[Announcements] [infosouth] New TV series revisits environmental lessons of the Asian Tsunami

[Nalaka Gunawardene, TVE Asia Pacific]

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 disasters, 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 were 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/0812greenbelt.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/0812armed_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.php 


For obtaining broadcast masters, contact TVE Asia Pacific’s Distribution 
Division:
Phone: + 94 11 4412 195; Fax: + 94 11 4403 443; Email: <sales at tveap.org>

For media queries and interview requests, contact Nalaka Gunawardene, 
<gbr at tveap.org>


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