FOND FAREWELLS

Dear Friends,
In the four months since we have left Alotau, I've seen really exciting and thought-provoking pieces appearing under our fellows' bylines. I was lucky enough to see a few of you in Fiji, and I am always so happy when I see your names pop up in my email inbox.
This blog was an experiment, and I am very pleased with how it went. I hope my successor can pick it up (or perhaps one of you will?) and help it grow.
As you all know, I am moving to a new position with COMPASS, where I will be the new assistant director of science outreach. My contact information is not changing for now, and I hope you will each continue to include me in your lives and your work.
I wish you all the best,
Sincerely,
Liz

29 January, 2008

NEW FELLOWSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR PACIFIC ISLANDERS

In case you have not seen the call for applications on other sites, I wanted to bring the following to your attention. You are each potentially excellent candidates for this fellowship, and I would be happy to serve as a reference if that was helpful.

The Asia Pacific Leadership Program (APLP) is the center of excellence for leadership education in Asia Pacific and a signature program of the East-West Center. The program links advanced and interdisciplinary analysis of emergent regional issues with experiential leadership learning.

The APLP empowers future leaders with the knowledge, skills, experiences and supportive community needed to successfully navigate personal and regional change in the 21st century.

Graduates leave the East-West Center with an expanded regional perspective. They are knowledgeable about the societies and issues of the Asia Pacific region and trained to exercise leadership and promote cooperation in a variety of cultural, geographical and institutional environments.

APLP alumni are navigators of change.

Application Deadline: February 15, 2008 for 5 New Positions


Applicants with at least 5 years professional experience are encouraged to apply

Entering its eighth year, the Asia Pacific Leadership Program (APLP) is the center of excellence for leadership education in the Asia Pacific region. The APLP is a graduate certificate program combining the development of regional expertise with the enhancement of individual leadership capacity. Based at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, the program is creating a network of dynamic leaders who are familiar with the critical issues of the Asia Pacific region. All participants receive an APLP Entrance Fellowship valued at approximately $10,000.

Participants

The Asia Pacific Leadership Program seeks outstanding individuals with leadership experience or high leadership potential from across Asia Pacific, the United States, and beyond. All participants have at least a Bachelors degree with the majority having graduate degrees as well. At least 20 countries are represented in each cohort. APLP fellows come together from all walks of life, including government, business, NGOs, health, sciences, media, monastic orders, and the academe.

APLP fellows gain a broad regional perspective, become knowledgeable about the critical challenges facing the Asia Pacific region, and are trained to exercise collaborative leadership and promote cooperation toward the well-being of the countries and peoples of the region. The APLP empowers future leaders with the knowledge, skills, experiences and supportive community needed to successfully navigate personal and regional change in the 21st century.

The APLP was established through generous funding support from the Freeman Foundation.

Application Forms and Fellowships

For more information about the Asia Pacific Leadership Program, application forms and an array of supplemental scholarships, including new funds for Pacific Islanders, please visit our website at: http://www.eastwestcenter.org/aplp
. Read more!

14 January, 2008

Ship departs to study Southern Ocean coral

This Week's 'Photo of the Week' Story
From ABC Radio Australia

Australia's national research vessel, the Southern Surveyor, is on its way for the Southern Ocean after leaving the Tasmanian capital Hobart, on a mission to study coral off the coast of Australia's island state. The ship will send an unmanned submersible up to two-and-a-half kilometres below the surface, to film live and fossilised coral. The mission hopes to gather much-needed information about changes in ocean temperatures over decades and even centuries.

Presenter - Corinne Podger
Speaker - Captain Fred Stein, head of the government research agency CSIRO's Marine and Atmospheric Research department, which is overseeing the Southern Surveyor project

STEIN: One of the things that's special about the coral in the Southern Ocean is that it's very slow growing. So because it's in colder deeper waters, it's slow growing and it captures a long record of the environment around it. And it has growth rings rather like trees.

