfish in Colombia In early 2018, Seacology will launch a crowdfunding campaign to Members of Seacology’s Board of Directors present the 2017 Seacology Prize to Gina Lopez of the Philippines. support our new project on the Colombian island of Providencia. Visit seacology.org/parrotfish A foundation of empathy for more details. Gina Lopez, activist and former Lopez donates prize money to support New merchandise for Philippines environment secretary, Philippines conservation projects donors coming soon awarded 2017 Seacology Prize Gina Lopez has decided to donate the $10,000 Show your support for Seacology included with the Seacology Prize to support several with a new t-shirt, reusable o matter how much money you have, no island-based projects, including a sustainable- shopping bag, water bottle, or matter what intellectual or economic development project on Kinatarcan, a small, sparsely sticker! These items will soon be ‘Ntheory you have...if it’s not based on a populated island near Cebu. available to Seacology donors. deep foundation of caring and empathy, it’s just not going to work.” For more details, please visit seacology.org/merchandise. This was the message Gina Lopez gave the crowd after receiving the 2017 Seacology Prize. Fighting back tears, she wondered aloud why she was struggling to maintain her composure, then Ian Go/Flickr answered her own question: “Maybe it’s because you are still listening.” national following. But she has spent much of her New Save an Acre projects life working for the Philippines’ most vulnerable We invite you to Save an Acre at Lopez has walked a difficult, sometimes frustrating communities and the country’s unique ecosystems, two new project sites in Malaysia path as a high-profile environmental activist. Last home to some of the highest rates of biodiversity and the Philippines. These year she was appointed to the Philippines’ highest and endemism in the world. low-cost donations, which help environmental post, secretary of the Department protect the habitat of threatened of Environment and Natural Resources, only to Lopez took the occasion of winning the Seacology wildlife including sun bears, reef have her position quickly revoked by a legislature Prize to promote ILOVE (Investments in Loving fish, and hornbills, can be given compromised by mining interests she had angered. Organizations for Village Economies), a new in the name of a friend or loved The strong environmental protections she put in conservation initiative she founded after her stint one and make great gifts. place during her brief tenure are already at risk. as DENR Secretary was abruptly cut short, and Learn more at compared ILOVE’s vision and strategy to Seacology’s. seacology.org/ Lopez’ story is quite different from most past She stressed the importance of giving island saveanacre Seacology Prize winners; she comes from a privileged background and already has a large Continued on page 7 2 From the Chair Dear friends, ll of us present at the Seacology Prize ceremony were deeply moved by the response of SEACOLOGY A2017 Prize winner Gina Lopez after receiving her award. As noted in this newsletter, Gina Lopez, overcome with emotion, asked aloud why she was struggling to maintain composure, Board of Directors and then said, “Maybe it’s because you are still listening.” Donald M. Arntz We have heard similar comments from island conservationists throughout the world. Our Michael Burbank, President Paul Alan Cox, Ph.D., Chair secret to success with over 289 schools, medical clinics, and water supplies built in 59 nations Scott S. Halsted is that we carefully listen to indigenous people. Seacology builds community projects Douglas Herst, Vice President Suzanna Jamieson, Treasurer in return for agreements with villagers to protect their rain forests, coral reefs, and other Masayuki Kishimoto precious environments. We do not impose our own initiatives, but instead listen carefully to Barbara Meyer Ken Murdock, Vice Chair our indigenous conservation partners so that we meet their needs. Kimberly Myers Hewlett Shari Sant Plummer, Vice President In Sri Lanka, we listened carefully to villagers and national leaders. In response to their Peter Read Kristin M. Reed, Vice President input, we have funded the world’s first mangrove museum, three major mangrove Joseph Scalzo nurseries, and microloans for 15,000 impoverished coastal women. In return, Sri Michael Staffieri Sandie Tillotson, Vice President Lanka is protecting all of their coastal forests, a major conservation achievement Jake Walker with significant implications for slowing