Environmental Education

We help communities and institutions in Madagascar gain the skills and knowledge they need to conserve their coastal resources across the country.

Remote fishing villages along Madagascar’s coasts have lived side-by-side with the sea for generations. But in recent decades, growing populations, poorly managed tourism and the arrival of commercial fishing companies have greatly increased the pressure on local marine systems.

Blue Ventures is working with local villages to give them the knowledge and skills they need to address these growing threats and protect their natural resources for future generations.

Through regular workshops and seminars on marine conservation, Blue Ventures has helped communities living along the southwest coast to launch a variety of conservation projects, including the world’s first community-run protected area for octopus and a massive community-run network of protected areas that will span 800-square kilometres along the southwest coast and safeguard coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, baobab forests and other threatened habitats.

To build national capacity for marine conservation, Blue Ventures partners with the University of Toliara’s Institut Halieutique et des Sciences Marines (IHSM), Madagascar’s primary marine education and research institute.

Blue Ventures shares its research data with the IHSM and assists students in pursuing their degrees. Blue Ventures also partners with the Madagascar national park service (ANGAP), which uses several of Blue Ventures’ project sites as training centres for coastal management practitioners.

Blue Ventures also runs a national scholarship programme hosting up to 18 Malagasy university students each year for an in-depth six week training course in marine science and conservation research.

Because diving is an essential – though rare – skill in Madagascar needed to conserve marine resources, Blue Ventures trains local villagers to become certified SCUBA divers. More than a dozen villagers have received their certification, including two who reached the level of Dive Master. They are believed to be the first – and so far only – Malagasy Dive Masters in the entire country.

And to cultivate a new generation of Malagasy conservationists, Blue Ventures created the Alo Alo Children’s Environmental Club in Andavadoaka. Through weekly meetings, songs, games, plays and field trips, children learn the knowledge and skills needed to protect their natural resources and improve their communities. To learn more about Blue Ventures’ educational and capacity building activities, read our report on environmental education.