PODGER: Yes, it rings similar to those in trees. What can studying them tell us about ocean chemistry and temperature over a long period of time?

STEIN: It can tell us what the ocean chemistry surrounding them has been, because the coral captures a record of that. I captures a record of the carbon in the surrounding water, being mainly made up of calcium carbonate. It also tells us about acidity, the water temperature at the time, the oxygenation, so how much oxygen is in it and one of the other particular features of it is of course the Southern Ocean covers a very large portion of the world's surface and the corals down there are almost the only way that we have of capturing some sort of climate record over almost geological time. So multi-millennial, hundreds-of-thousands of years. I think that's one of the issues that they hope to determine on this first exploratory voyage. Because we have so few samples of these sorts of corals which have been gathered scientifically, it's been very difficult for them to work out what kind of a record the corals might capture and that is one of the purposes of this particular voyage, is if you like, as a litmus test of the information that they can extract from it.

PODGER: What parts of the ocean temperature and climate change puzzle might this mission help to fill in?

STEIN: It'll certainly fill in the part of the puzzle that relates to widespread, long term changes in deep ocean water masses in the Tasman Sea and the Southern Ocean. Again as you may know, the water masses which come from Antarctica, that colder water which travels north along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and then sort of wells up to bring nutrients to the Western half of the Americas, to the Northern Pacific. The nature and the temperature of that is a fundamental influence on so much of the world's weather, it's been hypothesised that it's a part of the major influence on the sort of long term glaciation and climate change. So this is really an integral piece in the puzzle, not just of the changes in our region, but also the changes to weather globally.

PODGER: Obviously, these are important issues for scientists. Are they important to the rest of us?

STEIN: Absolutely. One of the issues that this research will inform is what has been the long term change in the surrounding water masses in the Australian region. So, for instance, have we seen a long term drying of the continent or is that a reasonably recent phenomena. So again separating out those long term natural global climate change from the more recent anthropogenic climate changes.

There's also a concern that the changes that we're seeing in climate now, the warmer water moving south from their continent may be changing the ecology in and around Tasmania and in the Tasman Sea, which are important fishery resources for Australia. Is that recent or is that something which is more long term? We don't know the answers to that. If we find that man-made climate change is having a significant detrimental impact on our fisheries, that's something we must be aware of.

PODGER: The submersible will also be studying deep ocean bio-diversity in an area, the vast southeast marine reserve and I understand we know very little about that at the moment?

STEIN: That's correct. Indeed we know very little about our I guess ocean estate below about 2,000 metres and the southeast marine protected area has recently been declared, much of it is unexplored, has not been mapped in any detail.

PODGER: It must be a very exciting mission for the scientists involved?

STEIN: It is. We've been mobilising the ship ready for the voyage in the last couple of days and their excitement and enthusiasm for the work is really quite contagious. They are quite sure and again the scientific panel of international experts, which reviewed their work was quite sure that they would be finding some very interesting results.
Read more!

Photo of the week - 2nd week of January

CSIRO Unmanned submersible being launched to test deep ocean corals (Photo Credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, via ABC News)


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Starfish Outbreak Threatens Corals

ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2008) — Outbreaks of the notorious crown of thorns starfish now threaten the "coral triangle," the richest center of coral reef biodiversity on Earth, according to recent surveys by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.

The starfish -- a predator that feeds on corals by spreading its stomach over them and using digestive enzymes to liquefy tissue -- were discovered in large numbers by the researchers in reefs in Halmahera, Indonesia, at the heart of the Coral Triangle, which lies between Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. It is considered the genetic fountainhead for coral diversity found on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo and other reefs in the region.

Scientists fear the outbreak is caused by poor water quality and could be an early warning of widespread reef decline.

Recent surveys of Halmahera by the Wildlife Conservation Society and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies confirmed that while Halmahera's reefs are still 30-50 percent richer than nearby reefs, some areas were almost completely destroyed.

"The main cause of damage to the corals was the Crown of Thorns Starfish," Dr. Andrew Baird of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University. "We witnessed a number of active outbreaks of this coral predator. There was little to suggest that the reefs have been much affected by climate change as yet: the threats appear far more localized."

The team also saw first-hand evidence of recent blast-fishing, an extremely destructive fishing practice that uses explosives. According to locals this accompanied a break down of law and order following communal violence in 2000-2003. During the same time many reef lagoons were mined of their corals for use in construction, an activity encouraged by the Indonesian military.

"This is clearly a complex human environment and effective management of the marine resources must address the needs of communities. It will also be vitally important to understand the causes of conflict among communities and address them," says Dr Stuart Campbell, Program Leader for the Wildlife Conservation Society's' Marine Program in Indonesia.

The researchers pointed out that there were still healthy populations of certain species -- and still time to reverse the damage.

"The good news is that the reef fish assemblages are still in very good shape" said Tasrif Kartawijaya from WCS-IP. "We saw Napoleon wrasse and bumphead parrot fish at almost every site. So these reefs have the capacity to recover if we can address the current threats."

The Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) announced by six regional governments at the Bali Climate Change Conference recently offers hope for the reefs in the region, the researchers say. However, there are few details of how it will work and no mention of the fundamental role of research in the conservation program.

"We are disappointed research is yet to be fully considered in the CTI. The success of large marine parks, like the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, is largely due to the primary role of science plays in understanding what's going on, so managers can make good decisions," said Dr Baird.

"It isn't enough just to document the diversity of the region. Large scale research is required to understand the Coral Triangle ecosystems and work out how best to respond to threats such as poor water quality and overexploitation," Dr Campbell added.
Read more!

10 January, 2008

The most common question...

Everyone always wants to know what they can do that will make a difference. Here is a list, courtesy of the International Year of the Reef and its partners, that helps start to answer it.

Educate yourself about coral reefs and the creatures they support. When you further your own education, you can help others understand the fragility and value of the world’s coral reefs.

Be a wastewater crusader! Make sure that sewage from your home or town is correctly treated. Excess nutrients in wastewater can negatively impact coral reef ecosystems.

Support organizations that protect coral reefs. Many groups have coral reef programs, and your support will make a big difference.

Many more... keep reading after the jump. Everyone always wants to know what they can do that will make a difference. Here is a list, courtesy of the International Year of the Reef and its partners, that helps start to answer it.

Educate yourself about coral reefs and the creatures they support. When you further your own education, you can help others understand the fragility and value of the world’s coral reefs.

Be a wastewater crusader! Make sure that sewage from your home or town is correctly treated. Excess nutrients in wastewater can negatively impact coral reef ecosystems.

Support organizations that protect coral reefs. Many groups have coral reef programs, and your support will make a big difference.

Many more... keep reading after the jump.

Don’t use chemically enhanced pesticides and fertilizers. Although you may live thousands of miles from a coral reef ecosystem, these products end up in the ocean.

Be an informed consumer. Only buy marine fish and other reef organisms when you know they have been collected in an ecologically sound manner. Ask store managers where the organisms come from and how they were collected. For more information on how to find sustainably harvested reef fish, go to www.aquariumcouncil.org.

If you dive, don’t touch! Take only pictures and leave only bubbles. Keep your fins, gear, and hands away from the reef, as this contact can hurt you and will damage the delicate coral animals. Stay off the bottom because disturbed sediments can smother the corals.

Support reef-friendly businesses. Ask what your dive shop, boating store, tour operator, hotel and other coastal businesses are doing to save coral reefs. This is especially important in coastal areas with reefs. Let them know you are an informed consumer and care about reefs.

Recycle. This helps keep trash out of the oceans and also out of landfills where it can have an adverse impact on the water quality of our rivers and oceans.

Conserve water. The less water you use, the less runoff and wastewater eventually find their ways back into the oceans.

Become a volunteer monitor! Participate in community coral reef monitoring programs. If you do not live near a coast, get involved in protecting your watershed.

