When Carbon Sequestration = Village Schools

Mangroves = carbon = schools

By registering the Bay of Assassins mangrove forests as a Plan Vivo project, Blue Ventures, as the project manager, will be able to channel money to communities through the sale of certificates for carbon credits on the open market. The certifier - in this case Plan Vivo, although there are other carbon standards - ensures that these certificates are backed up verifiable trees just standing around in the forest, sequestering carbon. And if they’re mangrove forests, the trees, soil and roots together add up to an ecosystem that can hold more carbon than many other forest types.

A few potential beneficiaries of the project

However, the preparation and planning that goes into validation of the project - that is, ensuring that carbon credits sold as certificates can be traced back to their origin from sustainably managed forests, supported by biomass volume calculations - has an enormous amount of work going on behind the scenes.

The primary consideration is that the people in the communities are full participants in, and leaders of, the process. The Blue Forests team working in the area; Lalao, our project coordinator, Cicelin, Dolce and Aina, have visited and re-visited each of ten villages; to first conduct information sessions to assess interest and commitment on the part of the communities, then to systematically guide them through the process. I’ve joined the project close to the end of the many consultations, as we expect to be able to finish this stage by July.

Village consultation

The villagers have discussed and agreed upon zonation of protected areas (no harvest of trees at all), sustainable use areas and planned reforestation areas. (The goal is to plant 10 hectares of mangrove each year until the degraded forest is completely covered in mangrove again.) To ensure that no harvest occurs from protected areas and that cut quotas are respected in the sustainable use areas, communities have also agreed on local rules (Dina) and as a result, have also planned a system to enforce the rules. One of the major issues throwing a wrench into control of mangrove forests by communities is that outsiders often come into the area, cut trees and transport them away for sale of the wood or to make charcoal. Everyone has agreed that monthly or bi-monthly patrols are necessary - which means that locals must be recruited and trained to monitor the forests and report infractions to the village and district associations.

Dolce, leading the consultation
in the Ankitambagna school, on the list to be replaced

Discussions have been had around what to do with the money earned through sale of carbon credits, with most villagers approving the construction of new schools, or meeting halls, or markets. Actual earnings, spread out over 20 years of the project, probably won’t be enough to completely fund the infrastructure, but will buy materials, and it is expected that communities will provide the labour for construction. However, some villages will have to wait for their share, and another consultation will be held to agree on the priority sites and to create a schedule for each villages’ needs.

One of our coastal villages

The latest meetings were held over the last two weeks to discuss benefit sharing and to explain division of the funds that will be earned. A percentage each year is set aside for monitoring and protection of the forest, some portion will be remitted to the larger area association and national government and at least 50%, possibly more, will be available for community projects. Generally, interest in these consultations varies between villages, but the presidents of the communities attended a workshop before this round and they all clearly explain the issues that are being brought before the residents for consideration, and consensus is reached through open, and sometimes vigorous, discussion.

In the next 3 months, we have at least 3 more village tours on the calendar; for benefit sharing with the discussion on infrastructure priorities, consultations to design a grievance mechanism and final validation of the whole project by each community. The process requires continuous, dedicated effort on behalf of the Blue Forests team in the Southwest and so far, they’re advancing the ball steadily and surely - we’ll get there.  

The best part for me about this round of consultations? The commute - a sweet hour in a sailing pirogue to get to Lomboara on the last day before wrapping up the tour. 

Aina, one of the Blue Forests team members, 
at home on the pirogue

Obligatory (for me) baobab picture (expect more)

Blue Ventures / Blue Forests

Baobab in the southwest forest

Note: For those of you who read my blog (because I shamelessly email the link, maybe?), I know, it's been a while (15 months). Update: I spent 7 months of 2016 in Bogor, Indonesia but wasn't inspired to write a lot - I worked as deputy director for a landscape management project, about 3 steps of the ladder away from the actual landscape (i.e. in an air-conditioned at a desk behind a computer - highly reminiscent of my last Canadian job).
Casting around for the next job, I made the conscious decision to choose one that offered a technical field work aspect and have been incredibly lucky to land a position with Blue Ventures in Madagascar as their Blue Forests programme lead, advancing work to ensure sustainability in coastal mangroves. So here's how things are going.... 

Dry forest in southwest

Hotel in Befandefa, a village in Baie des Assassins

Village in southwest - note the fence; constructed from mangrove species

Village outreach, consulting on mangrove reforestation areas

Another source of income - seaweed cultivation

Village of Andavadoaka

So far, the first two months of my new job has involved a lot of traveling - Antananarivo, Toliara, Ambanja, Andavadoaka and surrounding villages, with possibly Mahajamba and Belo sur Mer lined up in the next month. All with the aim of familiarising myself with the several sites at which Blue Ventures operates. BV has been in Madagascar for over 10 years, primarily focused on improving fisheries sustainability in coastal communities. But, as with any environmental issue, it’s all connected, and for the last four years additional resources have been targeted towards management of bordering mangrove forests which have been depleted for building supplies and charcoal production. Mangroves, for my non-forestry readers, are multi-functional ecosystems, fringing ocean and riverine systems in the tropics and sub-tropics. They provide nurseries for small fish, crabs and shrimp, and protect coasts from wave-action erosion and more severe events like cyclones. There are 8 species of trees found in Malagasy mangrove forests; comparatively few compared to Indonesia, with about 35 different species; all fascinating plants which are able to grow with their roots in salty water. 

Shoreline in Andavadoaka, village where BV has an office

Tree nursery in southwest, Cordylla madagascarensis seedlings

Outplanted seedling, southwest

The Blue Forests program is centered around communities close to the coast, primarily dependent on fishing for their livelihoods, which either have tenure over the mangroves or have a path to tenure, and depend on them to provide building materials for houses, fences and boats. Tenure is key, because it allows communities to continue sustainable harvest from mangroves; in an attempt to stop people from outside the area cutting trees in the mangrove forests the Malagasy government has made harvesting mangrove trees illegal. 



Our role is to facilitate communities to build management plans that include provisions to set aside protected zones and areas for sustainable harvesting, to monitor natural regeneration and to hold planting events to reforest the most seriously degraded areas.  And, to relieve demand for wood, we’re also helping to establish alternative wood plantations outside the mangrove zone, planting species that can be used for charcoal production; another environmental issue that demands a broader solution. Most Malagasy use charcoal to cook, other forms of energy being unavailable, unreliable or too expensive for the average family. If there were significant investment in affordable green energy sources, the threat to mangroves would decrease accordingly. 

Tree nursery in northwest, Acacia seedlings

However, charcoal production is also an important source of income for many villagers, who are living close to the poverty line, many earning less than $2 USD a day.

Heading out to plant seedlings

Options? Northwest Madagascar is humid, warm and leafy, which offers the potential to grow fruit crops, cinnamon, and other plants to replace cash earned by charcoal, as well as to develop beekeeping, producing mangrove honey. In the extremely dry southwest, options are more limited, but BV is supporting a trial beekeeping operation and alternative fuel wood plantations, expanding the paths to increased income for families whose primary source of food and money is fishing.

Beehive

Village consultation for health programme

Along the trail to a village in the northwest

My brain is swimming with all sorts of new information after these first 2 months - I’m hoping to go back to my base in Toliara and process a lot of this before sorting out how I can be effective in the job. Not to mention several other items on the to-do list; improving my French, picking up more Malagasy, finding a place to live and figuring out how to shop the markets. If learning keeps you young, I’m quite the baby now.

Weekend trip to Nosy Be with Tim, Danny (in front), Nick (behind Danny) & Kate

More baobab (expect lots of these in photos - I love them!)