Madagascar’s 5,600 km coastline includes Africa’s third largest
extent of mangroves: an estimated 213,000 hectares! These “blue” forests
take and store significant amounts of carbon dioxide and support a
diverse and in many cases unique range of plants and animals. For
residents of coastal communities along Madagascar’s west coast, who are
amongst the poorest and most vulnerable to climate change in the world,
livelihoods are inherently dependent upon the numerous goods and
services associated with healthy, intact mangrove ecosystems.
Comprised of a mixture of Malagasy, Canadian, American and Zimbabwean
scientists and conservationists, and augmented by the knowledge and
expertise of community members, the Blue Ventures Blue Forests (BF) team
remains hard at work helping to facilitate community-based mangrove
restoration, conservation, sustainable use and alternative livelihoods.
Following a national assessment of mangrove dynamics that confirms that
massive over-exploitation is a widespread issue, the BF team has chosen a
few areas to investigate the potential for payments for ecosystem
services (PES) and carbon financing projects.
A fishing pirogue (canoe) in the channel of Ambondrolava’s mangrove forest (Photo by Samir Gandhi)
The Ambondrolava mangroves in southwest Madagascar have been
degraded, deforested, or both within the last several decades. The
remaining mangroves and deforested areas of Ambondrolava, are a
potential candidate area for Madagascar’s first mangrove forest carbon
project! Recognizing the severity of the situation and this promising
opportunity to correct it, the BF team has partnered with the Belgian
NGO Honko (meaning “mangrove” in
Malagasy) and is working hand-in-hand with locals. Recently, we have
spent several months consulting with community members to understand
land-use and tenure rights in the area, and conduct socio-economic
surveys and a comprehensive ecological inventory.
The community management association has also taken part in a
participatory mapping exercise, which focussed on depicting historic and
contemporary distribution of land-cover types and land-use categories.
This exercise also involved documenting goals for land-cover and
land-use transformations in the coming decade. In addition, at the time
of writing, a mangrove biomass inventory is ongoing, which will result
in estimates of total forest carbon stocks and work towards local
capacity building through training community members in measurement
techniques.
Participatory planning of conservation activities with members of the Mamelo Honko (“Growing Mangroves”) management committee. (Photo by Ben Taylor)
Using the results of our field work and Honko’s history of mangrove
replanting efforts since 2008, we are currently making tangible progress
in laying the groundwork for a climate services project, which can link
local communities with voluntary carbon markets. A similar initiative is underway by the Mikoka Pimoja
project in Kenya, which is developing a mangrove forest carbon project
through the UK-based charity, The Plan Vivo Foundation, Honko and the
Blue Ventures BF team are working together to do the same! The aim of
the BF team’s work in Ambondrolava is to provide technical advice and
information to local communities in their efforts to manage and conserve
mangrove ecosystem services. By helping communities to adhere to Plan Vivo
forest carbon projects, communities may later be able to pursue the
registration of their conservation activities as part of a forest carbon
project. Carbon revenues can help fund continued mangrove restoration
and expansion, sustainable use, and the implementation of various
alternative livelihoods projects, all of which can greatly benefit the
health and security of local communities who will depend on mangrove
forests for decades to come.
The key to the success of these projects is community ownership – in
the end it is the communities that, as custodians, will reap the
benefits of conservation activities or forest carbon projects. Blue
Ventures Blue Forests team believes that our role is to support
communities in providing technical advice, and linking communities with
partners, to maintain healthier mangrove forests which support the
traditional lifestyles on Madagascar’s west coast, and so many other
communities across the globe!