global climate change. Marsha Garces Williams Listening and then helping are not only key components of human interactions, Scientific Advisory Board but, as Seacology has proven, can achieve crucial conservation outcomes Paul Alan Cox, Ph.D. in nations throughout the world. Thank you for joining with us in this Jared Diamond, Ph.D. important dialogue. Sylvia Earle, Ph.D. Thomas Elmqvist, Ph.D. Robert Jansen, Ph.D. John McCosker, Ph.D. John Ogden, Ph.D. Cordially, Elizabeth Pierson, Ph.D. William E. Rainey, Ph.D. Peter H. Raven, Ph.D. E.O. Wilson, Ph.D. Paul Alan Cox, Ph.D. Chair, Seacology Board of Directors Staff Duane Silverstein Executive Director Kevin Claassen Accounting Manager Joseph Clerici Communications Associate Erin Coyne Institutional Giving Officer Christina Oraftik Program Assistant Karen Peterson Seacology welcomes... Senior Manager of Special Initiatives Mary Randolph Leida Buglass Field Representative, Dominican Republic Program Manager Kathryn Selvidge As a native of the Caribbean, Leida has a long track record of working with local people Development Director on resources management and land-use projects. She has an MSc in Landscape & Environmental Planning from Germany and over twenty-five years’ professional experience in the intergovernmental and not-for-profit sectors working on sustainable and social development issues. Kathryn Selvidge Development Director 1623 Solano Avenue Berkeley, CA 94707 USA Kathryn comes to Seacology with over 18 years of successful development experience. 510.559.3505 [email protected] During her nonprofit career she has raised over $50 million for groups such as The YMCA, www.seacology.org The American Lung Association and the American Red Cross. She has worked on all facets facebook.com/seacology of development on both the East and West Coasts of the U.S. instagram.com/seacology_photos twitter.com/seacology 3 Construction of new training center under way SRI LANKA’S after project attracts major grant support; MANGROVES mapping and conservation work continues wo and a half years into Seacology’s Tlargest-ever project, our program to protect all of Sri Lanka’s mangrove forests continues to make remarkable progress. As reported in the spring issue of Island Update, Seacology was named a winner of the Global Resiliency Partnership’s Water Window Challenge in March, yielding almost a million dollars in additional support for the project. With this unanticipated boost in funding, we were able to expand the project to include an additional skills-training facility in Mannar, a northern, majority Tamil Above: Members of Sudeesa, the Sri Lankan government, district hit particularly hard by the three- and local communities participate in a mangrove planting decade civil war that ended in 2009. The in September to commemorate the anniversary of the funding also lets us expand the amount Montreal Protocol, which phased out substances harmful offered through microloans that help to the ozone layer. disadvantaged Sri Lankan women become Left: Approximately 15,000 acres of intact mangrove forests entrepreneurs in sustainable trades in have been demarcated since the project began. exchange for assistance with mangrove conservation. progress toward demarcating and by 97 percent, buffering the impact of mapping all of its existing mangrove storms. Mangroves can reduce wave height Work has progressed quickly on the forests. With Sudeesa’s assistance, the by 66 percent...These moments highlight training center, and it is scheduled to country’s forestry department has been the need to build resilience at a local level, to officially open in February. When complete, cataloguing all of these areas for the prevent what we can and prepare to protect the facility will provide assistance to first time and installing guide posts and rescue ourselves and each other from thousands of women annually. and signage to mark these now legally what we can’t prevent.” protected forests. Approximately 16,000 On July 26, the international conservation acres of mangroves are now demarcated. Sri Lanka is taking up that challenge, community observed the second annual working at both the local and national World Mangrove Day, a UNESCO- The devastation caused by recent storms in scale to prepare for the next natural designated day of action and advocacy the Caribbean and elsewhere reminds us disaster through unprecedented for preservation of mangrove ecosystems that healthy mangroves, along with coral mangrove conservation. We still have around the world. The date also marked reefs, seagrass beds, and other natural