Overview

Velondriake – a local Malagasy word meaning “to live with the sea” – spans 800-square kilometres, benefits more than 10,000 people and protects coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, baobab forests and other threatened habitats.

Local villagers worked with partners Blue Ventures to define the borders of Velondriake and identify which habitats to protect. Villagers are being trained in conservation science and planning, and have established a management board that will oversee the implementation, management and monitoring of the reserve.

Along with traditional conservation strategies such as seasonal no-take zones and permanent reserves, the villagers living within and around Velondriake will benefit from a variety of sustainable development activities created by Blue Ventures including sea cucumber farming, algae farming and eco-tourism.

The Velondriake reserve will expand the benefits of conservation even further across Madagascar, proving that economic development can, an must, go hand in hand with environmental conservation.

Other partners on the project are Madagascar’s Institute of Marine Sciences (Institut Halieutique et des Sciences Marines – IHSM) and the Wildlife Conservation Society.