Antananarivo, August 11, 2023 – The Danish Hempel Foundation and Madagascar Protected Areas and Biodiversity Fund (FAPBM) signed a grant agreement for a long-term Professional Training Program in favour of Malagasy professionals and community leaders. The goal is to strengthen their skills needed to protect biodiversity and ensure that ecosystems will continue to provide much-needed services such as clean water, healthy forests and productive coastal waters. FAPBM’s experts will manage the program so that communities and professionals can succeed in managing Madagascar’s important network of protected areas.
Local training to accelerate and grow local, regional, national and global impacts
Madagascar’s network of protected areas can play a key role for the country’s development as the protected areas can support local, regional and national economic growth. In fact, according to a recent study (FAPBM,2022), Madagascar’s 123 protected areas contribute approximately USD 450 million per year to various key strategic sectors: tourism, fisheries, and hydropower. Also, at the global level, Malagasy protected areas contribute significantly to climate adaptation. The protected areas are managed by Madagascar National Parks, NGOs or associations, often in close collaboration with community organizations, and these are complemented by many community-conserved areas throughout the country.
The Malagasy government, through the Ministry of Environment, has started to expand the area under protected status, aiming at 140 protected areas by 2023. Many marine and coastal areas will be included in this target so that Madagascar has 30% of its maritime territory conserved, which aligns with the Kunning-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework. To support this target and to further improve the performance of existing protected areas for people and the planet, more protected area managers and more communities need new skills.
“This capacity building initiative will help support our primary goal to preserve Madagascar’s biodiversity. This project complements our site-based support, including the Baobab Forest Landscape project, which aims to support protection efforts to conserve unique and threatened dry forests. The Menabe region (CNFEREF Kirindy, CNFEREF Morondava and Kirindy-Mitea National Park) was also identified as an ideal potential site for practical field training.” explains the Hempel Foundation Executive Director, Anders Holm, who came in person to Madagascar for the signature.
An investment in our Malagasy expertise and the next generation of conservation practitioners
The training will help prepare the current and next generation of Malagasy experts by playing a pivotal role in capitalising on local know-how while filling knowledge gaps required to bring conservation work and sustainable development together. The program will target current and aspiring practitioners such as rangers, community liaisons, protected area managers, students, young professionals, young activists, and decision-makers. Learning modules will address topics such as community participation, financial sustainability, strategic management, and ecological sustainability.
FAPBM will manage the project and include it within its efforts to raise funding that will make it possible to scale up the program and serve more Malagasy professionals and community leaders. “FAPBM has always been advocating for improved management through the support of local experts and communities. Indeed, our 2022-2026 strategic plan has a special focus on promoting sound management within Madagascar’s protected areas network. For instance, in 2022, the funded protected areas performed more than 70% in METT[1]score,” underlined Bruno Rajaspera, FAPBM Chairman of the Board.
About the HEMPEL Foundation
The Hempel Foundation is a corporate foundation dedicated to making a difference, and is based in Denmark. The Foundation is the sole shareholder of the Hempel Group – a global leader in the distribution of coatings for industrial structures – and a committed philanthropist with strong emphasis on education, and on biodiversity conservation, and is committed to supporting projects that bring about positive and catalytic change. In Madagascar, the Hempel Foundation also supports forest conservation in the Tsitongambarika protected area (Anosy Region, southern Madagascar), managed by Asity Madagascar-BirdLife, by strengthening patrols and supporting sustainable livelihoods to limit deforestation and ensure natural regeneration of the degraded forest.
About Madagascar Protected Areas and Biodiversity Fund (FAPBM)
Created in 2005, FAPBM is a private Malagasy trust fund dedicated to the conservation of Madagascar’s biodiversity. Its mission is to contribute to the sustainable financing of the Madagascar Protected Areas System (SAPM), to contribute to the biodiversity conservation, to the maintenance of ecosystem services, to the well-being of the population, to the fight against climate change and to promote good management within SAPM. Each investment in the Foundation’s capital generates perpetual annual income, dedicated primarily to the operations and conservation & community development activities in protected areas. FAPBM is internationally recognised for its expertise in protected area funding, transparency, good governance of funds, and the relevance and sustainability of its interventions.
[1] Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool
