FAPBM, represented by Serge Ratsirahonana, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, presented the main results of the study on the economic contribution of protected areas, during the workshop on equitable benefit sharing. The workshop was organized by the KOBABY DIANA project coordinated by Hanta Rabetaliana. It brought together stakeholders in DIANA protected areas to assess the progress of governance and management of protected areas (PAs) and activities (especially economic) aimed at strengthening, enhancing and sustaining PAs, which are key to the economic development strategies of rural territories.
The DIANA protected areas, an important support for the regional economy
The region has 19 protected areas with an estimated surface area of 2,367,026 ha, i.e., 33.4% of the total surface area of Madagascar’s protected areas. Each of them supports and contributes significantly to the rural economy and industries of the region. Here are some examples:
In the Manongarivo Protected Area, managed by Madagascar National Park, the two rivers, the Sambirano and the Andranomalaza, are critical for access to drinking water for local communities. Flowing into the Mozambique Channel, these two large rivers provide vast deltaic plains, which support crop fields estimated at around 100,000 ha, of vital importance to the farmers of three communities – the Sambirano, Mahavavy and Sofia.
The Montagne d’Ambre National Park preserves the watersheds located in the lowlands that irrigate about 70,000 ha of crops, for the benefit of local communities. The park is the main water reservoir of Diego city and supplies water to industries (JIRAMA, STAR, etc.). The park attracts many tourists, and provides sources of income for the communities (local labour, permanent or seasonal staff, ecotourism guides, etc.).
Protected areas are critical places that provide essential benefits that support the local and regional economy. If the efforts of the experts who work there are supported and complemented, they can become real agents of change.
Equitable sharing based on a study on the economic contribution of protected areas
Serge Ratsirahonana emphasized that the cost of managing protected areas is much lower than the economic contributions they bring. His intervention helped to frame the debate around sharing the profits from PAs. He put forward the idea that the next step could be a specific study carried out on the value of the economic contribution of DIANA’s protected areas.
“DIANA is far ahead of other protected areas in sharing the profits from protected areas. Indeed, the economic actors have already understood the importance of maintaining the services protected areas offer. For example, the agricultural actors of the rice sector of the “vary manitra” have gathered in an aggregator. They pay back part of their turnover to the protected areas for the good management of the Ankarana, Analamerana and Montagne d’Ambre landscape”, he reports. At the end of the workshop, participants will work on the replication of this kind of mechanism for a sustainable support to protected areas.
FAPBM finances many of the protected areas in northern Madagascar, complementing the KOBABY project. KOBABY is an AFD-funded biodiversity conservation project for PAs in northern and southern Madagascar.
