Beek is an adventurer, and, being passionate about life, it will take more than a few stitches to stop him from kayaking down the next river he sees.

Since moving to Asia, he has authored 23 books and 42 documentaries on Asian cultural, with particular interest in the beliefs attached to rivers and how they relate to the way these bodies of water are used or abused.

“One of the questions we are asked at this [Mekong Media] forum is how the Mekong region is perceived by the outside world, and the question I would ask is, I don’t think we are,” Beek, who is now based in Thailand, said during the Talk Show session, ‘Our Mekong: Inside and Outside’, held on the opening day of the Forum on Dec. 9.

The event brings together media professionals, comprising mainly of journalists, and a mix of other participants from different parts of the Mekong region and Asia on various media and development issues.

A Fellow of the Explorers’ Club – a multidisciplinary, professional organisation dedicated to field exploration – Beek has paddled the length of the major rivers in Thailand and is currently writing a book on the upper Mekong entitled ‘The Mekong Nobody Knows’.

He speaks to TerraViva about his desire to “infect other people with my love of, and appreciation of, and realisation of the vital importance of water”.

TerraViva: How did you begin your love affair with rivers?

Steve Van Beek: I was fortunate enough to have a house on the Chao Phraya [Thailand], on stilts, opposite the Grand Palace, for 11 years. That house was then torn down later, and it became the Supatra River House restaurant. And that used to be my view every morning.

Every day, I saw something new on the river. I wondered where all the water came from. It seemed to be telling a story, telling its history, of what it had seen in the past. So I asked questions, I looked for books, and I couldn’t find any. I realised, people told me later, that nobody had ever gone down the river.

In late 1997, I went to the headwaters, Dong Nam, up on the Burmese border, and I walked for three days. When the water was deep enough, I said, “Ok, I need a boat”. The only experience I had was with a rowboat, but I had the boat built, took it back up, started paddling, and 58 days later, ended up in the ocean.

I love the fact that in many cases, because nobody would go by boat, you could see people as they were, because once they saw you, it changed. So that appealed to me. I love talking to the old people who understood what I was doing. The young guys would stand by the riverbank sometimes and say, “Why don’t you put an engine on it, stupid ‘farang’ [colloquial Thai term for ‘foreigner’]. You could put an engine on it and be in Bangkok in a day or two.”

But old people grew up with the river and understood that the important days had gone by. For them, they understood and we could talk. I would say that the first trip that I took, I probably learned more about Thailand than I did in the previous 20 years, because books didn’t tell me the same thing.

TerraViva: What is it about rivers that has kept you fascinated all these years?

SVB: I was interested in understanding how the river thinks, what happens when you do things to it: take sand out of it, for example, or build dams across it. I’m still trying to answer a question: What is a river?  Many cultures have ideas about water, but not many of them think about rivers, and I find that interesting because there are so many rivers . . . . Most people look upon the river as an obstacle. I was interested in the belief systems. In other words, do the people who live along the side of it see the river as a beneficent force, or as malevolent?  And how does that affect the way that they use it, or abuse it?

TerraViva: How have rivers dealt with this abuse?

SVB: When people go in and they say, ‘My real estate is disappearing, I’m going to build a wall’, the river is not going to let the wall stand if it’s not strong enough. You’ve done something to the river by channelling it; it’s no longer flowing as it should. Rivers seek their own levels; they understand harmony and balance. If you start taking sand out of the river for construction purposes, the river is going to try to fill in that hole. Where is that sand going to come from? It’s going to come from collapsing farms and riverbanks upstream. There’s no other place for it to come from.

Left to itself, the river will regulate itself. It’s only humans who get in there and say, “Oh, we’ve got to control it.” Well, I’ve seen very seldom that we’ve actually been able to control it, so maybe we should listen to the river. We’ve built dams for flood control purposes — and we still have floods. Eventually the river will assert what it wants to do.

I think the problem is people look upon rivers as an exploitable resource, not as something with its own integrity and should be preserved for itself. I’m not anti-development, but how much electricity do we really need, and for what purpose?

TerraViva: There was heated discussion in the Talk Show session, ‘Our Mekong: Inside and Outside’, during the Forum over China’s dam projects on the Mekong River. What are your views on this?

