Δημοσιεύτηκε στις October, 26 2010

The WWF Madagascar and Western Indian Ocean Programme office is pleased to present the third Newsbites. In this newsletter, you will find news about biodiversity and the event which involves young malagasy referring to the year of biodiversity, new project created and new staff recruted, biodiversity hotspot and another interesting topics.
We are looking forward to receiving your comments!

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In this edition

Rosewood: Real political will needed

After more than one year and several appeals from local, national and international communities, three praiseworthy initiatives were finally taken by the Malagasy HAT Government.

Niall O’Connor is leaving MWIOPO

After two years of service, WWF MWIOPO is sad to see its Regional Representative, Niall O’Connor leave. A forester by profession, Niall completed his master thesis on smallscale tree nurseries in Kenya where he is now going back as WWF’s Director of Performance and Development for Africa & Madagascar. Having lived in different countries in West Africa (the Gambia, Ghana and Guinea), he seems to have lost his heart to the African continent.

Sustainable Land Management

The arid south of Madagascar, from the calcareous Plateau Mahafaly to the Greater south of the Antandroy district, is caught in a vicious circle of “poverty-environmental degradation-poverty” with a shockingly 95% of the population living below the poverty line.

Promoting best practices in industry: UNIMA, an outstanding example

One does not need to look to other countries to find one of the most outstanding examples of responsible industry practices. Our own UNIMA is an entirely Malagasy industrial group that produces high quality shrimps and cashew nuts for export and it is difficult to find such a socially and environmentally responsible industrial consortium.

Extractive industries: the way forward

WWF is increasingly aware that the mining, oil and gas industries must be addressed with respect to their impacts on biodiversity and the ecological health of our planet.

A Marine Protected Area in Salary

A national workshop was held in Toliara in July, under the initiative of creating Marine protected areas and the establishment of seasonal fishing reserves in the Salary North Region. This meeting was initiated by the Ministry of environment and forests, the Soariake community association, the Manombo South rural village, and WWF. The first objective was to put all stakeholders on the same level of understanding on the importance of creating the North Salary MPA, within the Toliara reef complex.

Celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity in Toliara

Toliara contributed to the celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity by organizing an exhibition and a debate conference on “The conservation of tortoises in the Ala Maiky Ecoregion and turtles in the Atsimo Andrefana Region”.

Conserving “Radiata” and “Pyxis”

Radiated tortoise and spider tortoise - WWF’s past experience and its next priority actions.

Passionate about good stories

The communications team is growing and so is our output. We are happy and proud to announce a whole bunch of new activities and media products.

Connected to the world - www.wwf.mg

People from 142 countries have already visited our WWF MWIOPO website and visitors increase by 35% every month. People stay for almost ten minutes and the most visited page is the job page.

Volunteers help Women’s Associations

Hosted by the Holistic Programme of Forest Conservation and the Reinforcement of Civil society in Ivohibe during 10 weeks, the second wave of volunteers in 2010 has packed up leaving good works behind them.

Forest management against deforestation

How can we fight against deforestation and what role do community based forest management associations play? WWF’s work on Forest Management Transfer in the Midongy-Vondrozo Forest Corridor shows what can be done.

Nosy Tanihely - A Local Initiative Turning into a Success

Nosy Tanihely, a small islet of 10 ha, is located south of Nosy Be which is among the top tourist destinations in Madagascar (between 16 000 and 22 000 tourists in 2006). WWF MWIOPO helped to protect this unique place.

“He who has eaten protects lemurs”

No other people in Africa eats as much rice as the Malagasy. Rice fields can be seen everywhere. By 2025 the Malagasy population is expected to double. How can they be feed? How can the growing demand be met without using more land, destroying more forest, doing more slash-and-burn? The SRI approach is one of the solutions.

Echati Kassidi - A Climate Witness from the Comoros

"I should be about seventy years old, but I’m not quite sure. I have six children, two boys and four girls. They’re all grown up now and have all had children themselves… too many to count! One of my sons has
three wives!"