Threatened biodiversity in Madagascar

Some of SEED’s conservation efforts are focused on research while some have the added focus of spreading awareness and involving the community. I am excited to update you on the community response from Project Oritsamba, which focuses on the insecurity of the lobster industry and the progress of Project Palms, which aims to conserve six threatened palm species. 

SEED is extremely enthusiastic about Project Oristamba -created for the 80% of households that receive their income from lobster fishing- and based on a July interview so is the local community! One fisherman stated that “in the past, in our community everybody steal but now during conservation project everybody doing things wisely, the benefit of this project is when we catch someone stealing we meet together to talk about it.”  Another community member, Malala emphasised the need for community involvement, stating that “it is not only men who are responsible for the marine resources conservation but women are responsible as well.” As an ambassador, she “raises the awareness of women in [her] community to work together in marine resources conservation.” There are already plans of turning this enthusiasm into community meetings about conservation efforts to improve the livelihoods of the coastal communities! 

Since it began in August 2021, Project Palms has officially sprouted life! Seeds planted in March began to emerge last month and we’ve collected over 5,000 seeds from five target species. Over 4,900 of these have been planted in SEED’s nursery and the sixth species is expected to fruit in November. Other research efforts have been focused on understanding the population size, distribution, threats, health, and everything else necessary to better understand and protect the species. This has been done by constructing a census- and we are halfway there. We expect to have a full census by early 2023! I look forward to sharing the extended progress in the coming months from both of these projects and others that work to conserve the rich biodiversity of Madagascar. Thank you for being a part of it!