SVB: I don’t want to go into the politics of it. Zhu Yan (senior editor from China Central Television, one of the discussants) was surprised by how angry people were. I mean, you heard it, people were angry. This tells you something about the reporting about the river in China. They are not hearing – forget about listening, they are not hearing – what their neighbours are thinking about it. At the end of the discussion, I said to him: “I’m sorry you became the target here, and it’s not your fault. But there’s your story! Why are your neighbours so upset and nobody in China knows about it?”

I feel that we have to address these questions because I feel it is water, not energy, that is the issue of the 21st Century. One billion people in the world do not have access to drinkable water. Yes, it is important to come up with alternative energy – solar power, wind power, and so on – and a lot of work is being done, but we’re not pouring nearly the amount of money into water as we are into alternative energy research.

(END/TERRAVIVA/IPS/AP/HD/DV/AE/JC/TBB/09)

Five men have been charged for the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in Singapore, The New Paper reported today. The men invited the teen to a house party, where they plied her with alcohol and subsequently took turns forcing themselves sexually on her.

The initial reaction is one of intense disgust: with the despicable act of the five men, who in their sad state of sexual depravity sought to ask girls out because they wanted to have sex. Horny? Get a blowup doll. Visit the whore-houses in Geylang. Throw your head under a bucket of ice. Both heads, if you need. But to scroll through your phone book, start calling all the girls, hope that one eventually agrees to meet you, proceed to get her drunk, and then sleep with her against her will? What is wrong with these people shitheads?

Then again, it’s not as uncommon as it seems. Stretch your imagination by a bit, and you realize it could be the magic ingredient that drives the clubbing industry and the brisk trade of alcohol. Think the hordes of men who ask their female friends out “for a drink”. (How innocent.) Or buy a drink for the ladies at clubs. (How generous.) And the girls actually fall for it all the time. (How naïve!)

Here’s a pointer, girls: there are men who scroll through their phone books, start calling you (and all the other girls), hope that you eventually agree to meet them, proceed to get you drunk, and then hope that your judgment is clouded enough to think that you want to sleep with them. Every once in a while, some of these men try to force it on you, and – hopefully – end up on the dock. Or in the great tabloid as tomorrow’s conversation starter.

At some point of the conversation, some self-righteous bigot jumps out from the corner he’s been lurking and bludgeons you with this gem: “The girl deserves it. What self-respecting girl goes to a house with five other guys? She obviously wanted to have sex!”

Yes, in the same way you obviously want me to stick my boot down your throat because you opened your mouth.

Which prehistoric rock have you just crawled out from? A girl is entitled – as men are – to have friends, and go out with them, if she feels like, when she feels like. She can wear short skirts, and plunging necklines. (The more adventurous men can too, though they wouldn’t look nearly as good!) And if you can’t figure out in that bigoted, chauvinist, primitive brain of yours that a girl who does any – or all – of the above is NOT asking to be raped, then you’re not much better than the five rapists.

And until your brain evolves beyond your Neanderthal thinking, it’s the end of this conversation.

One of the five men accused of rape admitted in a police statement that “he wants to have sex” on the night of the alleged rape.

Muhammad Shafie Ahmad Abdullah, a full-time national serviceman, told his friends to invite girls for a drinking session at his home.

Shafie called co-accused Mohd Sadruddin Azman and invited him, saying he’s out from camp and wanted to have sex.

Another of the five co-accused, Lim Boon Tai, eventually brought a teenage girl to Shafie’s flat, where the five men allegedly raped her.

Lim also suggested that Shafie buy drinks “to get the girl drunk so that we can easily get the girl”, according to police statements.

Source: The New Paper

It’s easy to berate MJ for his skin bleaching. Over the past four decades, we watched in horror as the cute little black boy in “The Jackson 5” turned into a white man. But beneath the surface, it is perhaps a story about the racial inequality that exists.

What was it like growing up in a time where Rosa Parks had to fight for her right — and the rights of all African-Americans — to have a seat on a public bus? What effect did it have on a boy, who despite being celebrated as one of the greatest performers of all time was a racial minority, in a country which only recently saw its first black President?

Michael evidently felt strongly about the colour of his skin when he released this 1991 hit, Black or White.

It don’t matter if you’re black or white, the king sang. It shouldn’t matter. But it did. And it still does. Singapore celebrated its first Malay military general last month to much media fanfare. Why should it matter his race, so long as he is capable? But the truth is: racial inequality still persists, in Singapore, in the United States, in every corner of society.

