Strengthening of local communities for genuine involvement in the REDD + process linked to mangrove management

Blue Ventures is an English marine conservation NGO that has been working for more than 10 years with the fishing communities of West Madagascar, in partnership with the Malagasy authorities. It has helped create a network of locally managed marine protected areas, while developing economic alternatives such as sea cucumber aquaculture.

A previous PPI project, completed in 2012, made it possible to create a village committee for the management of fishery resources in the region of Belo-sur-mer and another PPI, in 2006, an association of 20 villages around Velondriake. In 2011, BV started, with funds from the MacArthur Foundation, a program to quantify the reduction in greenhouse gas  emissions achievable through the conservation of mangroves, (which are among the most carbon-rich ecosystems on earth), in order to allow communities to access sustainable financing on carbon markets through the REDD + mechanism.

This feasibility study was completed by the implementation of community management measures on a pilot site in Ambaro and Ambanja Bay thanks to funding from DEFRA, in 2012. This project complements the ongoing program . Its objective is to develop sustainable community management of mangroves financed through the establishment of a quota tax system and the development of the capacities of communities to take part in the REDD + mechanism. It operates in the Ambaro and Ambanja Bay (AAB) complex located in the north-west of the island, in the Diana region, 60 km from Ambanja.

This region, which is home to the second largest mangrove ecosystem in Madagascar, (24,120ha), was subjected to the greatest pressure from deforestation between 2000 and 2010: approximately 230 ha disappear there each year, i.e. 5,000t of wood / year, 745t from the project area. Between 2001 and 2011, the management of the region’s mangroves was transferred to associations, the Local Base Communities (COBA), in application of the law on secure local management (GELOSE). This management method has proved ineffective due to a lack of skills of the COBAs in technical and financial management, the lack of training of communities in good governance and the absence of financial support.

Le financement durable de ces associations de gestion communautaires apparaît comme une priorité absolue pour assurer la conservation des mangroves sur le long terme. Blue Ventures propose de développer l’autonomie financière de ces communautés à travers le renforcement de leurs capacités en matière de REDD+ et de collecte de taxes sur les produits ligneux de la mangrove exploités rationnellement grâce à un système de quotas. 5 communautés locales regroupant 15 villages sont concernées par le projet, représentant 3 200 ménages et 16 000 personnes.