Report dumping or other illegal activities. Help be the eyes and ears of the reef! Your involvement can make a big difference.

Be a marine debris crusader! In addition to picking up your own trash, carry away the trash that others have left behind.

Hire local guides when visiting coral reef ecosystems. This will help you learn about local resources, and protect the future of the reef by supporting the local economy.

Don’t anchor on the reef. If you are boating near a coral reef, use mooring buoy systems when they are available.

Respect local guidelines when you visit a reef. Help keep coral reefs healthy by respecting local customs, recommendations, and regulations. Ask local authorities or your dive shop how to be a reef-friendly tourist.

Stay informed. Find out about existing and proposed laws, programs, and projects that could affect the world’s coral reefs. Many Web sites provide information about coral reefs and what you can do to become involved.

Spread the word. Remember your own excitement at learning the value and importance of coral reef ecosystems. Sharing this excitement gets everyone involved.
Read more!



EHP TAKES THE ENVIRONMENTAL LEAD

By TITI GABI
08 January 2008

Slowly but surely the very real message of Climate Change and its impact on communities is making sense to Papua New Guineans.

And Ungai/Bena in the Eastern Highlands Province may be the first to take steps to help slow down the process.

Local MP, Benny Allen has unveiled an ambitious plan to plant 2million trees in different stages throughout this year.

Schools will be at the forefront of the project apart from village youths, church groups, and other interested members of the public.

The first areas to be planted will be those that have been cleared for agriculture or development purposes.

This will include awareness to villages and communities on the dangers of Climate Change and what individuals can and must do to reduce its effects.

The dates for when planting begins are still to be announced.

Read more!

09 January, 2008

Study finds Pacific coral reefs dying faster than expected

This study came out in August of 2007, and Va just reminded me of it. I can share a copy of the full report with you if you are interested. I am posting here because I believe it is an excellent example of how the interpretation of scientific results can be so critical in our discussions.

By MICHAEL CASEY,
AP Environmental Writer

Coral reefs in much of the Pacific Ocean are dying faster than previously thought, according to a study released recently, with the decline driven by climate change, disease and coastal development.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill found that coral coverage in the Indo-Pacific an area stretching from Indonesia's Sumatra island to French Polynesia dropped 20 percent in the past two decades.

About 600 square miles of reefs have disappeared since the 1960s, the study found, and the losses were just as bad in Australia's well-protected Great Barrier Reef as they were in poorly managed marine reserves in the Philippines.

"We found the loss of reef building corals was much more widespread and severe than previously thought," said John Bruno, who conducted the study along with Elizabeth Selig. "Even the best managed reefs in the Indo-Pacific suffered significant coral loss over the past 20 years."


The study, which examined 6,000 surveys of more than 2,600 Indo-Pacific coral reefs done between 1968 and 2004, found the declines began earlier than previously estimated and mirror global trends. The United Nations has found close to a third of the world's corals have disappeared, and 60 percent are expected to be lost by 2030.

The Indo-Pacific contains 75 percent of the world's coral reefs and provide a home for a wide range of marine plants and animals. They provide shelter for island communities and are key source of income, mostly from the benefits of fishing and tourism.

"Indo-Pacific reefs have played an important economic and cultural role in the region for hundreds of years and their continued decline could mean the loss of millions of dollars in fisheries and tourism," Selig said in a statement. "It's like when everything in the forest is gone except for little twigs."

While the study didn't examine the cause of the decline, Bruno said he believed it was driven by a range of factors including warming waters due to climate change. He also blamed storm damage, runoff from agriculture and industry, predators like fast-spreading crown-of-thorn starfish and diseases like White syndrome.

Bruno said the study demonstrated the need to better manage reefs and prevent threats such as overfishing, but acknowledged local measures would have little impact without a reduction of greenhouse gases.

"It is just one more example of the striking, far reaching effects of climate change and our behavior," Bruno said of the link between climate change and reef destruction. "It is the folks in North Carolina driving their SUVs. It is their behavior that is having an effect way out in the Indo-Pacific."

