Protecting mangroves and supporting local communities in Madagascar (PAPEC)

The mangrove ecosystems in the Boeny region, covering 58,000 ha, are undergoing alarming degradation, mainly due to human activities such as clear-cutting, charcoal production, unsustainable fishing (around 170,000 direct jobs are linked to this sector and 60% of fishery products come from small-scale fishing), intensive aquaculture, and coastal development, which compromises biodiversity, degrades ecosystems, and threatens the livelihoods of local communities dependent on marine resources. In addition, mangroves are impacted by destructive caterpillars (Hyblaea puera), for which no solutions have yet been found. 

• Strengthen the management and protection of mangroves and their fishery resources (monitoring, surveillance, sustainable fisheries management: sardinella, mackerel, swordfish, tuna, shrimp, crab, squid, octopus).
• Improve living conditions for communities by supporting sustainable industries based around mangroves (silk, crabs, honey, salt, charbio, tourism).
• Capitalize on and disseminate the project results to support the Regional Development Plan and synergies between stakeholders (local authorities, public services, communities, NGOs, researchers).

• Raising community awareness of the importance of mangroves.
• Consolidating, scaling up, or creating new income-generating activities; professionalizing value chains.
• Improving the incomes of local communities involved in income-generating activities.
• Reducing the rate of mangrove deforestation.
• Expanding the area of mangroves under surveillance and protection.

The PAPEC project has set itself the ambitious challenge of minimizing the decline in mangrove area through monitoring, raising awareness of mangrove protection, and income-generating activities. In this way, it contributes not only to global environmental preservation but also to the local economic and social development of the country. It is also innovative in its structure (shared governance between the Boeny region, a private foundation, and research institutions in the north and south) and certain activities such as large-scale biochar production, support for the wild silk industry derived from mangroves, and the fight against the caterpillar that ravages mangroves.