Month: August 2022

Through a series of 11 podcasts, FAPBM wanted to give a voice to the communities living along the protected areas to share their daily lives and the challenges they face in defending our protected areas. From Analalava to Oronjia, listeners are invited to discover the life stories of farmers, fishermen or craftsmen punctuated by the state of health of the forests. They are called upon to give voice to this biodiversity that should be preserved, restored and financed.   Madagascar is rich in biodiversity. 3% of the world’s biodiversity finds refuge in the Great Island. The Madagascar Protected Areas System was created to preserve this biodiversity. If this unique wealth is rather well documented, the benefits rendered by this biodiversity and the protected areas are scarcely communicated. The communities that directly live off it and defend it are even less so, especially at the national level. Working locally, these heroes …

FAPBM was present at the first African Protected Areas Congress, APAC which took place in Kigali (Rwanda) on 18-22 July 2022. Invited to take part in several discussions, the Executive Director repeatedly highlighted the urgency of increasing funding for countries with some of the most exceptional, yet threatened, biodiversity. He put forward sustainable funding through conservation trust funds (CTFs) and the mobilization of the private sector as priority avenues. His agenda included panels on the following topics: July 19 at 16.00: Impacts of COVID-19 and other pandemics in protected and conserved areas; July 20 at 08.30: Investing in Biodiversity: Diversifying Innovative Financing Models for Protected and Conserved Areas; July 20 at 10:00 am: Supporting progress towards national biodiversity targets through improved mitigation policies and outcomes (COMBO+); July 20 at 10.30: Strengthening financial resilience of communities and their protected areas; July 21: Launch of the IUCN WCPA (World Conservation and Protected …

FAPBM participated in the celebration of the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem celebrated which took place from 24 to 26 July 2022 in Nosy-Be (Northern Madagascar). Lead by the theme “Let’s act together for the integrated and sustainable management of mangroves”, the 3 days of celebration were marked by restoration actions, a carnival, exhibition stands, and conferences. Through Serge Ratsirahonana, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, FAPBM presented the mechanisms of punctual funding available to support research (Support Fund for Strengthening-FAR) or to cope with threats (Emergency Fund). “ FAPBM co-funds activities in the PAs and aims to assess the results and impacts of these funds on the state of mangrove conservation. FAPBM encourages PA managers to put in place a more effective monitoring system for mangroves including an early alerting system for threats.“ In 2021, more than 43,000 ha of mangroves were preserved in the protected areas …

The 2021 Annual report of FAPBM is out and can be downloaded here. It tracks the impacts of funding on the 3 core areas of intervention which are: (i) the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services (water, energy, wood, pollination, etc.), (ii) the development of communities and (iii) the strengthening of protected area managers. After a significant drop in the indicators in 2020 linked to the health crisis, 2021 witnessed a resumption of the increase in the indicators for the 3 components. BIODIVERSITY: declining threats after a difficult 2020   The number of fires in protected areas funded by FAPBM has decreased by 45%. Fire remain the primary cause of deforestation. This drastic decrease in the number of fire points reflected the decrease in the level of threats. This can be explained, on the one hand, by a resumption of economic activities by local communities, and on the other hand, …

Management and fundraising performance, support to an extended Protected Areas (PAs) list and performance monitoring of a PA network, and an independent national Conservation Trust Fund (CTF) working with a National Agency count as the three key strengths of FAPBM according to the results of a cross-cutting evaluation conducted by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM). The conclusions of the survey were officially presented on June 21 throughout a webinar, during which FAPBM shared its experience.   The evaluation presents a comparative analysis of eight CTFs in Africa, the Mediterranean and Central America, which together received 19 grants from AFD and the FFEM over the 2005-2019 period. The comparison criteria are based on: (i) the quality of the CTFs’ governance and management; (ii) the quality of the CTFs’ financial investments on the financial markets; and (iii) the CTFs’ impact on biodiversity conservation and …

Antananarivo, July 13, 2022 – The winners of the small cultural projects competition on  “Fine Art and Biodiversity” organized by FAPBM and La Teinturerie Association of Artists, have been announced today. They are : Mozeration – I am Stupideman – Comic book Loko – Voa S’ary – painting and fresco Danielle RAHARIVOLA – A ma petite échelle – short film   Fine art and culture have been identified as effective vectors to raise public awareness, FAPBM and La Teinturerie have joined forces with a view to support cultural initiatives that contribute to the advocacy of protection and preservation of biodiversity in Madagascar. As a reminder, the theme of the year is the one announced by the United Nations for 2022 “Building a collective future for all life forms.” Non-profit economic players such as social enterprises, Malagasy civil society organizations, and artists residing in Madagascar for at least one year were …