The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation ProjectSEACOLOGY

By becoming the first country to protect ALL its mangroves, Sri Lanka is taking unprecedented action to fight climate change.

The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project OVERVIEW

On May 12, 2015, a precedent-setting deal was struck in Sri Lanka. Seacology, Sri Lanka-based NGO Sudeesa (formerly known as Small Fishers

Federation of Lanka), and that nation’s government announced a new and unique partnership that will make Sri Lanka the world’s first country to protect all of its mangrove forests.

Sri Lanka is currently home to more than 21,000 acres (8,815 hectares) of mangrove forests, which serve important ecological and economic functions (see page 5). The island nation, formerly known as Ceylon, is located approximately 20 miles off of the southeast coast of India. It is the 25th largest island in the world, about the size of West Virginia.

Our means for achieving this ambitious goal are a true representation of the win-win model Seacology has developed in our more than two decades of conservation work. Sudeesa, an organization with a long track record of success in conservation and economic development, will provide microloans and job training to thousands of disadvantaged Sri Lankans, primarily women. This action will provide opportunities for prosperity to communities in exchange for their support in protecting their local mangrove forests, communities that otherwise might be forced by circumstance to cut down those trees to survive.

In 1993, Sudeesa began field testing the strategy of microloans/job training in exchange for mangrove protection in the Puttlam district of Sri Lanka. This model has now been tested and continues functioning in 108 communities. Over 2,300 impoverished women have received microloans and Sudeesa has protected 7,907 acres (3,200 ha) of

mangroves in the Puttlam area. During this time, no shrimp farms or destructive development has taken place in or near the mangroves in any of these 108 villages. The microloan repayment rate exceeds 96%. Sudeesa has also replanted 741 acres (300 ha) of mangroves and has raised 400,000 mangrove trees in Puttlam. We are now taking this project to scale on a national level.

Though not receiving any project funds, the government of Sri Lanka will also play a role toward achieving this milestone by demarcating mangrove forests, assuring legal protection for all of Sri Lanka’s

mangroves, and providing rangers to patrol the newly protected areas.

“It is the responsibility and the necessity of all government institutions, private institutions, non government organizations, researchers, intelligentsia, and civil community to be united to protect the mangrove ecosystem,” said Sri Lanka’s president, Maithripala Sirisena. “I highly appreciate and admire the joint effort made by the international non-governmental organizations Seacology and the Small

Fishers Federation of Lanka to conserve the mangrove ecosystem of Sri Lanka.”

Also to be funded are a first-of-its-kind mangrove museum and education center, and three mangrove nurseries, which will raise thousands of seedlings to replant in coastal areas that were once densely forested. Since the 19th Century, nearly three-quarters of Sri Lanka’s mangrove habitat has been lost, having been cleared for use as shrimp farms, or damaged in Sri Lanka’s devastating civil war.

The project will cost $3.4 million over five years, half of which has already been raised. We invite you to join the philanthropists who have already contributed to this landmark initiative.

A Milestone for a Country, an Example for the World

The dark green areas show the locations of mangrove forests along Sri Lanka’s coast.

Sri Lanka

A Milestone for a Country, an Example for the WorldThe Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project OVERVIEW

21,782Existing acres

protected

9,600Acres

replanted

1,500Communities

served

15,000Microloan recipients

The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project

“ What I find most inspiring is the human element of this project. Traveling to Sri Lanka and meeting some of the women who received microloans was an unforgettable experience. So many were devastated by war but this program has given them a strong sense of purpose in the businesses that they have started and in protecting the mangroves surrounding their communities. I’m proud to support this project which will double the current microloan program and protect all of Sri Lanka’s mangroves.”

— Peter Read, Seacology board member and project funder

Left, a group of Sri Lankan women who have received microloans from our partners at Sudeesa walk past a Seacology-funded display detailing the ecological benefits of mangroves.

Right, former mangrove forest that was cleared for shrimp farms. Our project will fund the replanting of 9,600 acres of mangrove habitat in such areas.

Above, Seacology’s Executive Director Duane Silverstein and Sudeesa Chairman Anuradha Wickramasinghe tour one of the three Seacology-funded mangrove nurseries.

“ After launching over 250 projects throughout the world we have discovered that if you want a project to succeed, have the women of the community run it.”

— Duane Silverstein, Executive Director,

Seacology

Photos in this publication: Teng Wei, Sudeesa, Seacology staff

The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project PROJECT OVERVIEW

Above, the agreement signed by representatives of Seacology, Sudeesa, and the government of Sri Lanka on May 12, 2015. Right, Sri Lanka’s environmental secretary Nihal Rupasinghe and Seacology Executive Director Duane Silverstein after signing the agreement.

Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in brackish and saline water along

tropical and subtropical shorelines. Mangroves’ stilted roots are anchored in underwater sediment and extend above the surface.

Mangroves are crucial to the global ecosystem. Protecting Sri Lanka’s mangroves will have profound environmental and humanitarian benefits, which will be felt throughout the world.

First, mangroves provide a nursery for many fish species, shielding juvenile fish from predators.

Mangrove forests also provide a key buffer against storm surges and rising sea levels. This was widely seen in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami that ravaged several countries across the Indian Ocean. In many cases, communities that had intact mangrove forests suffered fewer deaths and less damage than those without them.

If mangroves are protected, they can be tremendously effective in fighting climate change. Mangroves sequester far more carbon than other forests. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that mangroves and coastal wetlands store three to five times more carbon per acre than tropical forests. The high carbon content of mangrove forests means that if disturbed, they release a tremendous

amount of CO2, hastening climate change.

