Rebuilding Fisheries

Blue Ventures' position on the 30x30 movement was published in the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Marine News Magazine to coincide with the World Conservation Congress being held in Marseille this week. We believe that the solution starts with accepting that the best way to protect nature is to protect the human rights of those who ...

A paper recently published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice has identified major drivers behind the adoption of community-based conservation in Madagascar. The research shows that ‘benefits to future generations’ was the most important reason for communities to establish a locally managed marine area (LMMA). Other factors which are often used to encourage community ...

Putting communities first is key to an equitable and just 30x30. Support is growing for 30x30, an ambitious new goal to conserve 30% of the planet by 2030. Large nonprofits and governments all over the world have endorsed it. The G7 group of wealthy nations has backed it. When the parties to the Convention on ...

New research published this week in Aquaculture Environmental Interactions has found that sea cucumber aquaculture can positively impact seagrass meadows, increasing the growth rate of certain species. This work, led by researchers at the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with Blue Ventures, presents the first evidence of community-based sea cucumber farming benefiting a marine ecosystem. ...

In an article for Chatham House, an international affairs think tank, Mialy Andriamahefazafy writes of the resilience of the people of Madagascar and in particular, the communities that are driving locally led conservation efforts. Mialy is a Blue Ventures board member and longstanding advisor. In the piece, she discusses the challenges the country faces in ...

Birgit Hermann (country director) and Oldegar ‘Ollie’ Massinga (operations manager) who head up the Blue Ventures team in Timor-Leste, reflect on five years of working with communities to drive locally led marine conservation in the country Read the full post: Five years in Timor-Leste

A new article from BBC travel explores the life of small-scale fishers and coastal communities on Atauro Island, Timor-Leste (also called East Timor). Timor-Leste has some of the most significant marine resources in the world. Local communities are using traditional Timorese resource management laws, known as Tara Bandu, to preserve and protect their ecosystems. Community ...

With support from Oikos and Blue Ventures, ‘activistas’, or community outreach workers, are working to improve community-led fisheries management efforts across Mozambique’s Nampula Province Read the full post: Activistas: the voice of fishing communities in Nampula Province

2021 is a pivotal year for pushing forward global action on the climate and ecological emergencies. The Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15 or CBD) in May and the COP on Climate Change (CoP 26) in November will see the world’s governments come together to determine political commitments to ...

Protected areas and their surrounding communities have experienced severe impacts from the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impacts of existing pressures on nature  − such as overfishing and the climate crisis − have been amplified with the onset of the pandemic, while locally led responses have bolstered community resilience. These are the ...