Marine Conservation charity seeks partners to aid in development of Malagasy MPA network
Blue Ventures is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to marine conservation, environmental education and sustainable socio-economic development in Madagascar.
Since 2003, Blue Ventures has partnered with local villages in southwest Madagascar to protect the marine resources local communities rely upon for subsistence and income. Blue Ventures launched the first long-term coral reef, fisheries and socioeconomic monitoring programme in southern Madagascar. To date, the programme has catalogued hundreds of marine species in the region – many that are endangered and several that are believed to be new to science.
Since 2003, Blue Ventures have been based in Andavadoaka in Southwest Madagascar, home to their research site which, since its inception, become one of Madagascar’s leading centres for applied marine conservation. The Conservation strategies developed and employed by Blue Ventures conservation have been used shared nationwide and led to the forging of links with other national authorities such as the Malagasy National Park authorities which Blue Ventures are keen to capitalise on.
Building on the success of a pilot marine no-take zone launched three years ago in Andavadoaka, we are now seeking partners to aid in the development of a vast network of community-run marine protected areas (MPAs) that spans more than 700-square kilometres and will provide a legal and moral protection to coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds and other threatened marine and coastal habitats.
The massive project, called Velondriake meaning “To Live With the Sea,” is a partnership between Blue Ventures, 25 villages along Madagascar’s southwest coast, Madagascar’s Institute of Marine Sciences (Institut Halieutique et des Sciences Marines – IHSM), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and fisheries collection and export companies.
The development of this network is reliant on the inclusion and investment of members of the local community for direct input in the planning of the network. Local inhabitants are being trained to eventually implement, manage and monitor conservation strategies that will provide the engine room for future conservation endeavours in the region. Supplementing the benefits of the protected areas, project leaders are working with local communities to develop and launch sustainable livelihoods – including eco-tourism and mariculture businesses – that will provide financial alternatives to overexploitation of natural resources.
Blue Ventures is committed to building national and local capacity for coastal management. Along with employing and training students and graduates from local institutions, Blue Ventures runs a scholarship programme that trains up to 15 Malagasy nationals a year in SCUBA diving, resource monitoring and marine environmental management techniques.
In 2005 Blue Ventures became the first European organisation to receive the SEED Award (IUCN, UNEP, UNDP) in recognition of its locally-driven partnerships to develop sustainable livelihoods. In 2007 the village of Andavadoaka’s partnership with Blue Ventures won the UNDP Equator Prize in recognition of outstanding community efforts for poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation.
A full bibliography of Blue Ventures’ past research and environmental education activities in Madagascar can be found at http://www.blueventures.org/research_update.htm
This post was submitted by Blue Ventures.