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the Center for Marine Studies at The University of Queensland in Australia, said the study should put to rest any suggestion that reefs like the Great Barrier Reef are untouched by "human pressures."

"This is a solid study that produces mounds of evidence that suggests reefs are changing counter to the untested and ungrounded claims that it isn't happening," Hoegh-Guldberg, who was not involved in the study, said in an e-mail interview."
Read more!

08 January, 2008

2008 Year of the Reef Launch in the Pacific

You all remember meeting Caroline Vieux in Alotau? In case you missed it, here is her press release announcing the launch of the Year of the Reef

Strong Reefs, Strong Islands

October 24, 2007 - The 2008 Pacific Year of the Reef Campaign (PYOR) plan was made public during a free-form session of the 8th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas.

Next year, the Pacific people will be encouraged to work towards reversing the current degradation of coral reefs this will help build their resilience to natural factors such as climate change. Since 1980 to 1995 the Pacific region has been losing its coral reef at the rate of 1% per year, from 1995 until now, the rate of this loss has doubled.

SPREP's Coral Reef Management Officer, Caroline Vieux, is leading the team working on the 2008 Pacific Year of the Reef.

"We observe that some reefs were more resilient to disturbance than other coral reefs they could resist, recover or adapt better to disturbances, especially when it came to coral bleaching. What we�re trying to do now is to identify these coral reefs and focus our conservation effort on them as they will be more likely to cope with climate change and its affects. That's what this campaign will be about."

"Strong reefs, strong islands" is the slogan that will encompass the 2008 Pacific Year of the Reef. The year will see SPREP launch a number of different activities, several of which include school competitions, posters, stickers, fact sheets, DVD, postcards, information booklets as well as World Environment Day activities. SPREP understands the importance of working in partnership with Pacific people at all levels; regional, national and communities for a successful campaign.

"Reefs are important as protectors of the islands and community against storm surges and providers of food and income for the communities. We�re really hoping that the communities will get behind us in this and work with us in saving our coral reefs, as it will take a regional effort to save our reefs."

Vieux has been approached to make a presentation to the students of Education Milne Bay, while in Alotau, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Work has already begun to make sure the 2008 Pacific Year of the Reef reaches as many Pacific people as possible.

Contact Name: Caroline Vieux
E-mail: carolinev@sprep.org
Phone: (685) 21929
Fax: (685) 20231

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Calling all authors

Dear friends and fellows, as we enter a new year, please remember to forward your articles to us whenever you write about ocean and environment stories! We are proud of your work and like to keep track of what you have been up to. I will continue featuring your latest bylines on this website, and I hope we can continue expanding this resource.
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New Year, New Focus

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOURS!!

I hope that you are each returning from your holidays refreshed and ready to plunge into 2008. As you can see from the blog headers, we have a new focus topic for the month of January - corals!

If you remember your trivia, you already know that corals are animals, and that there are roughly 5000 species, though only some of them form reefs. You also know how critically important corals are to the ocean ecosystem and to the people of our island nations.

But did you know that not all corals are found in clear, tropical waters? In fact, more than 2 out of every 3 known species of corals are found in the cold, dark depths of the ocean. Some are found as deep as 4500+ meters below the surface!

All corals, shallow and deep, are facing unprecedented threats from overfishing, climate change, pollution, and habitat destruction. I hope you enjoy joining the discussions this month that focus on why we need to act now, and how we can change our ways to save these precious resources. Read more!

01 January, 2008

Photo of the Week - 1st week January


If you had to guess what the bottom of the ocean looked like, would you have imagined this? Photo Credit: NOAA Ocean Explorer
Original caption:
MIDNIGHT GARDEN—A deep coral community grows on volcanic rock in the New England Seamount chain. It includes an abundance of invertebrate animals, including pink, white, and orange soft corals, red-orange sea stars, and a multitude of different light-colored sponges. Via the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution magazine Oceanus.

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