Blue Forests

Madagascar’s Ministry of National Education awarded Blue Ventures a “Certificat de Reconnaisse”, acknowledging the contribution of our thriving environmental education programme to the Ambanja region in the island’s northwest. Our Environmental Education Officer Alban Aoemba (third from left, above) proudly received the certificate during Ambanja’s “School Day” celebrations, part of an annual event that occurs across ...

The value of mangrove forests was celebrated in the village of Ampondrabe Mahamanina in northwest Madagascar, as local communities, school children and representatives from the public and private sectors came together for the International Day of Forests. This two-day celebration in March was the first time that an official event had been hosted in Ampondrabe ...

Lalao Aigrette, our Deputy National Blue Forests Programme Lead, tells the story of her ten years supporting communities with mangrove conservation in Madagascar. Read the full post: Ten years of wading through mud with BV

The Nature Conservancy published a new paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "Natural climate solutions" which calculates the scientific and economic potential for global lands - forest, grasslands, agricultural lands and wetlands to serve as a solution to climate change. It also finds that better land stewardship could have a bigger role in fighting ...

Volunteer Amanda Millin recounts her experience of Madagascar’s annual mangrove festival. Read the full post: Replanting mangrove forest in the Bay of Assassins

From village meetings to mangrove mud, this is the story of three years of effort from coastal communities to protect the mangroves of the Bay of Assassins in southwest Madagascar. Read the full post: Conserving the Bay of Assassins: the story so far

Our Research and Learning Manager Steve Rocliffe was recently interviewed by Devex about blue carbon credit schemes, and how they should be taken to scale. Mangroves store up to five times more carbon than other tropical forests, meaning these trees could provide great value on the voluntary carbon market, where businesses, governments, nonprofit organisations and individuals ...

Blue Ventures’ Digital Media Assistant Ben Honey recently visited Ankingabe village to find out about the community-led beekeeping and fuelwood plantations. Read the full post: Bees and trees: alternative livelihoods in Ankingabe

New research published in the international journal ‘Forests’ reveals for the first time the carbon storage potential of mangroves in the arid region of southwest Madagascar, and also highlights the pressure that these important local resources are under. Focused on the mangroves of Helondrano Fagnemotse (Baie des Assassins) in the Velondriake locally-managed marine area (LMMA), ...

In this photo story, Earth Island Journal explains the concept of blue carbon and the issues that surround it, using case studies of conservation organisations alongside stunning imagery. Blue Ventures, a charity headquartered in London, is experimenting with carbon credits at two sites in Madagascar. To compensate for the income these communities may lose due ...