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Save the Mangroves Call to Action
Global protest by local fisherfolk against the shrimp industry at the International Day of the Mangrove, July 26thSubmitted by Mangrove Action Project
July 15, 2003 Press Release
On the 26th of July, local fisherfolk supported by non-governmental organizations will demonstrate worldwide for mangrove conservation and against the shrimp industry, which threatens their livelihoods. By forming small flotillas of fishing boats they will attract attention to local and global problems due to continued expansion of unsustainable industrial shrimp farming.
The global protests will be the beginning of a stronger international networking of small-scale fisher organizations and non governmental organizations against the shrimp industry.
The decision to organize this worldwide protest was made during the 7th gIn the Hands of the Fishers Workshop" involving local fishers and non-governmental organizations from Latin America at Fortaleza (Brasil) in May, 2003. The workshop attempted to address the severe threats of further mangrove loss and local community hardships caused by industrial shrimp aquaculture which is now rapidly expanding in Brazil itself, but is of worldwide concern.
The workshop participants have called for a gInternational Day To Save the Mangroves" (gSalvemos Al Manglar") on July 26th, 2003. This global protest has found almost instant worldwide support. The flotillas will be formed near cities and towns where industrial shrimp farming and mangrove loss are problems.
"The unsustainable shrimp industry causes poverty in the producing countries by cutting of mongroves, destroying important coastal wetland and polluting our environment", says Soraya Vanini Tupinamba of the Brazilian NGO, Terramar, which is based in Fortaleza.
At this time there are plans to launch actions on July 26th in over a dozen countries, including in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Kenya, Nigeria, Germany, and the USA.
Background on July 26th as Save the Mangroves Day!
The plan to make this call to action arose during the IHOF Workshop in Brazil last month. The workshop attendees came from Brazil via Terramar, Ecuador via FUNDECOL, Honduras via CODDEFFAGOLF, Colombia and Guatemala. The IHOF mainly focused on the issues surrounding mangrove and salt flats endangered by expansion of the shrimp farm industry, as well as strategies to help halt this continued expansion. It was brought up during this workshop that an international campaign involving local fisherfolk could be undertaken without much expense or time in organizing if each participating NGO and local community representative organized his or her own local event on the same day, thus linking these local events with each other to make an international movement or action.
July 26th was chosen because of its existing significance for the movement in Latin America led by Red Manglar. July 26th has been called the "Day of the Mangrove" commemorating that day in 1998 when a Greenpeace activist from Micronesia, Hayhow Daniel Nanoto, died of a heart attack while involved in a massive protest action led by FUNDECOL and Greenpeace, International. During this action the local community of Muisne joined the NGOs in dismantling an illegally placed shrimp pond in an attempt to restore this damaged zone back to its former state as a mangrove forest. Since Hayhow's death, FUNDECOL and others have commemorated this day as a day to remember and to take renewed action to Save the Mangroves!
With no Greenpeace ship in sight on the horizon, we decided that the fishermen form cooperative flotillas to protest the destructive expansion of shrimp farming in their areas. This call to action has now gotten positive responses from Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, Nigeria, Germany and the USA. And it looks like momentum is building globally, even though there is such short notice.
To feed the consumer demand on shrimps in the US, EU and Japan mangrove forests have been cut, people have been driven away form their land, and soil and water have been polluted for more than twenty years in tropical countries. Industrial shrimp farming has caused about 9 percent (1 - 1.5 million ha) of the worldwide loss of mangroves. Mangrove forests are a crucial ecosystem at tropical coastside. They are the breeding place for scores of animals and offer the coastal communities food, medical substances and protection against floods.
Since 1998 the 26th of July has been called the "International Day of Mangrove" commemorating the Greenpeace activist Hayhow Daniel Nanoto, who died of a heart attack while involved in a massive protest action in Ecuador led by the environmental organizations FUNDECOl (Ecuador) and Greenpeace.
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