SOUTH ASIA: Mangroves Find a Protector in Wetland International

By Kunda Dixit Reprint | | Print |

Kunda Dixit

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 1995 (IPS) - The wanton decimation of mangrove ecosystems worldwide — often to make way for industrial development — is raising alarm among environmentalists who this week launched a new body to protect the world’s swamplands.

Called Wetland International, the organisation will bring together the work of three existing groups: International Waterfowls and Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB), Asian Wetlands Bureau (AWB) and Wetlands for the Americas.

“All three agencies are concerned with wetlands conservation, and by pooling their resources we can intensify our conservation activities worldwide,” said Derek Langslow, chairman of the Malaysia-based Asian Wetlands Bureau.

Wetland International will consist of 50 member countries and conservationists hope the body will also make it easier for fund- raising as a time when both mangroves and the money to protect them are dwindling fast.

The launch of the body came during an international conference taking place in the Malaysian capital this week and attended by 350 environmentalists and officials from 70 countries.

Inaugurating the meeting, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the cost of saving the planet’s environment should be borne equally by all nations. But he pointed out that the promises made at the 1992 Earth Summit for such support for poor countries to protect their environment had not materialised.

“Developing countries need to develop, and the preservation of wetlands must be equitably shared between the rich and the poor,” Mahathir said.

This is a sensitive point between governments and environmentalists in the region.

Countries like Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have converted vast tracts of mangrove swamps into shrimp farms, housing estates, hotels, ports and industrial parks, justifying it in the name of economic progress.

In trying to catch up with their richer neighbours, Burma, Vietnam and Cambodia are set to destroy their own wetlands.

As a type of aquatic rainforest, mangroves are regarded by environmentalists as the most productive and valuable ecosystems. Mangroves and wetlands support a wide range of species both on land and sea.

SOUTH ASIA: Mangroves Find a Protector in Wetland International

By Kunda Dixit Reprint | | Print |

Kunda Dixit

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 1995 (IPS) - The wanton decimation of mangrove ecosystems worldwide — often to make way for industrial development — is raising alarm among environmentalists who this week launched a new body to protect the world’s swamplands.
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