I was watching Adam Sandler’s “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan”, where Israeli migrants to America had their dreams dashed because their racial/national identity dictated that they worked in electronic stores. Zohan and his Palestinean nemesis “The Phantom” shared a bond in that they both wanted to do something outside of their assigned boundaries by dreaming of cutting hair and selling shoes, respectively.

What about the Malay boy in Singapore who dreams of being a pilot? Or the African-American who wants to do more than excel in sports?

Then you remember Michael was a star in a white-dominated industry. (I bet you can’t name 5 African-American artistes outside of rap, soul, or rhythm and blues).

We can only imagine MJ’s loneliness.

Gender

Days after his death, Michael’s ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley once again emphasised their marriage was not a sham to cover-up his sexual orientation. Believe her or not, it doesn’t matter. The real question is: why does he need to hide anything?

The problem is not Michael, but the social construct of gender norms.

So what if MJ — or anyone else, for that matter — was male, female, bisexual, gay, or androgynous?

Apparently, it matters to people. People like Thio Su Mien, who engineered a takeover of women’s rights group AWARE because the group had “pro-gay” tendencies.

Sometime in history, some guy decided there are 2 genders — male and female — and everything else was deviant. Oh, if only life were so simple. For the record, academics argue that there are 5 sexes. And who are we to judge anyway?

Deviance

I noticed a strange phenomenon when I was an undergraduate. At the first class of each semester, the lecturer invites each person to introduce himself. And it doesn’t take Columbus to quickly discover that we try very hard to be different, to stand out from the rest of the class. Without exception, someone would point out that he was, in the words of a famed Bangkok T-shirt, “same same, but different”. There’s nothing wrong with being “complicated”, or “a contradiction”, or having “taken a different path” from others to have gotten a seat in the lecture room. In a country where the majority of the population lives in indifferent pigeon holes, we yearn to be different — be it via brightly hued hair, body piercings, or distinguishing tattoos. In a sense, it is our way of saying: “I don’t want to be categorized”. I am not just “a shy boy”, or “daddy’s girl”, or “a scholar”; I am all of the above, perhaps none, perhaps some. I am me.
And yet, when push comes to shove, the piercing glances and whispers — ironically because you are different — get too much to bear, and give in to the urge to dive away from the limelight and be “normal”.

Michael Jackson was different. He was special. And we couldn’t handle it.

Rest In Peace, Michael.

And unless your heart is as hard as that rock you’ve been hiding under, you might have shed a tear or two in private, as I did.

On the surface, Michael’s story is a simple one. Child prodigy born into a family of entertainers, the Jackson 5, and becomes the greatest artiste of the generation. He then self-destructs with his extravagantly lavish lifestyle, countless cosmetic surgeries and skin bleaching, and persistent allegations of sexual misconduct with young boys who stayed over at his place. In the end, he was called “a freak” and made the target of ridicule in more than a few movies.

But that is just on the surface. I’ll write more tomorrow about this when I’m less tired and my eyes are drier. For now, enjoy this Michael Jackson MTV “They Don’t Care About Us”. You can call him names; you can make fun of him. But you can’t take away the musical genius that is Michael Jackson.

Also check out this uber-cool Brazilian version.

“They Don’t Care About Us”

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, aggravation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
Bang bang, shot dead
Everybody’s gone mad

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

Beat me, hate me
You can never break me
Will me, thrill me
You can never kill me
Jew me, sue me
Everybody do me
Kick me, kike me
Don’t you black or white me

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

Tell me what has become of my life
I have a wife and two children who love me
I am the victim of police brutality, now
I’m tired of bein’ the victim of hate
You’re rapin’ me of my pride
Oh, for God’s sake
I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy…
Set me free

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
trepidation, speculation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
black man, black male
Throw your brother in jail

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

Tell me what has become of my rights
Am I invisible because you ignore me?
Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now
I’m tired of bein’ the victim of shame
They’re throwing me in a class with a bad name
I can’t believe this is the land from which I came
You know I do really hate to say it
The government don’t wanna see
But if Roosevelt was livin’
He wouldn’t let this be, no, no

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, speculation
Everybody litigation
Beat me, bash me
You can never trash me
Hit me, kick me
You can never get me

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

Some things in life they just don’t wanna see
But if Martin Luther was livin’
He wouldn’t let this be

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, segregation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
Kick me, strike me
Don’t you wrong or right me

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don’t really care about us

Except I suspect even the half-mad pirate has more brains than to dally in these murky waters in my flooded room.

