Monument council achieves goals

Report by the Marianas Variety

Thursday, June 07 2012

By Tammy Doty - Reporter

IN its second and final day, the Mariana trench monument advisory council concluded its inaugural meeting yesterday at Fiesta Resort.

Council member Roy Tsutsui, defense coordinating officer, Department of Defense based on Guam, facilitated an expedited and productive morning drilling down into finalizing a draft of the organizational and procedural guidelines regarding the council’s work.

 

“Imagine writing the NMI Covenant or the U.S. Constitution in three hours,” described Lisa K. Croft, deputy regional administrator, NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office and agency participant.

The rest of the council was equally as impressed with Tsutsui’s ability to keep the process flowing and enabling consensus.

“Roy did a terrific job today and we’re off to a good start,” stated Dr. John Joyner, newly elected council vice chairman and special advisor to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.

Ben Sablan, former secretary of Department of Land and Natural Resources was voted chairman.

Now that the groundwork and framework was achieved the advisory council now will turn its attention to discussing and adopting recommendations for the management of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument established in January 2009.

Once the council’s recommendations are completed and agreed upon they will be forwarded to the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Commerce for review.

Marine monument council holds inaugural meeting

Reported by the Saipan Tribune

Local

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Marine monument council holds inaugural meeting

By Clarissa V. David
Reporter

Members of the Marianas Trench Monument Advisory Council gathered yesterday for its inaugural meeting, marking a historic and defining milestone since the group's creation following the designation of one of the nation's largest marine monuments three years ago.

As interest and excitement build up, however, council members and regular folk are all too aware that it is just beginning and that the volume of work remains substantial, even as the first of the two-day meeting proved to be productive, according to participants.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial welcomed the advice-giving body composed of U.S. Department of Defense's Roy Tsutsui, U.S. Coast Guard's Morgan Roper, CNMI's Arnold Palacios, Benigno M. Sablan, and Dr. John Joyner.

The meeting, held at the Azucena II Room of Fiesta Resort & Spa in Garapan, also saw the attendance of officials and representatives of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In his opening remarks, Fitial laid down his expectations for the 96,714 square miles of the nation's most pristine marine environments, with the fulfillment of the six key components of the Marianas Monument Agreement and the promised “full traditional indigenous access and practices in the Islands Unit.”

Fitial also sought the “full cooperation and support” of the national government for the conveyance up to 3 miles of nearshore submerged lands for all islands in the Commonwealth. He requested the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Department of Interior to “honor” their role in the agreement to develop provisions that would authorize mineral exploration and extraction and other activities that would bring in income for the CNMI.

“We have many difficult challenges facing us and I have instructed the [advisory council] members to immediately start work in achieving the monument vision mutually agreed to by the people of the Marianas and the Bush administration,” said Fitial.

Part of the meeting was the election of council officials. Chosen were Sablan as chair, Joyner as vice chair, and Roy Tsutsui as secretary/treasurer. Palacios also officially received his appointment to the council yesterday.

Tuesday's meeting concluded with five action items that the council members will need to work on and report about today.

Superintendent Susan White of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Pacific Reefs said that the council was finally able to organize itself, although the process of finally convening the body took longer than expected.

“This is the foundation on which the rest of the advisory council will continue to operate,” she said.

Lisa Ku'ulei Croft, deputy regional administrator for NOAA NMFS, said the council will be working on establishing the frequency of its meetings.

Sablan, for his part, said that with the inaugural council meeting comes the “beginning of understanding” of the importance of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.

“We're moving forward to make our people not only understand but really appreciate the context of a proclamation of this magnitude and its advantages for many future generations,” he added.

Palacios, who is also the secretary of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, noted the need to engage the community in the planning and implementation of the management plan for the monument.

“We are certainly looking at the interest of the Commonwealth notwithstanding national interests,” he said. 

Monument Blame Game

First of all, let me just say that I am sending you this as an individual, not on behalf of any organization.


I read the article about the monument in the February 11 Saipan Tribune and have several comments. The criticisms made are clearly an issue of Ben Sablan trying to create controversy ahead of a visit by federal officials. Several of his statements are off-base. Others are blatant falsehoods.

The reason the CNMI only has two seats on the monument advisory council right now is because the third seat was given to former DFW director Sylvan Igisomar. He recently retired and moved to Texas. Arnold Palacios was a last minute replacement, and the federal government hasn't approved him yet. In fact, the local government hasn't even approved Palacios in his position, so it is ridiculous to criticize the federal government on this issue. Incidentally, Palacios has been invited to participate in the meetings as a full member.

