Anybody who have internet connection and interested to know about anything in the world, also have clear idea about Wikipedia. People think, let me search in Wikipedia, if want to know detail on any topic - person, species, places, scientific terms or political jargon. Why? What are the major causes behind its wide acceptance? The first cause is 95 percent accuracy of its information [1]. Other causes might be wide range of articles, easily accessible, openness, free of charge, freedom of posting or editing article and articles in local languages. As a result, anybody from any corner of the world can contribute in Wikipedia by writing a new article or by providing new information through editing existing article. At now Wikipedia is available in more than 293 languages and new versions are being developed every day. Many many thanks to initiators of Wikipedia.
How good it would be if we had a dedicated online encyclopedia only on Mangroves? We have mangrove forests all over the world except Europe and they are not less than 158 thousand sq. km. They are like heart of the sea and lungs of the world! They are highly adapted to their environment, capable of excluding or expelling salt, allowing mangroves to thrive in highly saline waters and soils. Many threatened and endangered species inhabit mangrove forests, such as the Bengal tigers, manatees, and sea turtles. Hundreds of bird species have been identified in mangrove forests, and about 75% of all tropical fish and crustaceans spend their lives in mangrove swamps as juveniles. Mangrove forests sequester approximately 1.5 metric tons/hectare/yr of carbon, or 3.7 lbs/acre/day of carbon (1336 lbs/acre/yr). Mangrove substrate may contain 20-25% carbon, which may also help explain the high productivity and biodiversity of these ecosystems. Mangrove forests are also providing (a) protection of associated marine ecosystems; (b) firewood, medicines fibers & dyes, food, charcoal and construction materials; (c) Mangroves have been useful in treating effluent, as the plants absorb excess nitrates and phosphates, thereby preventing contamination of near-shore waters; (d) act as buffers catching materials washed downstream, they help stabilize land elevation by sediment accretion, thereby balancing sediment loss.
Mangrove related information are highly needed for the conservation activists, organizations, tourists and nature lovers, wildlife photographers, school and higher level students, researchers, government institutes and common people. Some of the mangrove forests are declared as World Heritage Sites and Ramsar Sites. But we don't have any single source to know all about mangroves such as flora, fauna, ecology, tourist spots, mangrovers, administrative issues, categories of mangroves, conservation and restoration techniques, organizations working on mangroves, culture of mangrove areas, legendary stories, literatures on mangroves, distribution of mangroves, local name of the mangrove forests, taxonomy, livelihood groups dependant on mangrove forests etc. There is millions of research and study conducted in the world on mangroves, but there is no single source from where we can get all information we need.
So, in many cases we have to search and see several books, reports, articles and papers to know in depth information on any issues about mangroves. It is like searching a black cat in a dark room. It is difficult for even a nature loving tourist to know in-depth information about any mangrove forest, such as the Sundarbans, from any book. The information are scattered even in this very twenty first century although there are some information in Wikipedia and other online encyclopedia on plants or lives. But, still there are problems. Most of the information is for higher level readers, not for students or common people. Higher level readers need technical information and technical terms, but school students and common people cannot understand those. Again, many of the books are written in general languages which have no use at technical level.
So, there should be a source of information where all classes of readers can get required information openly and free of cost. It should be all about mangroves which can be on Mangroves of Guatemala or Balikapan mangrove forest of Indonesia. There should be information about algae of Madagascar which can also be found in Barguna in Bangladesh or Sajnekhali in India. People can search there for information about Dimer Char (Islet of Egg) or Barking Deer. Through this way, readers from all levels can think mangroves as their relatives, not alien. This source should provide information on description of species to honey collectors' life and livelihoods. This wide range of information should have interlinks so that anybody can access to more information on any technical word, name or term.
A group of youth volunteers of CLEAN started translation and adaptation of Marvellous Mangroves Curriculum of Bangladesh in 2013 under financial assistance from Mangrove Action Project (MAP) and Mangroves and Reefs Education Association (MREA) and technical assistance of Martin A. Keeley, Global Education Director of MAP. This 380-page book is actually for science teachers who are teaching environmental science using MM Curriculum and complying with national curriculum. The book contains a number of exercises and games which make their education easy and joyful. But after implementation of one year and more, the teachers and students demand more in-depth and supporting information. The new generation is not happy with paper based book only. They also need support information from online sources as they know how to use internet in their schools and home. It is the driving force to think differently.
But the students are not the only group who need special information on mangroves. People who want to work as conservation or restoration volunteers, tourists who visit mangrove forests every year, wildlife photographer who need population of specific species in a certain area or a researcher who need information on nature and ecology - everybody has specific requirement of information. Each and every requirement is different from others. So, updating articles with latest provided information is also important.
Considering all respective issues a group of lunatic young activists have taken decision to imitate a dedicated online encyclopedia on only mangroves. It is initiated by CLEAN (Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network) in 2015 but contributed by voluntary developers, contributors, editors and scholars and treated as a social resource for all. The word "Mangropedia" is portmanteau of the words Mangro (short form of mangrove) and encyclopedia. Mangropedia will be written collaboratively by anonymous volunteers who write without pay. Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Mangropedia articles. Users can contribute anonymously, under a pseudonym, or, if they choose to, with their real identity. Authentic name of the contributor are preferred because it will help to issue a certificate of Volunteer, Contributor or Editor from Mangropedia.
Mangropedia is totally a voluntary initiative. We need suggestions and support from all sector of the world. We believe that suggestion, participation and support from all will contribute to establish and enrich the encyclopedia on Mangroves. Of course, we need financial support for this huge task. But, before that, we need your contribution by writing an article or editing any existing article. Anybody, who has internet connection, can join us as a contributor or editor. Primarily we are trying to develop the English and Bengali version. But versions in other languages will be developed within 2016, as these languages are spoken by the countries where mangrove forests exist [####]. Contributions from all will create a community owned encyclopedia, Mangropedia. Write to:Mangropedia Editor. Visit: Mangropedia Website
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[1] Sara, J. and Lopes, C. (2010). Statistical Measure of Quality in Wikipedia. 1st Workshop on Social Media Analytics (SOMA ’10), Washington, DC, USA: July 25, 2010
Primary plan is to develop different versions in following languages: Afrikaans, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Cebuano, Chinese, Divehi, Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Khmer, Korean, Malay, Malayalam, Oriya, Persian, Portuguese, Sinhalese, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese
