Local communities’ mobilization is quite challenging for protected area managers. This is starting to be no longer the case at the Montagne des Français, a SAGE site, as local communities voluntarily preserve the protected area. SAGE, the protected area manager, has been able to change their behaviour by calling out strategic communication and conservation rewards system. By encouraging voluntary sustainable management of natural resources, manager save money to invest significantly in development activities.
Raising awareness through testimonies
“To raise communities awareness, explaining nature’s benefit is not enough. Conservation issues must be illustrated by testimonies of people with whom the communities identify. I exposed the consequences of the non-sustainable use of forests, sharing the case of people from Ivonona commune, located 30 km from Antsiranana. In 2014, those people championed in charcoal production. Two years later, following the forest loss, water had become scarce, and communities had to purchase water in Antsiranana. In addition to the cost of about MGA 1500 for each cup, they had to pay for transportation fees. In 2018, Ivonana communities submitted a request for Natural Resource Management Transfer (TGRN) to be part of supported local communities of SAGE,” shared Ny Anja Andriamiadana, Montagne des Français site chief.
Andranomanitra local communities stand as one of the most engaged communities in voluntary conservation activities. “This month, we have voluntary realized 1 000 m to 1 500 m of firebreaks. In our region, we do not have water all year. And we benefit from the rainy season to grow plants. Thanks to the reforestation and the protection of the forests, we continue to have something to sell in the dry season. Next month, we will plant 6000 seedlings around the buffer zone by accepting to be compensated at a lower rate than the norm, because we are aware of how necessary this is,” proudly testified Mrs. Hasonjo, President of the local association of Andranomanitra.
Beyond the water sources within the protected areas, the local communities of French Mountain now wish to extend the protection zones to the neighboring mountain watersheds outside the boundaries of the protected areas and thus secure their natural resources.
“Conservation rewards” approach
Conservation rewards are strategic in encouraging voluntary work. At Montagne des Français, communities are educated to match donors’ contributions, called beneficiary contributions. They thus demonstrate how much they care. The extra fire breaks and community nurseries, in short, the extra efforts of communities should be rewarded through funding for development activities..
For example, at Andavakoera, community patrols had to be multiplied despite insufficient means, and a call for volunteers was launched by SAGE. In eight localities, a team of volunteers offered to carry out two patrols per week for twelve months with at least ten participants per patrol. In return, SAGE provided solar panels to local communities as a reward for the extra patrols. SAGE is working to replicate this best practice in the communities surrounding this protected area.
It is essential to offer benefits in kind to communities that perform well in terms of forest securitisation and reforestation or restoration through the “conservation rewards” approach. These can be broken down into “individual and group recognition” (for the most active individual or group) and “community recognition” (for the most successful communities associations).
The conservation rewards approach can be applied to several aspects of local development and welfare, such as paying school fees for children for a year, or installing sanitation facilities or a biogas kit (an individual aspect of the reward), or building a primary health center.
Tangible impacts
Serge Ratsirahonana, FAPBM monitoring and evaluation officer, concluded: “This close collaboration with the communities has resulted in a more effective management of fire threats.” Through their operational agents, the rangers, and the members of the Local Park Committees (CLPs), the communities conduct not only regular patrols but also participate in ecological monitoring and restoration activities. Positive results on natural resource management started to rise back in 2021.
Mountain des Français is a water tower for many villages around Antsiranana. Tourism activities in the protected area are currently beginning to develop with the construction of tourist circuits and camping sites in the secure area itself. This is an opportunity for the additional income of the local populations some of whose members are trained in tourist guiding techniques.
FAPBM’s support for managing the Mountain of French began in 2015. The activities put in place since FAPBM’s funding has consisted of basic conservation activities such as patrolling, ecological monitoring, maintenance work and/or implementation of conservation infrastructures (boundaries, firebreaks, barriers, etc.), and environmental restoration of the protected area. Development support involves implementing certain income-generating activities (IGAs) that improve household incomes. These IGAs have been gradually introduced in a value chain dynamic, aiming at the multiplication of beneficiaries and the sustainability of the activity. In MDF, these value chains are fruit trees farming and beekeeping, …