The $333 million "benefit" referred to by Sablan is also misleading. The University of Guam professor who authored the study Sablan cites talked about a 2008 "present value" of $333 million, which is an economic term to describe what the area could be worth. The economic benefit the study predicted was actually only about $10 million per year, with funds coming from a combination of federal funding, a boost in tourism from increased international exposure, and high-end tourism and research in the Northern Islands. Unfortunately Dr. Iverson made some incorrect assumptions about the proposed monument (He also failed to predict the Great Recession and the rise of the Tea Party, which are by far the biggest reason the federal government has yet to fund the monument).

First of all, Iverson predicted the monument would be the largest or second largest in the world, which it is not. The Islands Unit, the only part of the monument that is a marine protected area, is only 10% of the size proposed by the Friends of the Monument. Logically, a small marine protected area needs less funding than a large marine protected area. Second, the study assumed the manager of the monument would be NOAA Office of Marine National Sanctuaries. However, management authority was given to US Fish & Wildlife Service, which is a different government agency in a different federal department with different priorities and different budgets. If Dr. Iverson were to reassess his numbers with these new assumptions, the numbers would be different and likely much less than $10 million. I encourage readers to read the study to come to their own conclusions.

Read the economic study here.

Also, while it is very easy to play the blame game, it must be noted that the CNMI had a great opportunity to fund the monument with ARRA. Were any ARRA funds requested for the monument? Or were certain people still steaming over its declaration and hoping that they could get it overturned rather than get it funded and working? There are some people, including Sablan, who want to see and are working very hard to make the monument fail. The opportunity to fund the monument with ARRA has now passed.

As for the concrete economic benefits that have been received since the monument's declaration, much of the credit is due to Delegate Kilili's hard work. He helped secure $1/4 million the year the monument was declared to design a visitors center. For a number of reasons related to local politics, that money hasn't been spent and a visitors center has not been designed. That is not the federal government's fault; that is the local government's fault. Delegate Kilili also sponsored a bill that would have actually built the visitor's center in the Northern Marianas once it was designed, but that bill has yet to pass due to national politics and the current state of the national economy (You may remember when RNC Chairman Michael Steele visited the CNMI during the 2010 election and promised to cut federal spending? He delivered on his promise).

Despite the economic downturn, the federal government has hired at least two full-time employees on Saipan. I'll respect their privacy in this matter, but those jobs are a direct result of the monument declaration. They pay local taxes and support local businesses, creating jobs in the private sector. And despite Sablan's claim to the contrary, federal officials have visited Saipan on numerous occasions, staying in hotels, eating in restaurants, and supporting job creation in the private sector. The 2010 Coral Reef Task Force was also held in Saipan to highlight the creation of the monument. This conference brought tens of thousands of dollars to the local economy.

The CNMI also continues to receive global media attention due to the monument and other unrelated but similar environmental initiatives, such as the 2011 shark fin ban introduced by Diego Benavente and signed by Governor Fitial. This is international attention MVA would otherwise have to pay a premium on, so it saves the government untold hundreds of thousands of dollars at the same time it attracts tourists who spend money in the local economy. This is something the CNMI should leverage, which to date it has not.

And despite these unfounded criticisms, most importantly, our children are already benefiting from the monument declaration, and it was for them many of you reading this supported the monument's creation. In 2009, a recent graduate of Marianas High School was taken to the monument and wrote a book about that experience. Hundreds of copies of his book Our Northern Islands have been donated to the public schools, and once the Friends of the Monument raise more money, more will be donated. Before the monument was declared, how many people could even name the Northern Islands? Now our children have photos and stories to share from them. Also, NOAA provided our public schools with 100 copies of a lesson plan about exploring the Mariana Trench and trained Agnes McPhetres to "teach the teachers" on how to use them.

The community should be excited that they have the opportunity to participate in the management of their monument. Despite misconceptions that the federal government was going to take this part of the Marianas away, what they are really doing is reminding our people that this part of our home still belongs to us and that we need to take care of it. I encourage the community to attend the upcoming public meetings and to continue to work hard to protect our fragile natural heritage.

Angelo Villagomez
Washington, DC

UNEP/GRID-Arendal’s Blue Carbon Photography Contest

Grassroots organizations involved in coastal and marine conservation are invited to participate in UNEP/GRID-Arendal’s Blue Carbon Photography Contest. Selected photographs are intended for use in a special publication for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa (COP17), and for an online image resource - the Blue Carbon Photography Library.


