Education helps to change hearts and minds in Belize
by Rohsny, BV volunteer, Belize Despite its laidback charm, Sarteneja in Belize is a small, fairly insular community that has faced considerable hardship during the past half century. Also, as is true in many other places, the grown-ups in charge...
Visiting the father of Gazelles
by Lalao Aigrette, Mangrove Field Scientist, Madagascar I recently visited the United Arab Emirates to participate in the Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon Demonstration Project (ADBCDP). In Arabic, Abu Dhabi means the father of gazelle (Abu = father of, and Dhabi = gazelle),...
Life in the mangrove forest: what happens exactly?
by Zo Andriamahenina, Blue Forests Research Assistant, Madagascar My first time working in the mangrove forest was in February 2012. Before, I had never walked into one, so I could not picture what we would see or find in this...
Letter from 217 civil groups to EU fisheries ministers
Introduction by Jo Hudson, Conservation & Research Assistant, London As negotiations on the reform of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy, or CFP, enter the final and decisive stage, more than 217 civil society groups are calling on EU fisheries...
The overwhelming economic case for protecting our seas
This post first appeared on the @SynchEarth blog on 5 April 2013 by Alasdair Harris, Research Director, UK Easter weekend saw the end of the UK government’s 3-month public consultation on the designation of new marine conservation areas around the coasts...
Playing hide and seek with tortoises
by Rado Lebely, Terrestrial & Fisheries Scientist, Madagascar After six very long months of tortoise hibernation, the Blue Ventures tortoise monitoring team was more than ready to see how abundant the spider tortoises (Pyxis arachnoides) are in the rainy season. We...
A trip to the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
by Samantha Cockburn, Medical Elective Student with the Safidy programme, Madagascar I’m Sam, a final year medical student currently studying at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in southwest England. Four years ago I went to a lecture at...
Blue carbon in Abu Dhabi
by Trevor Jones, Remote Sensing Scientist, Madagascar Lalao Aigrette, fellow BV Blue Forests colleague, and I recently spent a fascinating two weeks in the western coast of the Arabian Gulf. We were participating in the initial research of the Abu...
My visit to the Safidy programme in Andavadoaka
by Samantha Cockburn, Medical Elective with Safidy, Madagascar Three years ago I received an email from my medical school advertising a lecture aimed at local GPs entitled ‘Is Sex Going To Kill Us?’ given by Professor John Guillebaud, Emeritus Professor...
Cyclone Haruna response update (3)
Blue Ventures is continuing to respond to cyclone Haruna, which hit southwest Madagascar as a powerful category 2 storm exactly one month ago on 22nd February 2013. For previous updates about the situation, please follow the links here and here and here. Since the cyclone...
Talking tuna with the UN
by Mialy Andriamahefazafy,Environmental Policy Specialist, Madagascar Tuna management has always been a major focus for our policy work, even though it may seem like a small piece of the puzzle within our very successful community-based fishery management programme. However, we...
Cyclone Haruna response update (2)
Blue Ventures is currently responding to cyclone Haruna which hit southwest Madagascar as a powerful category 2 storm on 22nd February 2013. For previous updates about the situation please follow the links here and here. Haruna is the biggest cyclone that this region...
Antanandahy: where the women rule the mangroves
by Sylvia Paulot and Kate England, Blue Forests team, Madagascar After winding its way west, Madagascar’s Tsiribihina River empties into the Mozambique Channel in a maze of tributaries entwined with mangroves. At the end of last year, Sylvia and Kate...
Cyclone Haruna response update (1)
On Friday 22nd February 2013, cyclone Haruna made landfall over the southwest coast of Madagascar as a powerful category 2 storm, significantly affecting the communities in the Velondriake area where Blue Ventures works. Two weeks later, the road to Toliara (200km to...
Marching for marine protection in England
by Jo Hudson, Conservation & Research Assistant, London On Monday 25th February, the BV London team wrapped up warm and prepared to brave the freezing winter’s day in order to join the thousands of people who were marching on parliament...