Rascal had ripped a water pipe off the floor. What type of dog destroys a reinforced PVC pipe? Apparently Rascal is no Beverly Hills Chihuahua. And he was eager to prove it.

I was tempted to shove the pipe down his throat. But you don’t mess with a dog like that. So I did the next best thing: I called the plumber.

“Yes, hi, I need a plumber.”

“Ok,” replied a gruff voice.

“Erm.. Ok..” What do you say to a monosyllabic man who wields a wrench for a living? Probably less than you would to a dog who can tear a pipe off the floor. “Do you need my address?”

“Ok,” the voice said again. As I was about to rattle off my postal code, he continued: “But first, you have to get 100,000 people to sign a petition for me to fix your pipe.”

“What? You need 100,000 what??” I started to wonder if I was getting seasick, with all that brownish water sloshing about my ankles. “Why do you need 100,000 signatures to fix a bloody pipe?”

“I need to know you really want change,” he replied, matter-of-factly. “I don’t need to [do this]. I have enough money and I lead a simple life. I travel by bus and MRT even though I can afford a car. So what’s the point? I don’t need this kind of trouble.”

“I will only do it if enough people want me to lead. If Singaporeans want change, they must have a stake in it and show their commitment by putting down their names. I cannot do this without strong support,” he adds.

That has got to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard since, well, forever.

I hung up, thinking where in the world I was going to get 100,000 people to care whether my pipe gets fixed.

For that matter, why would 100,000 Singaporeans care if Tan Kin Lian runs for president? Why should we? After all, he is as likely to succeed where Ong Teng Cheong failed in overcoming the hegemonic machinery as Rascal is likely to ever turn into a well-behaved showdog: virtually impossible.

Even if Tan does become president, 100,000 people will be disappointed to find their efforts have merely contributed to electing yet another president who makes but a few public appearances each year to wave at us. It’s not Tan’s fault: it simply takes more than one man – even as president – to make a change.

Forget 100,000 signatures, Tan only needs 100. Bah, all right, make that 10. If Tan Kin Lian can gather just 10 capable Singaporeans committed to making a change, he might be in for a shout. Instead of the presidential elections, this Singaporean Ocean’s 11 can mount a serious challenge at the general elections.

Remember: 100,000 will do wonders for the ego, but just 10 could make a true difference. Sparta only needed 300 men, why the hell do we need a hundred thousand? We are a pragmatic bunch. Show us an opposition team that is more credible than a motley crew of Kangaroo t-shirt activists, and then you’ll have yourself more than 100,000 supporters faster than Rascal can run with the tail between his legs when I screamed at him like a banshee on heat.

Otherwise, I’ll just have to keep swimming in the shit while the plumber acts like he’s some bigwig former CEO of a multi-million dollar company.

Hold your breath while I go play Pirates of the Caribbean with my dog. It might take 100,000 page views to convince me to keep writing.

After a long day chasing stories in the desert heat of Karachi, I was hardly in the mood to be drawn into a long ideological debate. “I believe in journalism,” I quipped.

Thankfully, it worked. He smiled, and went off to bug the next person in line at the balcony overlooking the venue, who was, like me, trying desperately to catch a wisp of the miserly sea breeze.

Fast foward to the present, in the comfort of my airconditioned workspace.

Socialism? Capitalism? How many Singaporeans can actually claim to know what these mean? Feudalism? “What? Huh?” Communism? “Oh, yes, that one is bad. China, USSR, Vietnam. Bad, very bad!”

Welcome to the reality of a brainwashed society.

I’m currently tutoring a distant relative, who arrived last year from China, and was struggling with his Secondary 3 studies. And as I flip through his Social Studies textbook, I struggle with it too — for a whole different reason: what ——- rubbish! History is written by the victors, some wise guy said, but this is completely absurd.

If we’re going to teach our 15-year-olds — and have them subsequently regurgitate — the “terror” of communism and communists in Singapore, something is seriously wrong with our education system. Wait, before you haul me up to spend 20 years in Sentosa for some Marxist conspiracy, I have to clarify: I am no communist. And i’m not a communist sympathiser either. I am, at worst, a socialism-biased journalist. But I take issue with the way our history books are written.

