A song of change in Madagascar brings goosebumps and tears
As a marine ecologist and self-acclaimed nerd, I get excited when I see a graph, especially one charting fish abundance or coral cover. But there are myriad ways to share tales of change beyond data, especially where numbers don’t convey...
Sharing nature-based customary practices to drive climate change adaptation across the Pacific
BV's Country Director in Timor-Leste, Birgit Hermann, on her recent trip to Fiji with conservation leaders from the region to launch new projects to strengthen the resilience of Pacific islands to climate change by using nature-based solutions.
Improving community health to boost engagement in conservation
I sat down with Edith Ngunjiri, our Technical Advisor, Health-Environment Partnerships, to get her insights on the health-environment approach following the 15th anniversary of the Blue Ventures Safidy programme. The community health programme has integrated health activities within marine conservation...
Achieving conservation dreams by supporting teams
This post is the last series featuring some of the first marine conservation leaders taking part in the African Marine Conservation Leadership Programme that Blue Ventures and Maliasili started in 2020. They share their leadership journeys as part of the...
Banking on a brighter marine future
This post is the third series featuring some of the first marine conservation leaders taking part in the African Marine Conservation Leadership Programme that Blue Ventures and Maliasili started in 2020. They share their leadership journeys as part of the programme,...
Building connections to solve conservation issues
This post is the second series featuring some of the first marine conservation leaders taking part in the African Marine Conservation Leadership Programme that Blue Ventures and Maliasili started in 2020. They share their leadership journeys as part of the...
Nurturing leadership in African marine conservation
This is the first post in a series featuring some of the first marine conservation leaders participating in the African Marine Conservation Leadership Programme that Blue Ventures and Maliasili started in 2020. They share their leadership journeys as part of the...
Supporting conservation changemakers for people and nature at APAC
The first-ever African Protected Areas Congress (APAC) convened in Kigali, Rwanda, earlier this month to discuss the future of conservation in Africa. The five-day event brought together Indigenous peoples and local community representatives, governments, NGOs and the business sector to...
Voices of young community leaders
Speaking up for change in Antsahampano village through mangrove conservation. This is the final piece in a four-part series on the voices of young community leaders from Madagascar. Joséphine Besonoa, the community mangrove management association (VOI) technician, speaks on how...
Voices of young community leaders
Encouraging youth to care more for the environment This is the third piece in a four-part series featuring the voices of young community leaders from Madagascar. Fisherwoman Yolande Soamihaja describes her journey as she inspires fellow youth to take on...
Voices of young community leaders
Changemaking through the art of ‘kabary’ speechmaking in Madagascar This post is the second of a 4-part series featuring the voices of young community leaders from Madagascar. In this second part, Landry Jaofasy, a farmer, tells us how he gradually...
Voices of young community leaders
Marie Gorettie; my public commitment to the environment as a youth leader. This post is the first of a four-part series featuring young leaders in Madagascar who are using their voices to protect their communities and the marine environment. Josephine,...
Shrimp return to the locally managed bay in northern Madagascar
By Nantenaina Ardo NIRISOA, Site Leader (Ambanja, Tsimipaika Bay, Madagascar). More than seven years ago, when I was working as a fisheries and aquaculture technician in Ambanja in Madagascar’s northwest, I set up a network of fisheries data collectors. I...
Women in Comoros smoke fish to boost income and community development
Working with fisherwomen in Comoros is fulfilling because you see them progressing and creating more value from fisheries. The Maecha Bora Association, which includes fisherwomen from three villages on the southwest coast of Anjouan who glean for octopus, shells and...
Safety at sea: Community training inspires change in Timor-Leste
Antonio really showed me the importance of providing fishers with the skills to keep themselves and other community members safe, and how this has inspired wider engagement and conservation action in his community.