Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

[ ] 39 Sustainable management of Madagascar’s marine resources Conservationists have long recognized the global importance of Madagascar’s terrestrial biodiversity. Recently, however, scientific research has clearly shown that Madagascar has highly diverse marine ecosystems and species as well. Levels of coral diversity, for example, are the highest in the Western Indian Ocean and only surpassed globally by the Coral Triangle. Furthermore, Madagascar is at the heart of the Agulhas and Somali Currents Large Marine Ecosystems and undoubtedly influences the richness and productivity of this great system. Conserving Madagascar’s marine biodiversity is an economic as well as an ecological imperative. Fish stocks support local livelihoods, and also represent an important sector within the national economy. To protect Madagascar’s marine resources from threats that include habitat destruction and unsustainable fishing practices, the president of Madagascar committed to tripling the number of marine protected areas. The GEF project “Expanding and Consolidating Madagascar’s Marine Protected Areas Network” is working to fulfil this commitment and strengthen the management of the country’s Marine Protected Areas and fisheries resources. The program will provide the first fully integrated biodiversity and fisheries strategies in Madagascar, identifying effective mechanisms to integrate the two approaches in a given seascape, with marine protected areas and locally managed marine areas providing improved biodiversity health that supports well-managed local fisheries. Shutterstock