Is it any wonder, then, that Singaporeans are widely regarded in the region and beyond as socio-political retards who are too astigmatic to see beyond the zeroes in their bank accounts?

“So, what do you think of communism?” I asked the boy.

“It’s not good,” he replied matter-of-factly.

“But you’re from China, and this is what your country believes in! Why do you think it’s bad?” I pressed.

“Because this book says so,” he answered.

And that is precisely what we learn. From that young, impressionable age, it would take many years before we hear of the writings of classical sociologist Karl Marx.

Marx described stages in the development of a state, from primative socialism, to feudalism, to capitalism (where we are now!), to socialism, and then communism, which he describes as the ideal state closest to a utopian society.

The problem is: 1) if you knew this, you’re probably in the minority, perhaps 10 percent, of the population who has even heard of this, and 2) by the time you know this, you have already been brainwashed by the education you received to that point, as well as the America-centric North-to-South information flow that taints the picture with their own set of colour-contact lenses.

Either way, you reject this notion of communism as the ideal sociological state, and continue to think of communists as the scourge of the world.

I’m NOT advocating we start calling each other “comrades”. And I’m not suggesting that you believe everything I say either. On the contrary, what I am is urging you not to believe everything you read, or hear, or see.

All I’m asking is you think. Critically. For your self.

So, what do you believe in?

With a sweeping Nov. 5 victory at the polls, Barack Obama became the first black U.S. president in history. And Singapore is likely to follow suit.

“In America, there was George Bush, then Clinton, followed by Bush’s son, George W. Bush. In Singapore, we have the same thing! Lee Kwan Yew, then Goh Chok Tong, followed by Lee junior. Just a coincidence? Think again,” said Mr. See Peh Chun, a master soothsayer at Wayoff Geomancy.

Bets are already on for who will triumph in the race to become Singapore’s Barack Obama, the first person from the minority race to lead the country.

Frontrunners for the post include Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Mr. Tharman Shanmugan, and even outsider Mr. James Gomez.

Balakrishnan, the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, is the bright young hope for the future, but one who faces the greatest challenge — his first name, Vivian, is a common female name shared by thousand of women around the world.

The U.S. Presidential race has shown a persistent gender bias. Balakrishnan is likely to suffer the same fate as Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin, who failed in their bids to enter the White House. Even though he is a man (and a rather good-looking one at that), sexual prejudice might prevail to ensure he never becomes prime minister.

But political analysts are calling Master See’s preditions “absurd” and “greatly improbable”.

“It’s possible (for a non-Chinese PM in Singapore),” current prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, was quoted by local newspapers as saying on Nov. 9, but added: “Will it happen soon? I don’t think so”.

PM Lee, commentators believe, will be unlikely to give up the throne of power, which has seen the Lee family rule Singapore for more than 40 years.

“Nonsense!” countered Master See. “Just mark my words. I said the next prime minister will be Indian, but I never said the Lees will no longer be in charge.”

“How could this be? Simple. The next PM will be Bengali. Benga-Lee!” he said.

The contrast between the REVA car and the Toyota Eco-Driving display at the IUCN World Conservation Congress cannot be more striking.

While the lonesome REVA has been tanning itself outside the congress venue, getting towed around once in a while, the Toyota pavilion boasts of an attractive high-tech simulator that has become one of the most popular exhibits at the congress so far.

The dissimilarities do not end there. The India-based REVA Electric Car Company (RECC) plays a proverbial David to the Goliath Toyota, one of the juggernauts in the world’s car manufacturing industry. While REVA’s solitary representative at the congress has proved to be exceptionally elusive, Toyota’s army of immaculately-dressed executives pull no punches in trying to win the hearts of participants.

The Toyota European Sustainability Report 2008, launched on Tuesday, is a 84-page, perfect-bound public relation masterpiece, while REVA offers a simple single-page handout with the car’s technical details – listed only in Spanish – and tucked unremarkably under the car’s windscreen wiper.

Regardless of the differences, both car-makers share a common vision – to provide an environmentally-friendly alternative to conventional petrol guzzlers.

“We are fully committed to growing our business profitably, while enhancing our social and environmental performance,” said Graham Smith, senior vice-president of external and environmental affairs, Toyota Motor Europe. “Our holistic approach is designed to create value for both Toyota, as a sustainable business, and for the communities in which we live and work,” he added.

