The healthy mangroves of Ankelilaly produce 1 ton of crabs per week!

Posted on 27 April 2023

Designated a Ramsar site in 2017, this site is managed through natural resource management transfers with 12 grassroots community groups.

Madagascar's mangrove areas (277,567 Ha) potentially sequester 41% to 74% of Madagascar's total annual fossil fuel emissions and support the livelihoods of over 2 million people in coastal areas. Among them are the "Tsiribihina mangroves," which have an area of 47,000 ha. They are managed through natural resource management transfer contracts with 12 grassroots community organisations.

The communities of the village of Ankelilaly, Melaky Region, are among those who have benefited from this contract since December 5, 2020, giving them full responsibility for ensuring the sustainable management of mangroves in their territory. These communities manage 11,868 Ha including 3, 937 Ha of mangrove areas. Between 2019 and 2023, 791,000 propagules could be planted on an area of 127 Ha.

Alex Philibert, President of COBA Soatiry Ankelilaly, says that the effective management of mangroves has had a positive impact on the climate: "Thanks to the quality of our forests, we have had three times as much rainfall in the last three years as the populations in the plains" but also on biodiversity "...we have had a large quantity of crabs and fish, particularly the Bika, which is only found in the channels inside the mangroves". As a result, these communities have seen their livelihoods improve significantly thanks to a particularly successful fishery: up to 1 ton of "Pepy" (fish from the Engraulidae or anchovy family) caught in March 2023 when it was almost non-existent in 2018, as well as "Antafa" (fish from the Mugilidae or mullet family), which villagers were able to catch again this year. Crab fishing has reached 1 ton per week leaving Ankelilaly since 2022, compared to only 300-500 kg per week before 2019. The living conditions of Ankelilaly communities have thus become much better and their vulnerability to climatic shocks reduced.

Nature-based solutions are within reach, sustainable, effective and economically viable. Ecosystems represent solutions for managing natural disasters while providing natural habitats for wildlife. Their role in climate change adaptation was clearly recognized during COP21 and as part of the new Paris Agreement adopted on December 12, 2015, which emphasizes the importance of ensuring ecosystem integrity in all actions.

WWF is committed to protecting, restoring and conserving these mangroves with the aim of helping communities protect themselves and build resilience to climate change impacts such as flooding, cyclones, drought, coastal erosion, while supporting coastal populations whose livelihoods depend on mangrove ecosystems.