By compass directions, the Sargasso Sea’s western limit is marked by the Gulf Stream, the eastern by the Canary Current, the northern by the North Atlantic Current, while the southern limit is marked by the North Equatorial Current and the Antilles Current.
These borders flow in clockwise motion and are dynamic. They change season after season in accordance with the Azores High Pressure Center.
The Sea is named after the genus of free-floating seaweed called Sargassum, named due to early Portuguese encounters with the seaweed, who named it Sargazzo or kelp in Spanish. Sargassum is a form of free-floating seaweed or algae that is unique in the sense that it reproduces vegetatively in the high seas, unlike other forms of floating seaweed that reproduce and originate in the ocean-floor. As such, Sargassum mats are plentiful on the sea’s surface. On the surface, the Sargassum mats provide habitats for a variety of marine organisms such as turtles, which use their platforms for hatchlings to flourish (NOAA, undated).
Beneath the Ocean Floor – Discovery of Ocean Ridge
The Sargasso Sea Alliance – a conservation partnership led by the Bermudian government – highlight three interdependent areas that place a case for scientific conservation efforts over the Sargasso Sea (Sargasso Sea Alliance, 2011). These include first, the unique ecosystem based on the floating Sargassum. Second, the area is a junction in the North Atlantic for migratory species that utilize the mats for food, reproduction and safety. Third, the unique conditions, the Sargasso Sea Alliance argues, are pertinent for research and require great vigilance.
The surface ecosystem is based upon two species of Sargassum that reproduce through fragmentation, and is different from all other varieties of seaweed. Golden-brown in colour, the floating mechanism is possible due gas filled bladders in the Sargassum. Sargassum provide critical habitats for many permanent and migratory species. The drifting of the sargassum makes it collect marine organisms, particularly invertebrates that attract other marine species towards the mats.
The Sargassum hosts more than 145 invertebrate species and over 127 species of fish. There is variance in this biodiversity owing to the season, location in the gyre and the age of the sea-weed. Larger marine species such as sharks and rays that prey on the spawning fish are also of great conservation value. Many spawning species represent rare species of marine life.
Many migrating species of fish such as Bluefin Tuna feed in the Sargassum Sea, which are exploited as a food source but are largely protected in the Sargasso Sea by the natural floating Sargassum.
Sargassum mats have been the source for many myths and legends over the centuries. They led many sailors to believe that their ships would be jammed and trapped in the seaweed in earlier times, which was accompanied with still waters and a lack of surface winds.
These myths had an important role in the conceptualization of the southwestern region of the Sargasso Sea as the Bermuda Triangle, as the passage in the ocean where ships would disappear. The floating Sargassum provides a natural barrier to fishing expeditions, and the Sargasso Sea was recently earmarked to be a world heritage site by the UN, and a report was published in 2016 in this regard (UN, 2016).
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- Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund.
- LEAF is supported by transnational corporations (TNCs) like Unilever plc, Amazon.com, Inc, Nestle, Airbnb, Inc as well as Emergent, a US-based non-profit.
- The world lost more than 10 million hectares of primary tropical forest cover last year, an area roughly the size of Switzerland.
- Ending tropical and subtropical forest loss by 2030 is a crucial part of meeting global climate, biodiversity and sustainable development goals. Protecting tropical forests offers one of the biggest opportunities for climate action in the coming decade.
- Tropical forests are massive carbon sinks and by investing in their protection, public and private players are likely to stock up on their carbon credits.
- The LEAF coalition initiative is a step towards concretising the aims and objectives of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism.
- REDD+ was created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It monetised the value of carbon locked up in the tropical forests of most developing countries, thereby propelling these countries to help mitigate climate change.
- It is a unique initiative as it seeks to help developing countries in battling the double-edged sword of development versus ecological commitment.
- The initiative comes at a crucial time. The tropics have lost close to 12.2 million hectares (mha) of tree cover last year according to global estimates released by Global Forest Watch.
