Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Dutch Television to Air Series on the Nature of the Dutch Antilles, Bonaire is Slated to be First

A series of weekly TV documentaries about nature in the Dutch Caribbean, entitled “Tropical Kingdom,” will soon air on Dutch television (Nederland 2) by the broadcast organization, Llink, starting April 1st, 2010. 

Each week another island will be featured, showcasing its unique biodiversity on land and in the water and the efforts to protect it. This beautiful documentary series was directed by Dutch documentary-maker, Willem Mouissie, and produced in partnership with DCNA, the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance, as part of their efforts in this Year of Biodiversity 2010.  Their aim is to promote the Dutch Caribbean biodiversity as the richest in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The series will highlight luxuriant coral reefs and majestic cloud forests, bringing an entirely new natural world to the Dutch Kingdom when Bonaire, Saba, and St. Eustatius become part of Holland later this year.  The series will examine the implications and effects of the changing political structure in these areas.  This new status will bring about ten thousand new species to Holland’s biodiversity.  Of these, 200 are unique in the world, and about 100 species are threatened with extinction.  How these areas and species can be protected under the new political structure is one of many questions to be answered.

In the first documentary on April 1st, Bonaire will be highlighted.  The film crews met with the dedicated volunteers of the Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire (STCB) to discuss the island’s sea turtles (both resident population and visiting turtles), as well as with those whose work takes place in the island’s important mangrove forests, and also with the various caretakers of Bonaire’s nature, both above and below the water.

The series promises to be enlightening, so those with access to Dutch television should plan to watch. (Source:  MINA, Amigoe)