Mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, saltwater marshes – these and other ‘blue forests’ are vital to coastal and island communities around the world
1,200 hectares of mangroves have been conserved and restored in the Bay of Assassins Madagascar.
Mitigation of
climate change
Mangrove conservation projects have been developed at two sites in Madagascar. Project activities contribute towards the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of mangroves, the enhancement of mangrove carbon stocks and the prevention of deforestation and degradation. Beyond securing climate change mitigating and other ecosystem services of mangrove forests, blue carbon is being explored as a financial mechanism for community-based mangrove management in Madagascar.
Blue Ventures in Madagascar (BV) worked on rebuilding community fisheries through carbon market incentivized locally led mangrove conservation. The project is co-managed by Blue Ventures and the Velondriake Association and the area of intervention lies within the Velondriake Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA).
This page is an overview of the Madagascar Blue Forests project. For an in-depth version of the Madagascar case study, click here.
Madagascar
Coastal blue carbon ecosystems have the potential to annually capture 0.5%-2% of the atmospheric carbon emitted globally.
Mitigating
climate change
Madagascar
Madagascar
Tahiry Honko - a community mangrove carbon project
Aerial 360 Vatoavo Mangroves
360 Walk with Blue Ventures experts who are explaining mangroves of Madagascar
360 Baobab Trees Aerial Views Madagascar
The project promotes locally led conservation, reforestation and sustainable use of over 1,200 hectares of mangroves, alongside initiatives for building improved and alternative livelihoods. Mangroves underpin coastal fisheries, provide vital sources of fuel wood and timber, protect coastal people from extreme weather and act as a key natural climate solution by sequestering globally significant amounts of CO2. It further supported Madagascar’s National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan (NBSAP).
Blue Ventures’ blue forests project in Madagascar, which launched in October 2014, is aimed at transforming the value of these ecosystems on the international carbon market into financial benefits that support the livelihoods of the entire community through carbon credit sales.
As part of the objective to increase awareness and better inform decision makers, the value of mangrove habitat for local fisheries are being evaluated. By providing policy makers with data relating to Madagascar’s mangroves’ exceptional capacity to sequester carbon, the project has contributed to the integration of mangroves in Madagascar’s National REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programme, which offers an incentive to developing countries to reduce carbon emissions through the forestry sector by generating finance in return for the carbon stored in healthy forests.
The project focuses on youth and adult education in order to maintain sustainable management of blue carbon environments in the future. Women’s associations and youth clubs are particularly involved in monitoring and reforestation activities. The project has a special focus on gender equality, with women holding leadership roles in the project and being promoted to participate in management decision making. The conservation of mangrove ecosystems is of particular importance for the women of the coastal communities, since they have few alternative means of earning money.
Project Locations
What are the key pathways
to reach these goals?
What are the goals of these
Blue Ventures projects?
What are the benefits and impacts of
these blue forests initiatives?
Project activities contribute towards the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of mangroves, the enhancement of mangrove carbon stocks and the prevention of deforestation and degradation. Click on each pathway icon to learn more.
Tahiry Honko
The Tahiry Honko project area encompasses 1,230 hectares of mangroves fringing the Bay of Assassins, located in the southern portion of the Velondriake Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA). The LMMA is situated in the Befandefa municipality and Morombe district of the southwest region of Atsimo Andrefana, Madagascar. The project encompasses ten villages within the Bay of Assassins, including Befandefa, the municipality’s commune.
It is considered a locally managed marine area due to the high level of involvement of local communities in the Marine Protected Area’s (MPA’s) inception, creation and management and is the first to be known as such in Madagascar.
Tsimipaika Bay
Tsimipaika Bay is in the northwest coast of Madagascar, with a sub-humid tropical climate and more than 24,000ha of mangroves. This location has an established mangrove conservation zone where no harvesting occurs, zones of reforestation where mangroves are planted and being reestablished, and a zone where some mangroves are harvested for household use, but in a controlled manner.
Nearby mountains protect the shoreline from heavy mountain winds and high precipitation during the wetter months (November-April), creating a suitable climate for tall, lush mangroves to flourish.
Blue Ventures worked with the local community to create Madagascar’s first fishery management plan to help ensure a long-term sustainable fishery. The collaborative plan development process created high levels of buy-in from the local community.
