Witnessing firsthand the rapid devastation of the world’s mangrove forest wetlands and their associated coastal ecosystems, the founders of the Mangrove Action Project (MAP) decided in 1992 that it was time to form a global network to save the mangroves. MAP has grown steadily during the last 15 years to become a respected member of the global environmental movement. MAP's international network has grown to include over 450 NGOs and 300 scientists and academics from 60 nations.

In recent years, MAP has transformed from a network- and advocacy-focused organization into one still involved in advocacy, but with programs and activities on the ground, supported through local offices in Thailand and Indonesia, as well as a developing office in Brazil. MAP’s pro-active five-pronged approach to long-term mangrove conservation involves: education, advocacy, collaboration, conservation and restoration, and sustainable community-based development.

Mission: Partnering with mangrove forest communities, grassroots NGO's, researchers, and local governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests and related coastal ecosystems, while promoting community-based sustainable management of coastal resources.

MAP was founded in 1992 as a way to halt mangrove forest loss, while working closely with local NGOs and communities in the process. MAP has grown since then into a respected international network with offices in Thailand, Indonesia and the US. MAP originally was set up as a project of Earth Island Institute, but spun off from EII earlier this year to become its own independent 501 (c) (3) non-profit.

MAP provides four essential services to grassroots groups and proponents of mangrove conservation: 1) coordination of a unique international NGO network and information clearinghouse on mangrove forests; 2) promotion of public awareness of mangrove forest issues; 3) development of technical and financial support for local NGO projects in the global South; and 4) publicize within the developed nations the basic needs and struggles of Southern coastal fishing and farming communities affected by the consumer demands of the wealthy nations.

Clearing house and Advocacy
MAP’s US-based headquarters provides a unique international NGO network and information clearinghouse on mangrove forests, proomting public awareness of mangrove forest issues; MAP also produces a bi-weekly electronic news bulletin,
The MAP News

Mangrove Education Curriculum
A resource for teachers and students to learn about how mangroves function and explore mangrove forests, the 300-page “Marvelous Mangroves” was developed in 1998 and linked to the local school curriculum.

Conservation & Restoration
Working alongside mangrove ecologists, local NGOs, and communities, MAP promotes the ‘ecological – hydrological’ restoration methodology, an economical and efficient six-step approach to mangrove restoration that follows basic natural processes. This well-considered model directly engages local community participation, and has proven extremely successful.

In the Hands of the Fishers
Designed to reach and serve NGOs and village leaders from around the globe, facilitating experience sharing and networking, the workshops provide a venue for learning about sustainable methods of mangrove conservation and restoration, community-based coastal resource management, and new ways to safely and effectively.

Coastal Community Resource CentersWhere ongoing education and environmental actions can take place, MAP helps support and advise on functioning community resource centers. These Centers act as demonstration sites for community-based coastal resource management, as well as education and research centers located in key places, serving as regional “nodes” for global networking between these centers

MAP's Toolkit
Teaching effective ways to utilize mangrove forest ecosystems and associated coral reefs and seagrass beds, the MAP “Toolkit” of alternative, sustainable, development options is a user-friendly instrument to aid in non-formal education programs and add value to natural resources. Some toolkit options include: Production of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) from mangrove species, sustainable agriculture, oyster cultivation, bamboo
construction and furniture making, fuel-efficient cookstoves, improved fish smokehouse design, and small-scale fish culture.

MAP's Children;s Art Caendar Contest--the calendar has increased in popularity since its first publication in 2002. Primary school children from tropical and sub-tropical nations are invited to participate in MAP’s international annual contest, and selected winners are published in the calendar, which is distributed worldwide to raise awareness of mangrove forest ecology.

For the last 15 years MAP has played a major role in raising needed international public awareness and concern about the importance of mangrove forest wetlands and the threats to these wetlands via industrial shrimp aquaculture, tourism, oil exploitation, pollution, urbanization and other unsustainable developments.

MAP’s awareness raising and advocacy work have had major positive impacts on changing the destructive mindset of both government and industries that had formerly acted with seeming ignorance and impunity in destroying extensive tracts of mangrove forests. Now much more focus is on mangrove conservation, restoration and involvement of local communities in this process, which is imperative. MAP has consistently spotlighted the importance of these coastal buffer zones, especially since the 2004 tsunami and recent outcries over climate change, demonstrating the significance of mangroves in protecting against both of these modern threats.

MAP is also promoting a more long-term & effective mangrove conservation and restoration methodology- Ecological Mangrove Restoration, which MAP Asia offices are currently carrying out in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

1) Establish a Seattle-based office for MAP to conduct a Consumer Awareness Campaign against further expansion of industrially farmed shrimp and other unsustainable industrial developments which are threats to mangroves and communities worldwide
2) Expand MAP’s Consumer/ Markets Campaign work in the Pacific NW as a start to a wider national campaign
3) Expand MAP’s program work internationally via MAP’s existing projects in Asia, Latin America and Africa
4) Continue improving and expanding upon MAP’S existing programs—Ecological Mangrove Restoration, IHOF, the curriculum, the CCRC’s, and toolkit options
5) Carry out more extensive effective, long-term conservation and restoration of mangroves utilizing the methodology of ecological mangrove restoration
Help promote and achieve land tenure and resource tenure rights for indigenous and local coastal communities to better manage their resources

Alfredo Quarto, Executive Director and Co-founder, is a veteran campaigner with over 28 years of experience in organizing and writing on the environment and human rights issues. Formerly an aerospace engineer, his experiences range over many countries and several environmental organizations, with a long-term focus on forestry, indigenous cultures, and human rights. Prior to MAP, he was the executive director of the Ancient Forest Chautauqua, a multi-media traveling forum with events in 30 West Coast cities on behalf of old-growth forests and indigenous dwellers. Alfredo has published numerous popular articles, book chapters, and conference papers on mangrove forest ecology, community-managed sustainable development, and shrimp aquaculture. He lives in Port Angeles, Washington and is conversant in Spanish. mangroveap@olympus.net

Marion Howard is a member of the faculty of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, USA, teaching in its graduate programs of Sustainable International Development.

Roy R. "Robin" Lewis III, Certified Professional Wetland Scientist, President, Lewis Environmental Services, Inc., Tampa, Florida, USA, has more than three decades of experience in marine wetland research, publishing more than 70 scientific papers on mangrove and seagrass restoration, and has worked in eleven foreign countries on mangrove restoration projects.

Daniel Suman, is Professor of Marine Affairs & Policy at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), University of Miami, where he teaches courses in Environmental Law, Coastal Law, Environmental Planning and the Environmental Impact Statement, Coastal Management, and Latin America and the Environment.

Fiona Wilmot runs KeysConnectivity, Inc. St. Petersburg, Florida, USA which provides support services for stakeholder groups engaged in marine conservation and social justice.

Ian Baird, co-founder and executive director of the Global Association for People in the Environment (GAPE), a Canadian NGO working in mainland Southeast Asia, is also one of the co-founders of MAP. Ian is currently a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Countries

Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cote D'Ivoire, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Ghana, Guinea, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Province of China, Tanzania, United Republic of, Thailand, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, U.s.

Contact

PO Box 1854
Port Angeles, WA 98362
Phone: (877) 829-5500
www.mangroveactionproject.org
EIN: 20-0833537