The theme of the contest “Life on the coasts - Blue Carbon” focuses on the importance of a healthy marine environment in coastal livelihoods.

We are looking for iconic images in two categories – People & the Environment, and Coastal & Marine Ecosystems. Examples include coastal and underwater scenes, community based restoration and conservation projects, our connection to healthy coastal ecosystems (e.g. fisheries, tourism), and how a changing ocean and climate impact the daily life of people and communities living along the coast.

As long as there is a clear affiliation with a grassroots organization, all professional and non-professional photographers worldwide are welcome to submit. Organization logos will also be highlighted in the special publication. Blue Climate Solutions has offered a digital underwater camera as a prize for the best image. Additional sponsors are welcome.

**To SUBMIT your images, please see the Competition Rules and send all submissions to: photocontest@grida.no

**The DEADLINE for submitting pictures to UNEP/GRID-Arendal is SEPTEMBER 30, 2011. Finalists will be announced in October 2011.

Personal Release forms are required for all images that include recognizable subjects and children (see Competition Rules).

After reviewing the following Competition Rules, you will be fully prepared to enter the contest.

Contest information and rules can be found at: http://www.grida.no/marine/activities/blue-carbon-photo-contest.aspx?id=4808

Best of luck to all!
Steven Lutz
UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Arendal, Norway
Email: photocontest@grida.no

UNEP/GRID-Arendal is a non-profit, administratively independent institution and an official collaborating centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It was established in 1989 by the Norwegian Ministry of Environment to support UN’s Environment Programme and other UN agencies. Its mission is to communicate environmental information to policy-makers and facilitate environmental decision-making for change.



Suzanne Garrett
DCMC Coordinator
IUCN
1630 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20009
202.518.2072

Refuge System Sets Goals for Next Decade

Friends of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument
to Join 1,200 at One of Nation’s
Largest Gatherings of Conservationists

Representing Friends of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument (FOMTM) Ignacio V. “Ike” Cabrera, Chairman and Laurie Peterka, Secretary, will be among 1,200 professionals and citizen conservationists who will hear from Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, retired U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who headed the federal response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and historian/author Douglas Brinkley at the National Wildlife Refuge System Conserving the Future conference in Madison, WI. The conference will be held July 11-14, when a new vision will be ratified to guide the Refuge System for the next decade.

The conference – one of the nation’s largest gatherings of conservationists — is the culmination of a months-long, highly transparent process to create a reinvigorated vision for the Refuge System. Over the past six months, Americans submitted more than 10,000 comments to the draft vision, posted online at http://americaswildlife.org, where more information about the vision and the conference is available.

Speakers will also include noted oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle; award-winning nature photographer Dewitt Jones who traveled the globe for National Geographic; MacArthur-winning environmental activist Majora Carter of the Bronx, New York; and Juan Martinez of Los Angeles, with the nonprofit Children & Nature Network and named by National Geographic as one of its Emerging Explorers.

FOMTM was among more than 100 nonprofit Refuge System Friends organizations at the conference. FOMTM formed in the Spring of 2008 to express the voice of the local community and consists of a cross-section of indigenous and resident people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands who are dedicated to the conservation, preservation and protection of flora, fauna and geological features of the oceans; and the proper management of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument. The organization was a recipient of a 2009 EPA Environmental Award for their community outreach work supporting marine protected areas. Currently, FOMTM follows and reports on progress of the steps outlined in the 2008 declaration.

The Refuge System, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the nation’s largest network of federal lands and waters dedicated to the protection of wildlife and the habitat on which it depends. The Refuge System is composed of 553 national wildlife refuges spanning about 150 million acres. More than 44 million people visit wildlife refuges each year.

The new vision will help the Refuge System implement the best wildlife conservation practices guided by the latest science. The Refuge System’s new vision recognizes the rapid social and environmental changes that have taken place over the last decade or so.

One idea slated for discussion: to establish an interagency team to improve habitat conservation and the conservation literacy of America, especially among the young.

FOMTM is attending the NWR conference to network with like-minded professionals and volunteers in order to bring whatever resources it can back to the local community. Any particular programs that may be launched as a consequence of participation will be announced at http://marianamonument.blogspot.com/, where you can also follow all other activities that FOMTM is involved on behalf of the community.

The Conserving the Future conference will also showcase a modern face of the federal government: Many conference proceedings will be live-streamed. Texting, mobile communications and social networking will all play essential communications roles.

The Refuge System will offset carbon emissions tied to conference travel with contributions to The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero program.