This may be of interest...from our colleague Nalaka...
----- Original Message -----
From: Nalaka Gunawardene, TVE Asia Pacific <nalaka@tveap.org>
To: <Recipient list suppressed>
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 9:02 AM
Subject: New TV series revisits environmental lessons of the Asian Tsunami
> Media release from TVE Asia Pacific, www.tveap.org
>
> Colombo, Sri Lanka and Bangkok, Thailand: 18 December 2006
>
> New TV series revisits the Asian Tsunami's environmental lessons
> Identifies many remaining challenges in managing coral reefs, mangroves and
> sand dunes across coastal Asia
>
> Two years after the devastating Tsunami, are Asian countries managing their
> coastal resources more rationally and scientifically?
>
> As the memories of the mega-disaster fade, is there a danger that its
> important environmental lessons might soon be forgotten?
>
> Why do local communities battle bureaucracies and vested interests to save,
> restore or manage Asia's coral reefs, mangroves and sand dunes?
>
> On the eve of the Asian Tsunami's second anniversary, an investigative new
> TV series from TVE Asia Pacific raises these and other pertinent questions.
> In search of answers, it returns to many locations in South and Southeast
> Asia battered by the disaster, and talks to a cross section of scientists,
> activists and local community groups.
>
> 'The Greenbelt Reports' uses a dozen case studies to emphasize that the
> only way Asia's remaining coastal greenbelts -- coral reefs, mangroves and
> sand dunes -- can be saved is by balancing ecosystem conservation with
> survival needs of local people.
>
> The series was filmed in mid 2006 in several coastal locations in India,
> Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand -- countries that were hardest hit by the
> Tsunami on 26 December 2004. It comprises a dozen 5 minute video films,
> each a self contained story, and a half hour documentary that offers a
> regional overview of the state of greenbelts in Asia.
>
> Using compelling images, interview clips and brief narration, each film
> tells the story of a community, activist group or researchers engaged in
> saving, restoring or regenerating a coastal greenbelt.
>
> Produced on an editorially independent basis by TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP,
> www.tveap.org) a regional foundation specialised in communicating
> sustainable development using TV and video -- the series is available for
> broadcast, educational and civil society users. It comes free of license
> fee for all users in developing countries.
>
> In researching and filming the series, TVEAP collaborated with a large
> number of local, national, regional or global conservation organizations
> and research institutes. These included IUCN - The World Conservation
> Union, Mangrove Action Project, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation,
> Wetlands International and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
>
> The TV series is one major output of a multi-media, Asian educational
> project TVEAP launched in 2005 to journalistically investigate efforts to
> balance conservation needs of coastal greenbelts with socio-economic needs
> of coastal communities.
>
> It was inspired by many reports from across Tsunami-affected Asia of how
> coral reefs, mangroves or sand dunes had buffered the killer waves, saving
> lives and reducing property damage. For years, scientists and
> environmentalists had known about this 'greenbelt effect': coastal
> vegetation and reefs may not fully block tsunamis or cyclones, but they can
> reduce the impact.
>
> "These stories are not about the Asian Tsunami itself, but they reflect a
> key lesson driven home by the disaster," says Nalaka Gunawardene, Director
> and CEO of TVE Asia Pacific. "In this series, we amplify that message: the
> need to save or restore greenbelts across coastal Asia."
>
> "For many coastal areas of Asia, this message arrives a little too late,"
> says Gunawardene, who scripted and executive produced The Greenbelt
> Reports. "For decades, mangroves, coral reefs and sand dunes have been
> degraded or destroyed by population pressures, poverty and economic
> development activities."
>
> For example, mangroves have been cleared on many Asian coasts and wetlands
> to set up shrimp farms or tourist hotels. In the five Asian countries that
> were hardest by the tsunami, some 1.5 million hectares were lost between
> 1980 and 2000 a quarter of the region's total mangrove cover.
>
> The value of natural barriers is not just in disaster mitigation. As sea
> levels rise, and as extreme weather events intensify due to global warming,
> these will become important elements in coping strategies for coastal
> countries and communities.
>
> "The good news is that local communities and activists are taking up these
> challenges with or without government and outside help," says The Greenbelt
> Reports: Armed by Nature, half-hour documentary in the series. "Their
> efforts offer some hope for the beleaguered greenbelts of Asia."
>
> The Greenbelt Reports series offers several examples:
>
> * Encouraged and advised by scientists from the M S Swaminathan Research
> Foundation, many Indian coastal villages are building or strengthening
> 'bio-shields' of mangroves, other plants or sand dunes.
>
> * People in Tuntaset village in southern Thailand found a decades-old law
> that allows local communities to manage their mangrove. Taking advantage of
> this, they have transformed a coastal area once devastated by charcoal and
> shrimp industries.
