Office of the Ombudsman Philippines to charge over illegal cutting.

This week the Office of the Ombudsman in the Philippines is pressing ahead with charges against officials of the National Power Corp and their subcontratcors after they illegal cut more down mangroves in Puerto Princesa 2008.

Full story Cutting of mangrove leads to charges  in the Philippine Daily Inquirer

Changing attitudes towards mangrove restoration

Going Green: Mangrove Preservation

An Interesting news clip from the Philippines ANC channel (broadcasted on August 20^th) which talks about the importance of mangroves and the need to change the approaches and attitudes towards planting.

The clip highlights the fact that mangrove restoration should be conducted in abandon fishponds and not on mud flats and seagrass beds which has been the case so far. The case so far for planting in these wrong areas as pointed out in the clip is due to political tension over land ownership of the abandon fishponds which has led to other areas being sought for planting. Planting is also criticised for being aimed at increasing area instead of being aimed at restoration of historical and traditional sites.

It really nice to hear others advocating what I have been talking about for such a long time………

New Tech Page

Just added new tech page which will hold information about projects I am working on, the first projects on the pages are:

• Philippines Project Software and Hardware
• Digital Newsletter
• QR codes

More to follow………

APG III Taxonomy classification for Mangrove Species

Plant classification has traditionally been based on plant morphology but since the development of phylogenetics, a new approach to classification is being adopted worldwide. This new approach is based on using DNA sequencing to identify the evolutionary relationship between species thus creating a phylogenetic tree. Phylogenetic tree is more accurate than the traditional forms of classification as it relies on genomes information. The genomes used in plant phylogenetics are mainly from the mitochondrion unlike in animals where the chloroplast is used.

The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group was established in 1998 with the objective of classifying plant orders using the phylogenetics. Phylogenetics has now been used to reclassify many of the main orders, including those relating to mangroves species. The mangrove species that have been changed under the new phylogenetics system include:

Species                      Morphological Family    →    AGP III family
——————————————————————————————————
Aegiceras  spp              Myrsinaceae             →    Primulaceae
Avicennia spp               Avicenniaceae           →    Acanthaceae
Brownlowia sp             Tiliaceae                    →    Malvaceae
Camptostemon spp     Bombacaceae            →    Malvaceae
Cynometra sp              Caesalpiniaceae        →    Fabaceae
Heritiera spp                Sterculiaceae             →    Malvaceae
Scyphiphora sp            Rubiaceae                  →    Rubiaceae
Sonneratia spp            Sonneratiaceae         →    Lythraceae

APG III Taxonomy classification for Mangrove Species

(Click here for full screen version)

 

Project hurdle finally overcome

I have now been able to get FrontlineSMS up and running thanks to the generosity from the University of Aberdeen’s, Centre for Sustainable International Development (CSID). CSID kindly answered my plea for help to replace the mobile phone that was currently being used without much success by agreeing to purchasing a much needed GSM modem. The modem which has been bought is the Huawei E1750 (a.k.a. WCDMA S830), the modem also has come with single booster and antenna that will enable it to be used in weak signal areas in remote parts of the Philippines. The Philippines database has also taken a step forward with addition of computer assistant Lee. Lee is a third year computer student at the university and has  joined the team to gain experience and help develop the project further. The project now is coming together and all being well will be fully functional ready for the trip out to the Philippines later this year.

Mangrove Mania

Impact of development as seen by Students at University of Queensland Australia

BBC News, features Traditional use of India Sundarbans Mangrove.

Today BBC News has nice report about the practice of collecting honey in the mangroves of the Sundarbans Mangrove in India. The report features in the business section on their website (BBC/Sundarbans) and highlights the risks and challenges faced by local fishing when collecting honey, including tiger and snake attacks which has already cost some honey collects their lives. The report has video at the end of it where the fisherman explain why they risk their lives for just between £42 and £49 each season, the season runs for April to June annually. The video also shows how they go about collecting honey.

It is really good to see traditional uses getting coverage by mainstream media such as the BBC it is just a shame that it is hidden away on their website. Hopefully we shall see more stories like this highlighting the value of mangroves and their importance to communities around the world.