Category: News

Montréal, December 10, 2022 – Today the Madagascar Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development launched the Madagascar Coalition for Protected Areas during a well-attended side-event of the COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference. Madagascar has 123 Protected Areas across the nation, in the right places that are worth protecting as they represent the country’s biological diversity, natural heritage, and provide nature-based solutions to sustainable economic development needs of the country. From the 2003 Durban vision of tripling Madagascar’s protected areas to the 2014 Sydney pledge to strengthen marine protected areas, the Madagascar government and non-government organizations have worked on creating and managing the system of parks and reserves across the nation. Supported by mostly international donors, thousands of competent, dedicated local experts, working tirelessly with local communities and the beneficiary impacts are starting to show in some of the protected areas. These success stories provide critical insights in how protection of ecosystems …

Did you know that the flow of water that supplies Andekaleka hydroelectric dam depends on the health of the Ankeniheny Zahamena protected area? That nearly 70% of foreign tourists who come to Madagascar visit at least one protected area? That the fishery products in or near protected areas exceed in quantity and quality those outsides, thanks to the good conservation of the marine protected areas and the wetlands? Find out how and why protected areas contribute to the local, national and even the global economy in the White Paper “Our protected areas are vital for our development. Based on the Study of Economic Value of Protected Areas – Review of the Evidence, this paper outlines the key findings. Recommendations that match our contributions 66 USD/ha is the average contribution of a protected area to the local economy. The credit goes to the field agents and communities. They work to preserve …

FAPBM was represented by its Executive Director, Alain Liva Raharijaona, at the 12th General Assembly of CAFÉ (Consortium of African Funds for the Environment). The event took place from September 12 to 16, 2022 in Douala (Cameroon). It brought together the 19 members of the consortium from 20 countries, as well as representatives of RedLAC, CAFÉ’s counterpart in Latin America. Blended finance to support protected areas CAFÉ members benefited from a 2-day training in blended finance by FinAfrique. Blended finance is an innovative approach to increase funding for protected areas. It involves blending grants and concessional funding with conventional market and private funding. A new Board for CAFÉ FAPBM welcomes the election of Théophile Zognou, (Cameroon) as President and Tapiwa Makiwa, (Namibia) as Vice-President of CAFÉ. Théophile Zognou takes over from Karen Price of Malawi, whose contributions to CAFÉ are gratefully acknowledged by members. The new chair will continue advocating …

FAPBM took part in the Salon de la Responsabilité Sociale des Entreprises et du Développement Durable(Fair of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development Initiatives) on October 6 and 7, 2022, in Antananarivo. The Foundation set up an exhibition stand at the fair. The event was marked by the presentation of the progress of the CSR national strategy the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. Actors of sustainable development (NGOs, social businesses, …) and the private sector had the opportunity to exchange thanks to a program rich in diversity: networking, conference, workshops, training. In addition to the plenary sessions, exhibition stands allowed for one-to-one discussions with FAPBM Executives about to opportunities to collaborate through FAPBM in support of both corporate needs and protected areas. The FAPBM stand, for listening and sharing The main objective of FAPBM stand was to present the value chains supported in the funded protected areas. This format …

An important meeting between the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the protected areas managers took place on October 7 in Antananarivo. Chaired by the Minister, Marie-Orléa Vina, the meeting enabled the establishment of a regular and productive dialogue to strengthen collaboration and coordination between the 2 parties.  Among others, DELC, SAGE, Madagascar Voakajy, Ecovision Village, Blue Ventures, WWF, MBG, Sadabe, Asity Madagascar, MNP, Famelona, Rainforest Trust, RBG, MNHN, Anjavavy, Fondation Tany Meva, SEAR, MICET, L’Homme et l’Environnement, Durrell, TPF, GERP, WCS, MNP were present. Through thematic discussion groups, the staff of the Ministry and the representatives of the managers, as well as the partners of the protected areas such as FAPBM, have dialogued in a spirit of co-construction. FAPBM has facilitated the meeting. Madagascar protected areas In 2022, Madagascar had 124 terrestrial and marine protected areas and eight protected areas in the process of being created, extending over …

Launched last May, the competition of small cultural projects “Art and Biodiversity” initiated by FAPBM in collaboration with the Association of artists, La Teinturerie, has reached its climax. On Thursday, October 13, the artists presented to the public and the press the fruit of their stay at La Teinturerie in Ampasanimalo. These artists are the following: Mozeration, a talented cartoonist from Diego Suarez who presented his work “I am Stupideman”. The comic strip features the characters of Jean Poluan, Le soleil and Makoa Bory, who are confronted with everyday situations, pushing them to do stupid things that harm the environment. The comic book will be available on line free and on Mozer’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Tokikycity ) for as many people as possible to read. The Loko Association artists, namely Fad Madart, painter, street-artist and draftsman, Romuald, draftsman, portrait painter and painter,and Gianfranco Henri aka Steeve, freelance illustrator and 2D animator …

Through a series of 11 podcasts, FAPBM wanted to give a voice to the communities living along the protected areas to share their daily lives and the challenges they face in defending our protected areas. From Analalava to Oronjia, listeners are invited to discover the life stories of farmers, fishermen or craftsmen punctuated by the state of health of the forests. They are called upon to give voice to this biodiversity that should be preserved, restored and financed.   Madagascar is rich in biodiversity. 3% of the world’s biodiversity finds refuge in the Great Island. The Madagascar Protected Areas System was created to preserve this biodiversity. If this unique wealth is rather well documented, the benefits rendered by this biodiversity and the protected areas are scarcely communicated. The communities that directly live off it and defend it are even less so, especially at the national level. Working locally, these heroes …