THOR HEYERDAHL CLIMATE PARK (Project Proposal)

REDD+ PROJECT READY TO BLOOM:

To restore vital ecosystems, provide viable local revenue,

build community capacity, especially among women,

improve disaster prevention and climate change 

adaptation globally and locally.

(Model of the Climate Park after restoration)

Proposal by Worldview International Foundation/Worldview Myanmar
in cooperation with Myeik University, Pathein University and
Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry.
Ayeyarwaddy Region Myanmar

Project address: 70 Yaw Min Gyi Street, Dagon Township, Yangon
Telephone +95-1-375292, 11-220512 – 9421130030
Field office: University Research Centre, MaGyi
Mail: thandarko@worldviewmyanmar.org
Web: wif.org.lk

Responding to UN Climate Panel’s call for urgent action.

Executive Summary and Key Benefits: Read more (Link)

The 1,800 acre Thor Heyerdahl Climate Park is ready to bloom in Myanmar, literally and figuratively. Rarely does a project offer so many potential simultaneous and synergistic benefits by planting of 700,000 mangrove trees with long term protection including securing the life of 600,000 young plants in healthy growth. The target is mitigation of 1.5 million tons of CO2, including protection of carbon in the ground from the lost forest due to human activities.

Mangrove Forests and REDD+ Read more (Link)

Mangrove forests are considered highly productive ecosystems and most carbon is either buried in sediments locally and in adjacent systems or stored in forest biomass as the trees grow. Three different global estimates for carbon burial within mangrove systems all converge on a value equivalent to ~18.4 x 1012 g C yr-1 when applying a global area of 160,000 km2 (Chmura et al. 2003). In comparison to tropical forests, mangroves have actually been found to be more efficient at carbon sequestration (Laffoley and Grimsditch, 2009). Mangroves are thus clearly an option for countries interested in developing.

MANGROVE FOREST RESTORATION Read more (Link)

An urgent challenge in CO2 mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
LIVELIHOODS UNDER THREAT

The livelihood conditions for millions of people in vulnerable coastal areas are in danger with escalating global warming. Dramatic change in weather patterns with more violent storms, hurricanes and cyclones, rising sea levels, tidal waves and other potential calamities are on the rise.

MYANMAR EXPERIENCE Read more (Link)

Mangrove forests in vulnerable coastal areas have fast disappeared during the last 30 years with approximately only 20% of the original cover left in vulnerable areas.

In most rice growing zones it is down to less than 5%. The government has therefore taken several steps to protect the remaining areas by banning establishment of new prawn farms and related illegal land use.  In addition, the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry/Department of Forestry is maintaining nurseries and organizing replanting. NGOs and others are also engaged in this endeavour. But these valuable efforts are unfortunately not enough to even stop the trend of escalating destruction. With no tangible change, there is a danger that most of the remaining 20% of the mangrove forest cover in Myanmar will be gone by 2020.

AYEYARWADY REGION – the most vulnerable area in Myanmar. Read more (Link)

On 2 May 2008 cyclone Nargis made landfall in Myanmar, crossing the south of the country during two days and devastated Ayeyarwady Delta region. According to official figures, 84,500 people were killed and 58,800 missing. A total of 37 townships were significantly affected by the cyclone. The UN estimated that as many as 2.4 million people were affected.

THOR HEYERDAHL CLIMATE PARK Read more (Link)

+A pilot project for Mitigation of Green House Gases and
Disaster Prevention Capacity in
Adaptation to Climate Change
RESTORATION OF MAGNIFICENT FORESTS

The mangrove trees have the ability to grow where no other tree can, thereby making significant contribution to the environment. The coverage of costal shorelines and wetlands provide many diverse species of birds, mammals, crustacean and fish in a unique, irreplaceable habitat. Mangroves preserve water quality and reduce pollution, filtering suspended material, assimilating dissolved nutrients and provides a substantial cooling effect.

THE CLIMATE PARK SOLUTION  Read more (Link)

Human Capital Development through Natural Capital Restoration:

Participation of people is vital in restoration mangrove forests. Worldview has during the last two years established several nurseries by engaging small scale farmers in local restoration projects, supported by students on research grants and monitored by professors in charge and the project’s international director. Community participation is vital. The poorest of the poor will use any opportunity to generate income, and will only be able to fully participate as custodians of this future life saving process if there is an immediate economic benefit for their daily survival.

NYPA MANGROVE PALM FOR LIVELIHOOD SUPPORT  Read more (Link)

It is imperative for the project to include livelihood creation as a vital part of the combined restoration efforts. The ongoing mangrove research project has identified several options in adapting food production with new type of saline resistant plants and methods in harvesting the nypa palm and other species with potential to withstand changes in sea level rise and other climate change problems.

PEOPLE’s PARTICIPATION – a critical component  Read more (Link)

Most of the beneficiaries of Worldview’s ongoing mangrove project are women.

