Mangrove swamps: articles and reports referring to Cyclone Nargis

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Description: Link to a top-level category in OBL
Source/publisher: Online Burma/Myanmar Library
Date of entry/update: 2012-07-18
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: 213 results (separate searches produced 141 results for "Myanmar" and 144 for "Burma"); 51 results for "Nargis"...From 2002. Results grouped by relevance
Source/publisher: Mangrove Action Programme (MAP)
Date of entry/update: 2012-07-15
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Topic: Agriculture, Forest
Topic: Agriculture, Forest
Description: "Mangrove forests are under threat across Southeast Asia and in the country of Myanmar alone more than 60% of them were lost within just two decades between 1996 and 2016, according to researchers at the National University of Singapore. “Mangroves are one of the world’s most threatened ecosystems, and Myanmar is regarded as the current mangrove deforestation hotspot globally,” the scientists write in a study published in Environmental Research Letters. “Net national mangrove cover declined by 52% over 20 years, with annual net loss rates of 3.60%–3.87%. Gross mangrove deforestation was more profound: 63% of the 1996 mangrove extent had been temporarily or permanently converted by 2016.” Most of the country’s mangroves have been converted into rice paddies, oil palm and rubber tree plantations, as well as areas used for aquaculture. The profound loss of deforestation in the country’s mangrove forests, which are critical for biodiversity, is the reason why Myanmar has been described as a primary hotspot of mangrove loss in the world. “It is quite incredible to consider that nearly two-thirds of all mangroves in Myanmar were deforested over a 20-year-period,” says Edward Webb, one of the authors of the study. Mangrove trees grow in various depths of water in coastal areas and they are crucial for coastal marine ecosystems. Their dense entangled roots stabilize coastlines and provide homes to a variety of marine species, including fish and crustaceans. Mangroves can also absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, as a result of which these forests play an important role in the fight against climate change. Mangroves growing in South Asia, in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region account for nearly half, or 46%, of the world’s entire mangrove forests. Southeast Asia is home to the world’s highest rate of mangrove biodiversity. Many of the region’s mangroves, however, have been lost owing to agricultural activities..."
Source/publisher: "Sustainability Times"
2020-06-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A new study by the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found that mangrove deforestation in Myanmar is taking place at a faster rate than previously estimated. The NUS study, led by Edward Webb and Jose Don De Alban and published online in Environmental Research Letters on March 3, found that between 1996 – 2016 more than 60 per cent of all mangroves in Myanmar had been permanently or temporarily converted to other uses, including the growing of rice, oil palm, and rubber, as well as for urbanisation. Mangroves slow down climate change by sequestering carbon, and also conserve biodiversity, improve food and nutrition security and support human well-being, according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development(IISD). The institute says sustainable management of mangroves can help achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations (UN)..."
Source/publisher: "AEC News Today"
2020-05-10
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Since 1978, 1 million hectares of mangroves have been cut down in Myanmar. In the Ayerwaddy Delta in the south, mangrove forests have been significantly depleted - often cut down to make way for shrimp and rice farming, as well as charcoal production and collecting palm oil. Worldwide, 35 percent of the world's mangroves are now lost. Only 16 percent of the original cover is left in the vulnerable Delta Region where the mangroves are being destroyed at rates three to five times higher than global deforestation. "At the moment, mangrove conditions are severely degraded," says Win Meung, a seasoned ecologist who heads a mangrove regeneration project in Myanmar. "In the coastal areas, 60 percent of the villagers don't have a permanent job and try to find their money in the mangrove areas. They cut the trees and within one hour they can get the money [they need] for their livelihood." Mangroves play a vital role in the fight against climate change and extreme weather events such as cyclones. They help mitigate carbon emissions, as well as protect vulnerable coastal communities from extreme weather, while strengthening seafood stocks up to 50 percent. While Meung and many locals have tried taking matters into their own hands, planting over 400,000 seedlings by hand to try and repopulate the mangrove population, the activity has taken 3 years and there is a lot more yet to be done before another cyclone hits..."
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Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-05-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: Dr. Tun Lwin Former Director-General Former P.R. of Myanmar with WMO, Consultant, Myanmar Climate Change Watch Technical Advisor, RIME
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Source/publisher: Dr. Tun Lwin Former Director-General Former P.R. of Myanmar with WMO, Consultant, Myanmar Climate Change Watch Technical Advisor, RIME
2013-07-25
Date of entry/update: 2018-05-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 3.41 MB
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Description: "Mangroves and other natural barriers must be urgently restored in cyclone-stricken Myanmar to bolster flood defences against any future catastrophe, environmental group IUCN warned Friday..."
Source/publisher: Earth Science News
2008-05-23
Date of entry/update: 2012-07-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Interview with Jeff McNeely, Chief Scientist for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In text and in audio file.
Source/publisher: Living On Earth
2008-05-09
Date of entry/update: 2010-09-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: U Ohn is the general secretary of the Forest Resource Environment Development and Conservation Association (FREDA), one of a handful of Burmese nongovernmental organizations dedicated to protecting the country?s forests Environmentalist U Ohn (Illustration: Harn Lay/ The Irrawaddy)... Question: Cyclone Nargis destroyed many mangrove forests in the Irrawaddy delta. What was the impact of the storm on biodiversity in the region? Answer: The cyclone caused a tidal surge which was up to 20 feet (6 meters) high. Almost 100 square miles (260 square km) of land was flooded and turned into a virtual sea. Meinmahla Island, for instance, was completely covered by seawater, but then resurfaced after the cyclone. The biodiversity of the mangrove forests, sea-grass beds and coral reefs was severely impacted. A large number of plants and animals, including trees, fish and even turtles and crocodiles, were killed in the deluge. Q: What consequences do you foresee if the destruction of the mangrove forests continues? A: If the mangrove forests disappear, the impact of similar disasters in the future will be immense..."
Creator/author: Interview with U Ohn
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 16, No. 9
2008-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2008-11-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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