- Of this, a loss of 4.2 mha occurred within humid tropical primary forests alone. It should come as no surprise that most of these lost forests were located in the developing countries of Latin America, Africa and South Asia.
- Brazil has fared dismally on the parameter of ‘annual primary forest loss’ among all countries. It has lost 1.7 mha of primary forests that are rich storehouse of carbon. India’s estimated loss in 2020 stands at 20.8 kilo hectares.
- Between 2002-2020, Brazil’s total area of humid primary forest reduced by 7.7 per cent while India’s reduced by 3.4 per cent.
- Although the loss in India is not as drastic as in Brazil, its position is nevertheless precarious. For India, this loss is equivalent to 951 metric tonnes worth carbon dioxide emissions released in the atmosphere.
- It is important to draw comparisons between Brazil and India as both countries have adopted a rather lackadaisical attitude towards deforestation-induced climate change. The Brazilian government hardly did anything to control the massive fires that gutted the Amazon rainforest in 2019.
- It is mostly around May that forest fires peak in India. However, this year India, witnessed massive forest fires in early March in states like Odisha, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram among others.
- The European Union’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service claimed that 0.2 metric tonnes of carbon was emitted in the Uttarakhand forest fires.
- Implementation of the LEAF Coalition plan will help pump in fresh rigour among developing countries like India, that are reluctant to recognise the contributions of their forest dwelling populations in mitigating climate change.
- With the deadline for proposal submission fast approaching, India needs to act swiftly on a revised strategy.
- Although India has pledged to carry out its REDD+ commitments, it is impossible to do so without seeking knowledge from its forest dwelling population.
Context:-
At the recently concluded Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund plan that shall be offered to countries committed to arrest the decline of their tropical forests by 2030.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]What is LEAF Coalition?
Why LEAF Coalition?
Brazil & India
According to the UN-REDD programme, after the energy sector, deforestation accounts for massive carbon emissions — close to 11 per cent — in the atmosphere. Rapid urbanisation and commercialisation of forest produce are the main causes behind rampant deforestation across tropical forests.
Tribes, Forests and Government
Disregarding climate change as a valid excuse for the fires, Indian government officials were quick to lay the blame for deforestation on activities of forest dwellers and even labelled them “mischievous elements” and “unwanted elements”.
Policy makers around the world have emphasised the role of indigenous tribes and local communities in checking deforestation. These communities depend on forests for their survival as well as livelihood. Hence, they understand the need to protect forests. However, by posing legitimate environmental concerns as obstacles to real development, governments of developing countries swiftly avoid protection of forests and rights of forest dwellers.
For instance, the Government of India has not been forthcoming in recognising the socio-economic, civil, political or even cultural rights of forest dwellers. According to data from the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs in December, 2020 over 55 per cent of this population has still not been granted either individual or community ownership of their lands.
To make matters worse, the government has undertaken systematic and sustained measures to render the landmark Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 ineffective in its implementation. The Act had sought to legitimise claims of forest dwellers on occupied forest land.
Various government decisions have seriously undermined the position of indigenous people within India. These include proposing amendments to the obsolete Indian Forest Act, 1927 that give forest officials the power to take away forest dwellers’ rights and to even use firearms with impunity.
There is also the Supreme Court’s order of February, 2019 directing state governments to evict illegal encroachers of forest land or millions of forest dwellers inhabiting forests since generations as a measure to conserve wildlife. Finally, there is the lack of data on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths among the forest dwelling population;
Tardy administration, insufficient supervision, apathetic attitude and a lack of political intent defeat the cause of forest dwelling populations in India, thereby directly affecting efforts at arresting deforestation.
Way Forward
Tuntiak Katan, a global indigenous leader from Ecuador and general coordinator of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, aptly indicated the next steps at the Climate Summit:
“The first step is recognition of land rights. The second step is the recognition of the contributions of local communities and indigenous communities, meaning the contributions of indigenous peoples.We also need recognition of traditional knowledge practices in order to fight climate change”
Perhaps India can begin by taking the first step.