It is of great importance to include people’s participation at all levels of mangrove restoration. The advantage of engaging local communities is that they will have the overall responsibility in planting, nursing and protecting the new plants, and thereafter manage the forests in a sustainable manner. The project will include training at all levels and will follow up with professional support from the universities on a regular scale.

MANGROVE – FOREST OF THE TIDE  Read more (Link)

The mangrove tree is a halophyte, a plant that thrives in salty conditions. It has the ability to grow where no other tree can, thereby making significant contributions that benefit the environment. The tree is the foundation in a complex marine food chain and the detrital food cycle. 

HISTORY OF THE PROJECT per November 2014. Read more (Link)

The project proposal for a Climate Park and Mangrove Gene Bank at MaGyi, Ayeyarwady Division (PUR/01), is based on two year’s mangrove restoration research, in cooperation with Myeik University, Pathein University, Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry by Worldview International Foundation.

THE AIM OF THE PROJECT Read more (Link)

The main aim is to restore 1800 acres degraded mangrove forest by char coal production, timber and firewood harvest, prawn and crab farms. The restoration process is to make an ecological model for national restoration, in line with governmental policy. According to estimate, 1 million Ha of mangrove forests have been lost in Myanmar since 1980. A great part of this can be restored.  It is in this large-scale context that the importance of a Gene Bank of Mangrove species shouldn be established as part of the Climate Park proposal.  This will preserve Myanmar’s 45 species of mangroves, in addition to 20 hybrid varieties, as a valuable bio-resource for future development.

COMMUNITY MANGROVE FOREST Read more (Link)

Worldview has gained experience in establishing community mangrove forests during 2013-2014 by engaging 46 farmers in Kan Su Village to establish nurseries. A total of 26,000 plants were produced.  4,000 of the plants were used for fencing in Kan Su, and the balance 22,000 plants were shared with farmers in Wat Su village to make a flood fence for protection of their rice fields. The project was successfully completed in August 2014 with all plants in the ground. The feedback from the villages is very encouraging. This has given Worldview an additional practical experience at grass root level, in addition to the scientifically based research and plant development with Pathein University.

LIVELIHOOD PROJECTS Read more (Link)

Farmers participating in mangrove restoration.

Based on the first survey in MaGyi for livelihood/community development, Worldview has been invited by the charcoal producers to help them restart their livelihood income by establishing soft shell crab production, orchid growing and bee honey production from honey mangroves, and to establish a nypa golden nectar production unit by utilizing potentials with the nypa mangrove plants in the area.

GREEN ECONOMY AND GREEN GROWTH Read more (Link)

The efforts being made for the restoration and protection of mangrove on a national scale by Worldview International Foundation and Worldview Myanmar in collaboration with University of Pathein, University of Myeik and the authorities concerned of Regional and Union Government of the Union of Myanmar is in line with and in support of the aims and objectives of Green Economy and Green Growth (GEGG) Association formed in Myanmar.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MANGROVE  IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL WARMING Read more (Link)

All forests have unique and critical characteristics that must be recognized in their function of providing Ecosystem Services. In an age of Global Warming and consequential Climate Change phenomena, the Mangrove ecosystems of the planet hold out extraordinary promise as well as a tenuous existence on anthropogenic landscapes.

COMMENTS TO THE BUDGET  Read more (Link)

The overall aim of Thor Heyerdahl Climate Park is to establish a pilot project for national mangrove restoration, including capacity of Pathein University in the vulnerable Delta area, as resource centre for climate adaptation and mangrove restoration in the country. The budget has a sizeable component for capacity building of this leading coastal university, including human resources with research grants to students/university staff, scholarships to Master students and PhD students. This will create a significant knowledge base for mangrove restoration and other environmental and climate change challenges in Myanmar.

THOR HEYERDAHL CLIMATE PARK PROMOTING BLUE CARBON Read more (Link)

83 % of the global carbon cycle is circulated through the oceans. Coastal habitat contains 2% of the total ocean area, but account for approximately 50% of the total carbon sequestered in ocean sediments. 

Blue Carbon is a recent concept which is increasingly being recognized as the most cost effective method to mitigate CO2 in adaptation to climate change. It supports ecosystems management and enhances natural resource values by restoring coastal habitat such as mangrove forests, sea-grass meadows and saltwater marshes.

ADOPT A MANGROVE TREE (Link)

• Mangroves mitigating 3-5 times more CO2 than rainforest trees
• Protecting lives and properties from extreme weather
• Increasing sea food production with up to 50%
• Filtering and cleaning water
• Providing cooling effect and other vital eco services for life on Earth
• Helping disadvantaged in vulnerable coastal communities with sustainable development to overcome poverty

Discover how much CO2 you as an individual produce each year 
Mangrove tree(s) in Thor Heyerdahl Climate Park in Myanmar mitigating1 ton per tree documented in the soil and in the biomass.