One of Australia’s great forests once grew hidden from sight off the east coast of Tasmania. Swathes of giant kelp, known as kelp forests, grew from the ocean floor, towering 30 to 40 metres into massive floating canopies across the surface of the sea. “They were charismatic, six to seven storey tall underwater jungles, basically,” says Cayne Layton, postdoctoral research fellow at Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. “It is said that some floating canopies were so thick that they were on navigation charts as a navigational hazard.”

Today, 95 percent of this globally significant forest of the world’s fastest-growing plant – giant kelp can grow up to 50 centimetres a day – has been wiped out by the inexorable shift of the warm East Australian Current – the ocean current made famous in the movie Finding Nemo – displacing the cold, nutrient-rich Southern Ocean waters. The remaining five percent now grow only in scattered patches. The decline of these forests, listed as Australia’s first endangered marine community, has been relentless since the 1940s, largely unnoticed and unremarked by the local community. But the fightback has begun, and the early results are promising.

In the spring of 2020, Layton and a team of scientists planted three restoration plots of kelp on rocky reefs along Tasmania’s east coast, having collected spores from surviving giant kelp plants identified as tolerant to the warmer seas.

The scientists planted tens of thousands of millimetre long juvenile kelp on the reefs. When they returned months later, at the end of summer, they were greeted by a beautiful sight.

“One of the sites had no survivors, but at the two other sites we had really good success,” Layton says. “At those two now, we have over 200 surviving giant kelp. The average size is about a metre, and the largest is over four metres tall, so they’re kind of like stringy teenagers at the moment.

“The really exciting thing for us is that in those first assessments after summer, the kelp looked really healthy. That was encouraging – that the increased thermal tolerance we found in the lab was translated to the field.”

The team will again plant giant kelp this winter, and hope to do so each year into the future.

The rehabilitation of these underwater forests has been touted as a tool in the quest to mitigate climate change – great forests that absorb great quantities of carbon – though Layton cautions that the science is still young when it comes to giant kelp’s carbon sequestration ability. Such efforts, along with regrowing seagrasses, are central to marine protection as the climate warms.

Their value to the planet and marine communities, however, is unquestionable. And moment by moment, these fast-growing marine marvels are now straining once more towards the sun and perhaps even a return one day to navigation charts.

“We’re very happy (with the planting), but it’s still early days,” Layton says. “We want these individuals to grow up and become mature and start producing their own babies. Restoration is never going to work if it’s reliant on me and my colleagues planting these kelp. We’ve got to kickstart the natural cycle, so those individuals that we plant start producing their own juveniles.

“They can reach reproductive age within a year, so we’re hoping that towards the end of this year the largest ones will start to become reproductive. That’ll be the next big exciting step for us.”

Author: Andrew Bain, The India Story Agency for Sacred Groves
Images Credit: Cayne Layton, Masayuki Tatsumi

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He polices the forest with missionary zeal. Locals claim that his Public Interest Litigations (PILs) – challenging the construction of mines, dams, resorts and more – have helped not only maintain but regenerate the unique flora and fauna of this biodiversity hotspot in Karnataka, India. Indeed, the catalytic role DV Girish played in facilitating the government-sponsored voluntary relocation of more than 450 families from the forests of Bhadra from 2001-3 is inspirational. Even today, twenty years later, the lessons from India’s most equitable conservation swap (in which 13 villages were relocated to sites away from the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, a part of the Project Tiger) remain the blueprint for socially minded conservation interventions. Here’s how he did it.

Karnataka-born, Girish grew up within a stone’s throw from Bhadra Reserve. “Over the years, my forays into the jungle brought me in contact with people living inside the forest,” he recalls. “They had no schools, limited livelihoods, poor access to the world outside and lived in constant fear of encountering elephants and big cats. No family wanted their daughters to marry men from these villages as life there was so tough.”

Although the forest had been declared a sanctuary in 1974 and plans were afoot to relocate these villages out of the forest, government machinery was slow. In the late eighties, Girish and his team conducted a socio-economic survey of these villages and drew a blueprint for the relocation process.