Mangroves have been destroyed at an alarming rate. In the past 100 years, the global population has been cut in half, as mangrove forests were converted to shrimp farms, croplands, and urban areas. In Sri Lanka, 74% of mangrove forests have been lost since the 19th century, some of this as a result of the devastating civil war fought from 1983 to 2009.

The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project WHY MANGROVES?

tCO2 eq/ha*

*Data is per unit area, where tCO₂ eq/ha is tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per hectare

Source: Murray, Brian, Linwood Pedelton, W. Aaron Jenks, and Samantha Sifleet. 2011. Green Payments for Blue Carbon Economic Incentives for Protecting Threatened Coastal Habitats. Nicholas Institute Report. NI R 11-04

2,5000 500 1,000 1,500 2,000

Estuarine Mangroves

Seagrasses

Salt Marshes

Oceanic Mangroves

Tropical Forest

Carbon Sequestration of Mangroves vs. Other Types of Forests

Soil organic carbon Living biomass

Why Mangroves?

‘Studies have shown that mangroves sequester significantly more carbon than most other forests and do so for much longer periods of time. As well as the critical ecosystem services that they provide they thus play a vital role in the battle against climate change.’

— John E. McCosker Ph. DChair of Aquatic Biology, Emeritus

California Academy of Sciences

The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project MEDIA

For a complete list of press coverage of the project, visit seacology.org/news/press-center

“ More than half the world’s mangroves have been lost over the last century but all of those surviving in Sri Lanka, one of their most important havens, are now to be protected in an unprecedented operation. The organiser of the project, the biggest of its kind, see the role of women as the key to its success.”

— The Guardian

“ Our Asian neighbors can act as our role models in heralding bold moves for the protection of the mangroves. More than half of the world’s mangroves have been lost over the last century, but all of those surviving in Sri Lanka are now to be protected in a landmark project initiated in May 2015.”

— Huffington Post

“ Now the programme is about to go island-wide. Sudeesa, together with the Sri Lankan government and U.S.-based environmental conservation group Seacology, recently launched a five-year, $3.4 million mangrove preservation initiative. Sri Lanka is the first nation to promise to protect all its mangroves, experts said.”

— Reuters

“ A scheme backed by the government will include alternative job training, replanting projects and microloans. Mangroves are considered to be one of the world’s most at-risk habitats, with more than half being lost or destroyed in the past century. Conservationists hope other mangrove-rich nations will follow suit and adopt a similar protection model.”

— BBC Science

“ Silverstein is executive director of Seacology, a California-based environmental conservation organisation which has launched over 250 projects in 55 nations since 1991, especially marine and island habitats. ‘Anu’ is Anuradha Wickramasinghe, chairman of Sudeesa, a Sri Lankan NGO. As Silverstein mentions, the two men have spent the past two years working together on a $3.4million conservation project – to make Sri Lanka the first country in the world to entirely protect its mangrove forests.”

— Geographical Magazine

The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project FINANCES

Project Budget Summary (in USD)

Description Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Total

Demarcation of Mangrove Forests 27,154 27,154 - - - 54,308

Setting up Community Cooperatives for Mangrove Conservation and Job Training 90,000 90,000 90,000 90,000 90,000 450,000

Micro Finance Loan Funds 136,950 136,950 136,950 136,950 136,950 684,750

Mangrove Conservation and Community Education Facility 172,000 200,000 - - - 372,000

Mangrove Nurseries 240,018 170,217 25,220 7,100 7,100 449,655

Project staff * 172,650 177,005 181,490 186,109 190,867 908,121

Travel Costs 44,680 44,680 44,680 44,680 44,680 223,400

Public Education 37,500 37,500 25,000 25,000 25,000 150,000

Office Supplies and Legal Expenses 52,305 13,700 13,700 13,700 13,700 107,105

Total 973,257 897,206 517,040 503,539 508,297 3,399,339

* This expense includes: Sri Lanka-based field representative, project manager, five assistant managers, accountant, secretary, and US-

based program officer and accountant.

The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project is projected to cost approximately $3.4 million over

five years. As of July 2015, Seacology has raised approximately 1.5 million.

From left, one of the mangrove nurseries established by the project; Sudeesa Chairman Anuradha Wickramasinghe meets with women who have received Sudeesa microloans.

SEACOLOGY

Seacology protects threatened habitats of the world’s islands by working directly with local communities to both conserve their natural resources and improve their quality of life. We offer a unique deal: if a village agrees to create or enforce a forest or marine reserve, Seacology will fund a key community need, such as a school or health clinic. Since 1991, Seacology has completed or has in progress more than 250 projects in 55 countries and has protected more than a million acres of some of the world’s most vulnerable ecosystems.

seacology.org/srilankamangroves | mangroves@seacology.org | (510) 559-3505For more information, please contact Development Director Aaron Rashba, aaron@seacology.org

The Small Fishers Federation was set up in 1992 as a development network of small-scale fishers and farmer’s organizations in Sri Lanka. The short name of Small Fishers Federation is Sudeesa, with a Sri Lankan meaning of “Organization with a better vision.”

The Federation is an approved charity and nonprofit making, non-governmental organization, incorporated under Government regulations for the Monitoring of Receipts and Disbursement of Funds by NGOs. As an umbrella organization, the Federation conducts advocacy, economical, social, and educational and Environmental programs to strengthen and empower the small scale fishing and farming communities in self-reliance.

sudeesa.org | smallfishersfederation@gmail.com | 0094 32 2248707

The Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project

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