SWM - SUSTAINABLE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME
Our project
All rural families living in and around the Makira Natural Park
depend heavily on its natural resources for their wellbeing. Though wild
animals are seldom eaten they provide a very important source of
micro-nutrients, particularly for growing children. Unfortunately, even
when each hunter only takes a few wild animals each year, the very large
number of people who live in the area means that hunting of most
species is unsustainable. Lemurs are most at risk. These primates, which
are only found in Madagascar, breed very slowly, and hunting is driving
them to extinction.
Photo Credit :
© FAO/Rijasolo
To meet this challenge, the Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme
(SWM Programme) aims to improve the management of hunting and fishing
by rural communities, and encourage the production and consumption of
poultry and farmed fish. By doing so we will ensure the sustainability
of natural resource use, help protect Madagascar’s unique and
irreplaceable wildlife heritage, and improve the food and income
security of rural families in Makira. The SWM project in Madagascar is
coordinated by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
Photo Credit :
© FAO/Rijasolo
The goals
- Strengthen the institutional and legal frameworks relating to
the use of meat from wildlife and support their implementation,
especially at the local level.
- Support communities in their efforts to sustainably manage their wildlife resources, by strengthening local governance.
- Help families to increase production of poultry and farmed fish both
for household consumption and as a sustainable source of income.
- Increase the effectiveness of the project, by adaptively managing
project actions in response to changing conditions and new information.
- Generate new understanding of how to both conserve wildlife and improve
food and income security of rural families.
Working together in a participatory and inclusive manner
- Traditional authorities
- Local communities
- Private Sector
- Government
- Coordinated by WCS
The project is implemented with the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the local communities.
WHERE WE WORK
The SWM Programme in Madagascar is being implemented in and bordering the Makira Natural Park. This park, rich in diverse and endemic wildlife, is one of the largest blocks of intact forests left in Madagascar. The project is working with ten communities where hunting wildlife contributes to family nutrition, but is currently at unsustainable levels, threatening to drive most hunted species to extinction and dramatically increase food insecurity
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