“First, suitable land had to be identified outside the forest where these villages could be shifted in their entirety,” he explains. “Each household was counselled and given land corresponding to their landholding in the village. Being local, we became the bridge between them and the government.” When the central government finally disbursed the funds in 1999, the relocation began. First to move was a village 17km inside the forest. Girish and his team provided them with temporary shelters, communal kitchens, even loans to build their new houses. By 2003, Bhadra became the first ‘inviolate’ (people-free) wildlife sanctuary in the country.

His job, however, didn’t end there. Girish has kept in touch with the villagers he’d helped relocate. “The reason why our effort was successful could also perhaps limit the replicability of this project: my being a local, speaking the same language and understanding their culture made it easier for them to be convinced by me,” he says. “Would they have taken so kindly to an outsider asking them to leave their homes? Possibly not…”

Today, the veteran conservationist is Bhadra’s most vigilant watchdog. He has successfully opposed the construction of three dams on River Bhadra, fought the powerful bamboo lobby which wanted to extract bamboo from the forest, and stalled the construction of resorts, windmills and mines in and around. “I’ve learnt from all these experiences,” he says, “that whether it’s people or projects – in the long run, relocating them safeguards the jungle more effectively than developing (and enforcing) physical and legal infrastructure to do so.”

Author: Geetanjali Krishna, The India Story Agency for Sacred Groves
Images Credit: Madhu Venkatesh and Girish DV

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Combating climate change is the biggest challenge of our times. Three years ago, Bhutan became the world’s first carbon-neutral country, meaning its carbon dioxide emissions are balanced with what is absorbed by its forests. However, this doesn’t make the small Himalayan country immune to the effects of global warming and sadly it is witnessing erratic weather patterns, fast-receding glaciers and glacial lakes outburst floods (GLOFs).

But how do you make the risks of climate change relatable to the average person when the data is dry or comprised of confusingly complex computer simulations? The country that pioneered the ground-breaking concept of prioritising Gross National Happiness above GDP is trialling a potential solution.

In 2014, the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute of Conservation and Environment (UWICE) launched – with funding from the Karuna Foundation and Bhutan Foundation – the Himalayan Environmental Rhythms Observation and Evaluation System, or HEROES, project in partnership with 21 schools located at varying elevations and ecological zones across Bhutan.

To date, it has trained 34 teachers and more than one thousand students in weather-station management, data collection and plant phenology. Working with 23 weather stations (20 in schools and three in remote mountain locations) they record changes in temperature, snowfall and rainfall, as well as monitoring how key plants and animals are responding to changing climatic patterns within the vicinity of their school’s campus and then feed the data back to UWICE. Recently, a school used the data alongside centuries-old chronicles from Kyoto, Japan to predict the changing fruiting pattern of peach trees, which are now flowering multiple times a year.

By harnessing the power of ‘citizen science’ and incorporating it into the high-school curriculum, the project is building a countrywide network of data-collection sites at very little cost, while simultaneously giving the students agency in the climate, and nation, they will inherit. The hope that this will lead to targeted interventions to help ailing ecosystems as it highlights the issue of climate change amongst the general public, including the students’ parents.

The intention is to foster a Bhutanese generation raised on the importance of environmental conservation, says Dr. Chenga Tshering, Deputy Chief Forest Officer with the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute.

“Educating youth on climate change and its impact is one of the greatest benefits of this initiative, “ he says. “We hope our climate-literate youths will become influential climate change activists on the world stage.”

Author: Emma Thomson, The India Story Agency for Sacred Groves
Images Credit: Bhutan banner image – Harisai Abhi/ Wikimedia Commons
(Wikimedia License – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)

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A Visit to Tiger’s Nest

This map of Bhutan is unlike any other. Not only does it give the viewer a sense of the diversity in this tranquil mountain nation, it even references mythical creatures and totems that are of great cultural importance in Bhutan. Chakravarty sees this map as a representation of Bhutan’s biodiversity as well as representative of the Bhutanese lifestyle, including means of livelihood and its traditional architecture and the nation’s endangered fauna. It was commissioned by WWF Bhutan.

Hope and Fear in the Pearl River Delta

One of the most polluted and highly trafficked sea routes in the world is also a stronghold for species such as the Chinese white dolphin, the Romer’s tree frog, the Hong Kong newt, and many invertebrates. Chakravarty drew this map for WWF Hong Kong as a means to generate awareness about the declining wildlife in the Pearl River Delta and the urgent need for the conservation of country parks in Hong Kong. The map emphasises the need for cultural preservation in Hong Kong and the interconnectedness of tradition and ecology, for example in the Tai O Fishing Village and in the forests around the Tian Tan Budhha in Lantau Island.