>
> * The village of Paanama on Sri Lanka's east coast was miraculously saved
> from the tsunami by a sand dune and mangrove forest. The local people have
> now come together to conserve both greenbelts.
>
> * For decades, the people of Jaring Halus on Sumatra island managed their
> own mangrove forest using traditional methods. Now the government has asked
> them to co-manage mangroves in a nearby wildlife sanctuary -- a first for
> Indonesia.
>
> The series has been produced to international broadcast standards with
> original English narration. Interviews, in half a dozen Asian languages,
> are sub-titled in English. All stories were filmed by locally-based,
> internationally credentialed TV professionals under TVE Asia Pacific's
> direction. It is entirely an Asian effort.
>
> The Greenbelt Reports was produced with financial or technical advisory
> support from several conservation organisations, development agencies and
> media companies. These include the Japan Fund for Global Environment, TVE
> Japan and the Green Coast Project, administered by IUCN Sri Lanka and
> financed by Oxfam Novib. The Nation Broadcasting Corporation of Thailand
> was a co-producing partner for three Thai stories.
>
> Background
>
> Television for Education - Asia Pacific, trading as TVE Asia Pacific, is a
> regional not-for-profit organisation that uses television, video and
> Internet for public communication of development issues. Governed by an
> international Board of Directors and headquartered in Sri Lanka, it both
> produces and distributes editorially independent TV programming, which are
> regularly carried by over 50 public and private TV channels across the Asia
> Pacific. For more information, visit: <http://www.tveap.org/>www.tveap.org
>
> The Greenbelt Reports TV series will soon be backed by print material and a
> dedicated website to be located at
> <http://www.greenbelts.net/>www.greenbelts.net providing further
> information, analysis and links to many sources. For now, more information
> and synopses are available from:
>
<http://www.tveap.org/news/0812greenbelt.html>http://www.tveap.org/news/0812gree
nbelt.html
>
> http://www.tveap.org/news/0812armed.html
>
> Full list of country and regional level production credits available at:
>
<http://www.tveap.org/news/0812armed_teams.html>http://www.tveap.org/news/0812ar
med_teams.html
>
>
> TVE Asia Pacific carried out the Children of Tsunami media project during
> 2005, which tracked on video the recovery stories of eight ordinary
> families affected by the disaster in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and
> Thailand. All resulting material is archived at:
> <http://www.childrenoftsunami.info/>www.childrenoftsunami.info
>
> * * * * * *
>
> Quotes from The Greenbelt Reports
>
> The Greenbelt Reports carries interviews with many Asians who are at the
> frontlines in saving, restoring or managing coastal greenbelts. Here are
> some highlights:
>
> "We do not want to have land title but we want to have the right to manage
> and use the resources in a sustainable way."
> - Pisit Charsnoh, Yadfon Association, Thailand (winner of Goldman Prize for
> protection the environment)
>
> "Restoration if it is going to have an effect has to be done in a wide
> scale and our main target is to spread into other reefs."
> - Prasanna Weerakkody, Nature Conservation Group, Sri Lanka
>
> "Mangrove plants has got its own system of roots, as well as branching
> systems. When the mangroves grow very close, they just become a biological
> barrier. So, when the water comes and hits this roots first, they absorb
> most of the energy."
> - Dr. V Selvam, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, India
>
> "It takes many years for the trees to grow, but it takes only one day to
> destroy it."
> - Jureerat Pechsai (Deun), Pra Thong island, Thailand
>
> "Community involvement. give them right to manage their forest."
> - Lukman Hakim, Mangrove Action Project, Indonesia
>
> "We see great emphasis on building new, even more infrastructure in the
> coastal areas than even pre-tsunami.So I think the lessons have not been
> learnt."
> - Jim Enright, Mangrove Action Project - Southeast Asia
>
>
> How to obtain The Greenbelt Reports
>
> The Greenbelt Reports first series (12 x 5 mins, totaling 60 mins of
> viewing) is available as a single compilation on VHS Video and DVD. The
> half hour documentary, The Greenbelt Reports: Armed by Nature is separately
> available, also on VHS video and DVD. Copies can be ordered online from TVE
> Asia Pacific's e-shop at:
>
<http://www.tveap.org/shopping/search.php>http://www.tveap.org/shopping/search.p
hp
>
>
> For obtaining broadcast masters, contact TVE Asia Pacific's Distribution
> Division:
> Phone: + 94 11 4412 195; Fax: + 94 11 4403 443; Email: <sales@tveap.org>
>
> For media queries and interview requests, contact Nalaka Gunawardene,
> Executive Producer of the series at: <gbr@tveap.org>
>
>
>
>
>
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