Spurred by the impending launch of its Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles, which boasts of technological advances to enable further energy savings and more driver comfort, Toyota aims to sell more than one million hybrid cars annually by 2010. Having sold close to 1.6 million Toyota hybrid vehicles to date, the Japanese car-maker estimates it has already saved the earth from some 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions since the inception of its hybrid cars in 1996.

But the REVA takes environment conservation a step further. Running on an electric battery, the fully electric car releases absolutely no harmful gases into the atmosphere. Able to be plugged into any commonly-found 15-ampere socket, the REVA’s battery consumes just 9 units of electricity for a full charge. Unfortunately, it only allows the car to run for up to 80 km before having to stop for another charge.

“We have worked on electric cars for many years, since 1996, when we launched the electric version of the Toyota Rav4. It was a good car, and we even won a rally race for electric vehicles in Sweden. But it was not a commercial success because of issues like range and charging time. The market was not ready for this,” said Smith.

And REVA had better watch out. Toyota has plans to dip its feet back into the electric vehicle market, with a small electric car due in early 2010.

While traditional petrol vehicles still dominate the market – hybrid vehicles only make up seven per cent of Toyota’s total sales – Smith is confident the number of hybrid and electric vehicles will increase. But do not mistake the move for sentimentality.

“We don’t do anything that does not make commercial sense,” said Smith. As more hybrid vehicles are manufactured, the cost of production is lowered through the economies of scale. On the other hand, government regulations are making the regular cars more expensive to produce. “Because of this, there will be a point in the future that hybrid vehicles will make the most commercial sense,” he said.

Regardless of motivation, it seems, the need for hybrid vehicles and electric cars is being driven by climate change. But for now, as the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ continue to occupy the same space in the congress, it is becoming apparent that the disadvantaged Davids will have to make the effort to be heard over the high-decibel Goliaths.

(TerraViva)

The Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 had sent shockwaves through the world as the powerful under-sea earthquake claimed more than 225,000 lives in 11 countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka, and devastated entire coastal communities. The stripping of mangrove plantations along coastal regions “leaves millions of people more vulnerable to extreme weather events,” said Dr Don Macintosh, Coordinator, Mangroves for the Future (MFF) – a joint initiative of the IUCN and the United Nations Development Programme.

The Greater Indian Ocean Region, conservationists say, encompasses some of the world’s most extensive and diverse tropical coastal ecosystems. With a total coastline over 140,000-km long, the region boasts a vast network of estuaries, lagoons, mangroves, coral reefs, sandy beaches, sea-grasses and wetlands that encompass some of the world’s most extensive and diverse tropical ecosystems.

On top of recognising the important role of mangroves in reducing the damage caused by tsunamis and the implications on livelihoods because of mangrove forest destruction, MFF conservationists are extending their programmes from “reef to ridge”, and working to save other marine and coastal ecosystems as well. These vulnerable ecosystems provide essential habitats for many rare and valuable marine species, which underpin substantial commerce benefiting local, national, regional, and global economies. The humanitarian implications of failure to protect coastal ecosystems are extremely serious.

“Investing in coastal ecosystems to support sustainable development requires a long-term perspective, and local, national, regional and global commitment across all sectors”, said Aban Marker Kabraji, IUCN Asia Regional Director and co-chair of the MFF Regional Steering Committee.
While mangroves account for the supply of more than ten per cent of the essential dissolved organic carbon in the world, less than one per cent of the mangrove population worldwide is protected adequately, the MFF reports. In some parts of Asia, more than 60 per cent of mangrove has been lost in recent decades.

More than half of the coral reefs in South-East Asia are under threat. Close to 20 per cent, conservationists say, have already been damaged beyond repair. Other marine life like sea-grasses, for example, provide indispensible nursery grounds for fish, but have declined at an alarming rate, and even disappeared altogether in some part of the Indian Ocean.

By adopting new approaches that reorient the limited focus on coastal investment by moving from a reactive response to disasters, to progressive activities that address long-term sustainable management needs, organisations like the MFF “can help empower coastal communities, influence business practices and shape sustainable government policies,” said Professor Sanit Aksornkoae, President, Thailand Environment Institute (TEI).

(TerraViva)