The Sacred Landscape of Kailash

Stretching across India, Nepal and Tibet, this important pilgrimage destination is home to five religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Bon, Sikhism and Jainism; has a geographically complex terrain: high altitude scrub, montane forest, montane grassland, alpine and evergreen forests etc; and a huge range of flora and fauna. To underscore its importance as a trekking destination, Chakravarty has included famous mountain peaks of the region including Mt. Kailash, Mt. Api and Om Parvat as well as important religious routes and sites in the map. It was commissioned by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

Wildlife in the Maximum City

Wildlife in the Maximum City

Flamingos in wetlands, mangroves sheltering the coastline, weird scorpions in the shrubbery and intertidal spaces rich in marine life – Chakravarty’s map of Mumbai, commissioned by international climate network Purpose Climate Lab, showcases its wild side. Look at the map and you’ll realise that even the most crowded hotspots in the city are home to a host of creatures, including Indian Ocean humpback dolphins, porpoises, olive ridley sea turtles and more. “Usually when one thinks of Mumbai, the image of a concrete jungle comes to mind,” says Chakravarty. “Ever since we’ve shared this map on the social media, so many people have reacted with such wonder when they have realised that this busy, bustling metropolis still has such a fabulous array of wildlife!”

Author: Geetanjali Krishna, The India Story Agency for Sacred Groves

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Apart from coastal bathers who’ve gingerly waded through its tickling stems or sailors who snared their anchors in its undergrowth, few of us are aware of the 60-plus species of marine flowering plants that constitute seagrass. Fewer of us still appreciate that, like their submarine cousin coral, seagrass orchards are under threat. “The problem with seagrass is that it’s not a charismatic habitat like your coral reef or tropical mangrove,” says Project Seagrass’ Leanne Cullen-Unsworth of the family marine plants that grow in shallow and sheltered coastal waters across the globe.

Seagrass provides a range of services to terrestrial ecosystems: food and habitat for marine organisms, maintaining water quality and stabilising the seabed. Most importantly, seagrass meadows are the hidden stars of carbon sequestration; absorbing atmospheric carbon at quicker and higher rates than ecosystems such as tropical forests, one hectare of seagrass can store around 400 kg of carbon dioxide per year, up to 40 times more than a hectare of dry-land forest. (Making it second only to arctic tundra in its capacity as a carbon sink.)

Partly this is down to seagrass’ marine habitat, where oxygen-free sediment traps the carbon in plant material which then remains buried for hundreds of years after the plant dies (unlike the carbon in forests, which can readily be released by burning for fuel).

So seagrass’ loss is a problem for all of us. And sadly, in most global contexts these hard-working marine flora are receding. It is estimated that 92 percent of seagrass in British coasts has been lost in the last century, much of this erosion having occurred by the mid 20th century, when poor water quality borne of rapid industrialisation led to a wasting disease that scientists believe decimated seagrass meadows. Sediments and turbidity have also played their part in seagrass’ demise, as has physical damage from anchors and fishing nets, commercial seaweed production and the tourist industry, where aesthetics of pristine sands and transparent seas reign supreme.

“In tourist spots in the Indo-Pacific it’s common for seagrass to be torn up so a beach looks like the picture postcards,” Cullen-Unsworth says, who is however at pains to point out that seagrass conservation is not simply pitted against human activity – it provides a nursery habitat for commercial fish stocks such as tiger prawn, conch, Atlantic cod and white-spotted spinefoot. Cullen-Unsworth is one of the founders of Project Seagrass, a nonprofit that’s working to raise awareness of this underrated habitat and is undertaking pilot projects to explore how to best regrow eroded seagrass orchards.

Project Seagrass’ first large-scale project, Seagrass Ocean Rescue, is a partnership between Project Seagrass, Cardiff and Swansea universities and Pembrokeshire Coastal forum that aims to reestablish 20,000 square metre seagrass meadow in Dale, West Wales to demonstrate its environmental and biodiversity benefits, and serve as a model that could be replicated anywhere in the world where seagrass meadows are under threat. Costing GB£40,000 [US$52,000], the project is funded by charitable donations and the first of three ocean sites in Wales and England where Project Seagrass plan to restore native seagrasses in coming years.

