U.S.Military Base Okinawa threatens Dugongs habitat
- par: Viviane Bruyninckx (original : www.change.org)
- destinataire: Robert Gates, United States States Secretary of Defence
Habitats of endangered animals can not be disturbed. The U.S. Military should know this and act accordingly. The survival of the dugong is more important than anything else ! They have the power to help or destroy them... people all over the world count on it that this Military Base will not be responsable for their extinction and save their habitat !
The U.S. and Japanese governments are planning to destroy the best remaining habitat of a unique and critically endangered marine mammal, the Okinawa dugong. This dugong, a relative of the manatee, is a rare marine mammal that feeds in the seagrass beds and coral reefs of Okinawa's Henoko Bay. Fewer than 50 individual dugongs remain in an area described by the United Nations Environment Program as "the most important known dugong habitat in Japan." If the U.S. military proceeds with its Camp Schwab construction plan this exceptional, rare animal will lose the best habitat it has left and begin its last slide toward extinction. Of particular concern are proposals to move the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base from its current cramped location on one part of the island, where it is surrounded by civilian development, to an offshore site. The base, which supports helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, is home to more than 4,000 Marines and sailors.
The primary problem is that the new home of the airfield would be literally right on top of and next to a coral reef. The reef area provides he most important remaining habitat for the rare dugong ! The Okinawa dugong is a protected "national monument" under the Japanese "Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties". However, at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in March, Justice Department lawyer Charles Shockey said any actual development at the site is years away. Nevertheless, if they get their ways, it will be done...
http://www.mongabay.com/external/okinawa_dugong.htm
Until then, the dugongs will go about their business, oblivious to the fact they may once again face a military assault from the United States, or that their fate may be in the hands of lawyers and judges thousands of miles away. If we do not act, their habitat will be lost and they will get extinct...
Also sign the change.org petition :
http://www.change.org/actions/view/us_military_base_in_okinawa_threatens_rare_dugongs
Watch the Greenpeace movie about this problem :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwYE0ixR9Z0
Currently, the U.S. and Japanese militaries are planning to expand Camp Schwab near Henoko Okinawa by filling in large areas of biologically significant ocean habitat. This ocean habitat contains important seagrass beds immediately adjacent to an important coral-reef system off the north east coast of Okinawa; for the imperiled Okinawa dugong, these reefs and grass beds function as critical habitat. Military expansion and construction activities adjacent to and on top of this biologically significant area will have devastating impacts on some of the best remaining habitat of the endangered Okinawa dugong. Without adequate habitat, the Okinawa dugong faces extinction.
The Okinawa dugong, a relative of the manatee, is a rare marine mammal that feeds in the seagrass beds and coral reefs of Henoko Bay. Since 1955, the dugong has been listed as a "Natural Monument" in Japan, and among native Okinawans, the dugong has long been revered as a culturally significant animal. Now, fewer than 50 individual dugongs may remain in an area described by the United Nations Environment Program as "the most important known dugong habitat in Japan." The Okinawa dugong is a biologically and culturally significant marine mammal whose home must be preserved among the corals and grasses of Henoko Bay.
Further, the islands of Okinawa have been called the "Galapagos of the East" as the region supports a vast diversity of life. More than 1,000 species of reef fish, marine mammals, and sea turtles, including the endangered hawksbill, loggerhead, and green turtle, also live among Okinawa's reefs and grass beds. Okinawa's bays and oceans' plant and animal species stand to be profoundly negatively impacted if the expansion of Camp Schwab proceeds in Henoko Bay.
Please put a halt to this shortsighted plan. By reconsidering the expansion of Camp Schwab, you can help ensure that the Okinawa dugong and all biological treasures of Okinawa's seas survive and thrive.
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