New Seacology Projects: Cape Verde to Iceland
BELIZE - Construction of a ranger station at the Port Honduras Marine Reserve. Belize is a small Central American nation facing the Caribbean Sea. The Toledo district in southern Belize contains some of the country's most pristine natural areas. After many years of effort the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) recently succeeded in persuading the government to establish the Port Honduras Marine Reserve. Since opening there has been significant poaching within the reserve by outside fishermen. Seacology's support will enable TIDE to build a highly visible ranger station on an island, Abalone Caye, near the reserve's most sensitive area.*
CAPE VERDE, Fogo Island - Construction of a water tank and nursery for endemic plants on Fogo Island.The arid islands of the Cape Verde archipelago are located about 300 miles from Senegal on the West African Coast. Fogo is the fourth largest island in the archipelago. The 8,500-foot volcano at its center and the surrounding plateau are to become Cape Verde's first national park on an inhabited island. Overutilization of the slopes of the crater has led to destruction of many endemic plant species as well as accompanying erosion. Seacology will assist the local community development association, Associäco de Promocäo do Desenvolvimento Comunitário de Cabeça Fundão, in their efforts to rehabilitate already degraded areas on the slopes by building a water tank and a nursery for endemic plants.
HAWAII - Construction of a Polynesian cultural museum and educational center at the PiOilanihale heiau in Hana, Maui. The family of 2000 Seacology Prize recipients Doris Matsuda-Saromines and Edwin "Take" Matsuda is the inherited owner of the land on which sits Pi'ilanihale, Hawaii's largest heiau (a man-made, elevated platform associated with ritual activity in the Pacific Islands). The heiau's size, architecture and location make it clear that it was at one time one of Hawaii's most sacred and important cultural sites. By donating their nine-acre parcel, the Matsuda family willingly gave up the potential to earn large sums of money that would have resulted if they had chosen to sell the land to developers. The heiau was deeded to the National Tropical Botanical Garden in 1972 and is now the centerpiece of the Kahunu Garden. Seacology is providing matching funds for the conversion of a dwelling owned by the Matsuda family into a Polynesian cultural museum and educational center at Kahunu Garden.
ICELAND - Optical instruments for environmental education at Lake Myvatn Lake Myvatn is the centerpiece of an extraordinarily unique wetland system in Iceland's volcanically active zone. From the time of the original Icelandic settlements local inhabitants have made their living sheep farming, fishing and sustainably gathering waterfowl eggs. Since the late 1960s diatomite has been dredged from the lake and processed at a nearby factory. The Lake Myvatn Research Station has conducted studies and worked with the community to protect the lake for the past 25 years. Seacology will purchase optical equipment - microscopes, stereoscopes and telescopes - for the community school. Research Station staff will work with schoolchildren to study the lake's abundant lifeforms, and arm them with knowledge that will help them shape the future of the lake and the neighboring community.*
ICELAND - Signage describing sites of environmental and cultural interest at Árneshreppur. The Reykjavik-based nongovernmental environmental organization Landvernd is working with the small community of Árneshreppur in remote Northwest Iceland to protect the area's rich and diverse cultural, historic and natural resources. Despite Iceland's drastic social changes, the 70 remaining inhabitants of this community are determined to stay. Seacology has awarded Landvernd a challenge grant for the purposes of constructing signs to point out important cultural and natural sites. These signs will not only enhance tourism, but will also serve as moral support for this settlement determined to remain intact in the face of disappearing rural culture in Iceland.*
INDONESIA - Alternative fishing program, Komodo Island National Park. Komodo National Park in Indonesia is composed of 510 square miles of some of the most biologically diverse waters, reefs, mangroves and bays in the world. Dynamite and cyanide fishing are severely damaging the reef fish populations as well as the reef itself. Fish aggregating devices placed in the 5,000-foot deep waters outside the boundary of Komodo National Park provide an incentive for the community to fish the open ocean away from the threatened coral reefs. Seacology funds will be used to train fishers from two Komodo Island communities in the skills needed to fish off deep-water fish aggregating devices, and also to equip and refit boats with equipment appropriate for this type of fishing. This will enable the local fishing community to continue earning a living from fishing without destroying the coral reefs.*
MEXICO, Guadalupe Island - Construction of a goat exclosure fence. Guadalupe Island is located 160 miles offshore of the Baja California peninsula. This 160 square kilometer island, one of Mexico's largest and most biologically important, is protected as a Special Biosphere Reserve. It is, however, a classic paper park with little actual management or protection. Introduced goats have devastated Guadalupe's plant communities and are responsible for the extinction of five endemic plants, and the disappearance of more plant species is certain unless immediate action is taken. Seacology is providing funding to the Island Conservation & Ecology Group for the construction of ten fenced exclosures to keep goats out of the most sensitive areas of Guadalupe Island.*
PHILIPPINES - Surgical mission to Samar Island. Samar Island, the third largest island in the Philippine archipelago, contains some of the Philippines' largest extant, unfragmented tracts of lowland rainforest. To protect this valuable resource the Philippine government, along with the Global Environmental Facility and the United Nations Development Program, has launched the Samar Island Biodiversity Program. It is the goal of the biodiversity program to establish the Samar Island Natural Park, an 857,000-acre protected area. Due to widespread poverty many residents of Samar cannot afford basic surgical procedures. Seacology will underwrite an all-volunteer surgical mission to Samar by the Society of Philippine Surgeons in America in December 2001 as a means of thanking Samar islanders for setting aside such a large protected area for the benefit of the environment.*
SAMOA - Translation of Nafanua: Saving the Samoan Rain Forest into Samoan. This book by Paul Alan Cox, Ph.D. is the first book ever written to address environmental conservation in Samoa. It chronicles the efforts to save the Falealupo rainforest, which was the genesis of Seacology. Most people in Samoa do not have access to this book, which was published in English. Seacology will fund the translation of the book into Samoan and production of an audiotape, which will be distributed to schools and communities and will air on Samoan radio.
*Financial support for asterisked projects generously provided by the Nu Skin Enterprises Force for Good Foundation.
