Dugongs for Life: Incentivizing Malagasy communities for marine ecosystem stewardship

Lalarisoa Rakotoarimino

Our team has been working in the Nosy Hara Marine Park region since the completion of our CLP Follow-up Award Project, Dugongs without Borders, in 2010. We have an intimate knowledge of the challenges facing both the communities and Madagascar National Parks in reaching an agreeable balance between resource exploitation, endangered species conservation and improvement in people’s daily lives. This project aims to involve communities in the co-management of Nosy Hara Marine Park with Madagascar National Parks, focusing on the conservation of three species: dugongs, sea turtles and sharks. We will build the capacity of the communities through a process of recruiting and training local environmental stewards, develop ecotourism livelihoods and improve health and education services and we will monitor critical habitat and assess endangered species and fisheries. The data collected during the project will contribute to updating the Nosy Hara Management plan. As a result of this project Nosy Hara Marine Park will be effectively co-managed by the community in collaboration with Madagascar National Parks to ensure the conservation of Nosy Hara Marine Park’s endangered marine species.