The project involved volunteer divers harvesting two million donor wild seagrass seeds from extant meadows around the coast of the United Kingdom. The seeds were then planted in biodegradable hessian bags, by volunteers including Welsh schoolchildren, and these bags were launched into the sea at ideal sites off the Pembrokeshire coast. The chief limitation of the project is that native seagrasses take years to reach maturity, making data-gathering on best methods for replanting a slow process. The final seed bags were deployed in December 2020, says Cullen-Unsworth and though it’s early days she’s hopeful.

“We’re already seeing signs of germination,” she says. “It might be five to 10 years before we can absolutely demonstrate evidence of benefits in terms of carbon sequestration and biodiversity support, but still it’s all very exciting.”

Seagrass Ocean Rescue is one of a handful of global projects seeking to reseed lost seagrass meadows, including a 20-year project to restore native eelgrass meadows at Chesapeake Bay in the US and a University of Gothenburg-led project to restore seagrass meadows along Sweden’s West Coast. Cullen-Unsworth believes that this underwater climate hero will soon get the attention it deserves.

“Britons used to be maritime people who were fully aware of marine habits like seagrass and their role in helping ecosystems to thrive. My hope is that seagrass will once again be as appreciated as grasslands and forests.”

Author: Sally Howard, The India Story Agency for Sacred Groves

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Under the azure waters of the Andaman Sea, sturgeon, parrot fish and stingrays swim past a strange new structure close to a coral reef formation. Above, a small solar panel bobs on the water’s surface. This is an artificial reef built by Indian environmental charity ReefWatch. The founders of this tiny non-profit outfit are passionate about the conservation of the magnificent coral atolls in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, training local divers to collect naturally broken coral fragments and implant them on to an artificial metal reef. There is, they soon realised, one basic problem with building new coral reefs: “Coral reefs grow between 0.5-7 cm per year,” says Nayantara Jain, Executive Director of the programme. “At this rate, it will take artificial reefs decades to flourish.”

So ReefWatch implemented a simple, radical strategy to enable coral to grow faster. “We hook our artificial metal reefs to a small floating solar panel,” explains Jain. The mild electric current generated by the floating solar panel helps speed up coral growth by seven to twelve times by enabling faster accretion of calcium carbonate. And the electric current leaves the coral with more of an energy budget that it can use to survive warmer temperature spells and coral disease. Jain and her small team, which includes three local youth, predict these artificial reefs could have a far-reaching impact. Just before the lockdown, the team developed a new solar panel design to make coral accretion even more efficient. With the old accretion system, coral would start re-growing within three months. “Now, perhaps it will grow faster,” Jain says. The team also creates diverse natural habitats under each artificial reef using rocks, shells and aquatic plants. “Consequently, we see an immediate uptick in marine life as soon as the artificial reef is set up,” she says.

In the long term, ReefWatch plans to develop a replicable model for coral reef regeneration which involves local stakeholders. Some of their work involves education: through workshops in schools, colleges and elsewhere, they are spreading awareness about how coral reefs protect the fragile local ecology and bulwark these islands against tsunamis and high tides. “We’re also employing local divers to salvage broken coral and maintain our new reefs,” she says. “Hopefully, this will encourage them and others in their community to look after their habitat.” Jain plans to make the project volunteer tourism-driven and hopes to entice divers and beach enthusiasts to spend some time in these picturesque islands and help build artificial reefs. “If protecting their biodiversity could generate higher tourism revenues,” she says, “the programme could eventually be taken over by the local community entirely, leaving us free to replicate this project elsewhere.”  

ReefWatch has built nine reefs so far, all positioned near natural coral formations. In time, these will mature, merge and support diversity of marine life. Each reef costs around US$2,000 and requires regular maintenance in the first few years of its installation. On World Oceans Day in June 2020, ReefWatch launched the first edition of its Adopt A Reef programme, inviting people to sponsor part of an artificial reef for US$470 per year. Within six weeks, all their existing reefs found sponsors. “The government has now allowed us to work in other areas in the Andaman Islands,” says Jain. “We want to build more reefs now…”

Images Credit: ReefWatch Marine Conservation
Author: Geetanjali Krishna, The India Story Agency for Sacred Groves

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