Asity, BirdLife’s representative in Madagascar, received PPI funding that led to the creation of the Mahavavy-Kinkony Complex protected area (in the north-west of the country) through the transfer of resource management to communities.
This project aims to replicate this experience in the Mangoky-Ihotry Complex (450,000 ha), located in south-western Madagascar, in the District of Morombe. The complex comprises a coastal zone covered in mangroves (the Mangoky delta), Lake Ihotry (the island’s first brackish lake), and dry forests found along the Mangoky River. The site, declared an Important Bird Area (IBA), has held temporary protection status since 2008, and efforts are currently underway to grant it permanent status as a protected area. A management structure has been established, of which Asity Madagascar and the MIARO management platform, created in 2008, are co-managers.
The population’s main sources of income are fish trading (fresh or dried, marine or lake fish) and craftwork (Satrana or Bismarckia nobilis for basket weaving, and Faratatse or Gevotia madagascariensis for pirogue building). Owing to rising demand and worsening drought, which is causing water and forest resources to become scarcer, the site’s natural resources and biodiversity are under serious threat — particularly those of the lake, which was closed for one year starting in December 2012 in order to replenish fish stocks.
It therefore appears essential to support local communities in developing Income-Generating Activities; to provide technical support to fishers on Lake Ihotry; to strengthen the two management transfers of the Ambohibe mangrove (11,000 ha) and the Andranopasy mangrove (12,000 ha) to two local VOI associations; and to restore certain degraded areas through planting.
Around Lake Ihotry, 10 villages will be directly involved (around 5,000 people); in the Mangoky Delta, 16 villages (7,000 people); and in the forest areas, 12 villages (3,000 people) — for a total of around 15,000 people.
